Creativity in problem solving: Uncovering the origin of new ideas (original) (raw)

Innovation and enterprise depend for their success on the development of new ideas. But from where do new ideas come? How do they arise? Finding solutions to such questions is at the heart of creativity research and the solving of novel problems. Reflection, not only in cognitive processes but also in the non-cognitive ones used in solving novel mathematics problems, is uncovering a way in which the origins of new ideas occur. A study involving protocol analysis of five expert problem solvers identifies three critical elements. These elements have been employed to construct a framework of creative problem solving which may be used to foster creativity among young people under instruction and provide a cognitive explanation of the origin of new ideas. Creativity, problem solving, cognitive, non-cognitive, reflection A Working Definition of Creativity Many definitions of creativity can be found within the research literature on creativity. However one definition finding increasing acceptance in both education and psychology is that describing creativity as the production of effective novelty (Cropley, 1999; Lubart, 2001; Mumford, 2003a). This definition implies that for something to be creative it must be both original and useful. The National Advisory Committee on Creativity, Culture and Education in England, for example, advises that creativity is "Imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value" (NACCCE, 1999, p.30). In the same vein cognitive psychology, adopting a more processed orientation, defines creativity as "the sequence of thoughts and actions that leads to a novel adaptive production" (Lubart, 2001, p.295). 44 Creativity in problem solving: Uncovering the origin of new ideas One definition that makes explicit the nature of thought and action within the creative process is that by Koberg and Bagnall (1976) who describe creativity as: both the art and the science of thinking and behaving with both subjectivity and objectivity. It is a combination of feeling and knowing: of alternating back and forth between what we sense and what we already know. (Koberg and Bagnall, 1976, p.8) This definition implies that not only is cognitive activity involved in the creative act but noncognitive activity as well. According to Koberg and Bagnall (1976), the act of creation, involves oscillating between what individuals think or know (namely, cognitive activity) and what they sense or feel (i.e. non-cognitive activity). This conceptualisation is significant in light of the protocols that are described below.