Creative Thinking in University Physics Education

PRELIMS.pdf
Preface
Author biographies
Douglas Newton
Sam Nolan
Simon Rees
CH001.pdf
Chapter 1 Creative thinking in physics
1.1 The relevance of creative thinking
1.2 Physics: cold comfort farm or possibility place?
Understanding the atom
1.3 Creative students?
1.4 Creative thinking doesn’t come with a guarantee
Becquerel and natural radioactivity
Arago’s disc
1.5 Variety, the spice of physics teaching
1.6 Does it matter?
1.7 Something to reflect on
References
CH002.pdf
Chapter 2 The creative learner in physics
2.1 Learning physics and learning what counts in physics
The Doppler effect
2.2 Noticing and making sense of problems
The discovery of x-rays
2.3 Constructing understandings to enable explanation
The kinetic theory of gases
2.4 Testing a tentative explanation or idea
The ether and ingenuity
2.5 Application
2.6 Creative thinking is not a mechanical process
2.7 Something to reflect on
References
CH003.pdf
Chapter 3 Creative thinking in practice: problems
3.1 Fertile problems
3.2 Curiosity and questions
3.3 Noticing, finding, and posing problems
3.4 The problem of eliciting students’ questions
3.5 Fostering students’ thinking about problems
3.5.1 A problem analysis heuristic
3.5.2 A qualitative account heuristic
3.5.3 Working backwards
3.5.4 Using an analogy
3.6 The tutor’s contributions
3.7 There is no end to questions
3.8 Something to reflect on
‘Beer mats make bad frisbees’
References
CH004.pdf
Chapter 4 Creative thinking in practice: ideas
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Astronomer Copernicus
4.2.1 Student activity—structures in our mind
4.3 Divergent thinking
4.3.1 Student activity—divergent thinking
4.4 Convergent thinking
4.4.1 Student activity—The Martian
4.5 Associative thinking
4.5.1 Student activity—new connections
4.6 Effective ideas generation
4.7 Lateral thinking
4.7.1 AlphaGo
4.7.2 Problem based learning
4.8 Sticky creativity
4.8.1 The curling conundrum
4.9 Conclusion
4.10 Something to reflect on
References
CH005.pdf
Chapter 5 Creative thinking in practice: experiments
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The affective domain
5.3 Gender equity
5.4 Experimental demonstrations
5.4.1 Faraday and Tyndall at the Royal Institution
5.5 Objects as analogies and metaphors
5.5.1 Student activity—everyday objects
5.5.2 Tutor activity—challenging concepts
5.6 Thought experiments
5.7 Inquiry based learning
5.7.1 Case study—experimental creativity
5.7.2 Project based learning
5.7.3 Tutor activity—project based learning
5.7.4 Technicians
5.8 Something to reflect on
References
CH006.pdf
Chapter 6 Creative thinking in practice: applications
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Frameworks for creativity in learning
6.2.1 A framework for the creative process
6.3 Designing a creative learning activity
6.4 Case studies
6.4.1 Conceiving a guesstimation based curriculum (University of Glasgow)
6.4.2 Team projects at Durham University
6.5 Discussion
6.6 Conclusions
6.7 Something to reflect on
References
CH007.pdf
Chapter 7 Recognising creative thinking in physics
7.1 Uncertainty and assessing thinking competences
7.2 Assessing the product of creative thought
7.2.1 Assessment by consensus
7.2.2 Simple rating
7.2.3 Putting numbers to it
7.3 Assessing the process of creative thought
7.3.1 Just ask
7.3.2 In writing
7.3.3 Observe
7.4 Working in groups on practical and other tasks
7.4.1 Collaborative competence
7.4.2 Group creative competence
7.5 Risk taking and some caveats
7.6 Providing feedback
7.7 Recognition and measurement
7.8 Something to reflect on
References
CH008.pdf
Chapter 8 The creative tutor
8.1 The value of creative teaching
8.2 Ten questions and answers
8.2.1 What is creative teaching in the context of higher education (HE)?
8.2.2 What are the benefits of creative teaching?
8.2.3 Is there a downside to teaching creatively?
8.2.4 What would you say are the attributes of a creative teacher in HE?
8.2.5 Are these attributes something you are born with, or can they be acquired or developed?
8.2.6 What are the impediments to creative teaching?
8.2.7 Students sometimes see themselves as buying a product rather an education. Do you think this adversely affects a desire to teach creatively? If so, in what way(s)?
8.2.8 What advice would you give to a new university lecturer about becoming a more creative teacher?
8.2.9 Would you give different advice to someone who is a mid-career lecturer?
8.2.10 Do you see higher managerial colleagues in a university as having a role in fostering creative teaching? If so, what would that role be?
8.3 Why teach creatively?
8.3.1 Some benefits for the student
8.3.2 Some benefits for the tutor
8.4 Creative teaching to support students’ learning
8.5 Creative uses of technology
8.5.1 Solving teaching and learning problems
8.5.2 Technology taking some of the strain
8.6 The place of critical/evaluative thinking
8.7 Change and challenges
8.8 Some things to reflect on
References
CH009.pdf
Chapter 9 Creative approaches to teaching physics in the twenty-first century
9.1 Laboratory learning
9.1.1 Interactive simulated experiments
9.1.2 At home laboratories
9.2 Simulation based learning
9.3 The use of virtual and augmented reality in physics teaching
9.4 Enhancing peer learning in lectures with technology
9.5 Judging support tools
9.6 The future
9.7 Something to reflect on
References
CH010.pdf
Chapter 10 Creating change
10.1 Taking the wider view
10.2 Some roles
10.3 Some hurdles
10.3.1 Inertia and fragmentation
10.3.2 Notions of creativity
10.3.3 Notions of the source of creative abilities
10.3.4 Students’ notions of creative physics
10.4 Health, safety, and risk assessment
10.5 Physics as a dynamic discipline
10.6 Creative physics and the cultivated imagination
References