Creative Thinking in the Nature of Science PART A (iii)

Part A (iii) Creative Nature of Science – What do you think if…?

Continuing on from part (i) creative thinking is required to make observations, to notice (what do you notice?) and part (ii) creative thinking is required to interpret and make inferences from your observations (what do you wonder?)

Part (iii) creative thinking is required to make predictions and hypothesise. What do you think if?

Creative people in any field come up with new ways of looking at the world – they are constantly asking, "What if...?" 

"What if...?" is an important question in science. Hypothesising is an intrinsic and creative mental process where information, perceptions, and different ideas are being combined and recombined until a particular combination seems to make sense.

McComas (1998) stated “close inspection will reveal that scientists approach and solve problems with imagination and creativity, prior knowledge and perseverance.” (p. 58).

In order to stay open to possibilities, imagination is critical. The idea of using one’s imagination to approach a problem is important to teach in science. Eisner states, “ . . . this is what scientists and artists do; they perceive what is, but imagine what might be, and then use their knowledge, their technical skills, and their sensibilities to pursue what they have imagined” (Eisner, 2002, p. 199).

Students can find hypothesising difficult as there is not 'one' answer, and it is possible to come up with lots of suggestions that are not 'meaningful or useful'. Therefore we need to help students by enabling intuitive thinking that emerges from prior knowledge or experience, and not following a script.

Executive functions, such as, self-regulation of your emotions is needed in order to allow creative thinking to emerge. It is important to support students to learn how to cope with risk, confusion, disorder and delayed gratification when they are not progressing quickly.

But it doesn't stop there.

Cognitive flexibility and using creative convergence is required to consider a variety of different possibilities and then decide on the most plausible, useful or appropriate idea.

After a creative person asks "What if...?" they then go on to logically think through the consequences and narrowing down those new ideas to focus on one that can be elaborated.
Experts who study creativity have found that logical thinking is always a part of the creative process in any field, from art to science to business (Tardif & Sternberg, 1988)

Looking at the image:
“What if..?” question comes to your mind?
What if a black hole came close to the Solar System? What do you think would happen next?
Or
What might happen if the Earth fell into a black hole? What do you think would happen next?
What is your hypothesis?
What science ideas could help you explain this?
What do you already know or what have you observed that led to your prediction?
What reasons do you have for making that prediction?
What other predictions might be plausible?
What changes can we predict with accuracy?

One scientist currently thinks that if the black hole is massive enough, the Earth could glide right through it and we could live out a normal life? How does this relate to your idea?

What would happen if you put up a firewall to protect the Earth from a black hole?

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

McComas, W. (1998). The principal elements of the nature of science: Dispelling the myths. In W. McComas (Ed.), The nature of science in science education: Rationales and strategies (pp. 53-72). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.