Chapman University Extended Education -- Graduate Elective Credit

ED/B 9940:  Inventive Thinking:  a 21^st Century Skill

Franny McAleer, Instructor

Chapman University, Extended Education, Orange, CA

franny@learnerslink.com  724-413-6001 (cell)

Course Overview:  The graduate course is designed to provide administrators and teachers with the strategies needed to develop inventive thinking processes.   The participants will consider the following,  “Innovate or fall behind.”~ Dorothy Leonard, Harvard Business School Professor Emerita and brainstorm the need for inventive thinking.  They will learn and apply hands on strategies to teach and use the invention process. 

Course Objective:   The graduate course is designed to provide administrators and teachers with the understanding of the importance of inventive thinking as a 21^st century skill and an understanding of the specific strategies that support the invention process.  Each strategy will be learned and then applied to various situations regarding curriculum and instruction.  The continuum of strategies leads participants to begin with the importance of creative thinking (Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind), parallel thinking using Six Thinking Hats® for critical and creative thinking, brainstorming, more complex thinking processes, uncover problems, apply the  scientific problem solving method, create an invention to solve the problem,  and take the invention to a real life marketplace.  Participants will take these strategies back to their students and apply them.  This application can be achieved by developing and teaching a unit on invention, participating or initiating an invention convention, entering the national Invent America contest, or an individually designed project.  

Course Outline:  The graduate course is designed to provide administrators and teachers with the rationale and strategies needed to develop inventive thinking including:

Seven skills students need (Tony Wagner, Harvard University)

1.  Problem solving and critical thinking;

2. Collaboration across networks and leading by influence;

3. Agility and adaptability;

4. Initiative and entrepreneurship;

5. Effective written and oral communication;

6. Accessing and analyzing information; and

7. Curiosity and imagination.

21st Century Skills & Academic Achievement  (~ enGauge 21st Century Skills, NCREL)

1. Digital Literacy
2. Effective Communication
3. Inventive Thinking
4. High Productivity

Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind, From the Agriculture Age to the Conceptual Age

1. Agricultural Age(farmers)
2. Industrial Age (factory workers)
3. Information Age (knowledge workers)
4. Conceptual Age   (creators & empathizers)

Brain research and relevancy

1. Left hemisphere handles what is said
2. Right hemisphere focuses on how it is said

The Six Thinking Hats® 

Is a colorful, motivating approach uses SIX HATS® to teach parallel thinking.  It promotes effective questioning and teaches analysis and expansion of ideas and concepts.  SIX HATS® improves the critical and creative thinking skills used by inventive people.

   White – Facts, Information, Data, Missing Information

               Red – Feelings, Intuition, No Reasons or Justification, Short

   Yellow – Benefits, Values, Positives, the Good in It

               Black – Caution, Dangers, Problems, Faults

   Blue – Summarizing, Conclusions, Overviews, Action Plans                 

               Green – Creativity, Possibilities, Alternatives, New Ideas

Creative Thinking Skills and Brainstorming

Creative Thinking Skills of FFOE

1. Fluent Thinking -- To think of the most
2. Flexible Thinking -- To take different approaches         
3. Original Thinking -- To think in novel, unique ways       
4. Elaborative Thinking -- To add on to
5. Risk Taking                 
6. Complexity                                                      
7. Curiosity                                                          
8. Imagination      

Creative Thinking Skills of SCAMPER 

1. Substitute –Who else instead?  What else instead?  Other ingredients?  Other materials?   Other power?   Other place?

2. Combine –How about a blend, an alloy, an ensemble? Combine purposes? Combine appeals?

3. Adapt – What else is like this?  What other idea does this suggest?  Does the past offer parallels?  What could I borrow from someplace else? 

4. Modify – Minify, Magnify, Maxify?   Order, form, shape?  What to reduce?  Greater frequency?  Higher?  Larger?  Thicker?

5. Put to Other Uses – New ways to use as it is?  Other uses if modified?  Other places to use?  Other people to reach?  Other uses for those      who are not human?  Other uses for animals?

6. Eliminate –What to subtract?  Smaller?  Condensed?   Miniature?   Lower?  Shorter?  Lighter?  Omit?   Streamline?   Understate?

7. Reverse or Rearrange – Interchange components?  Other pattern?   Other layout?    Other sequence?   Transpose cause and effect?  Change pace?  Transpose positive and negative?  How about opposites?  Turn it backward?   Turn it upside down?  Reverse roles?

The Practicuum:  Being an Inventor

For ages, traditional education, with its emphasis on rote learning and memorization of static facts, has valued conformity over novelty of thought. But in today’s world of global competition and task automation, innovative capacity and a creative spirit are fast becoming requirements for personal and professional success.  The Invent America Curriculum Handbook will be used by the teachers during the practicum to go through the problem solving/ invention process with the culminating product being their own invention and marketing strategy.

1. The Invention Process
2. Inventions are Everywhere
3. Forced Associations or Random Entry process to foster creativity
4. Invention or Innovation
5. Inventions as a Continuum
6. Inventions Solve Problems or Fill Needs
7. Finding a Problem to Solve (Scientific Problem Solving)
8. Writing an Inventor’s Log or journal to keep accurate records of the invention process
9. Planning an Invention
10. Inventions from Everyday Objects
11. Researching an Invention
12. To the Market Place
13. Marketing Responsibilities and Ethics

Method of Evaluating Student’s Performance:

Every attempt will be made to evaluate the student in terms of the stated objectives using the following point system:   Participation and understanding of the strategies presented and application of them with young people or students.   The participants work during the in class session will count for 50%.  The practicum project demonstrating application of the invention process will count for 50% of the final grade.

Final grades will be determined with the following grading scale and will be based on the total number of points accumulated on the assignments of the course.  

                         100 - 90 = A     89 - 80 = B      79 - 70 = C

Online Resources:  www.learnerslink.com – link to resources necessary for this course, communication and on line registration will be through learnerslink