To have a great idea, have a lot of them.
The Three Components of Creative Problem-Solving
What truly distinguishes exceptional STEM students? It’s not just intelligence. To be a truly innovative and successful STEM student, you need to cultivate three interconnected and critical elements: curiosity, imagination, and thinking outside the box (divergent thinking). While distinct, these form a dynamic trio essential for creative problem-solving.
Creative problem-solving relies on these three key components. One (curiosity) is a fundamental personality trait, while the other two (imagination and thinking outside the box) are powerful, learnable abilities built upon that foundation.
Curiosity
Average vs Exceptional
The average student often limits their academic efforts to merely meeting teacher requirements: learning formulas, adhering to instructions, and practicing assigned problems to achieve satisfactory grades. Their involvement typically ceases once an assignment is submitted, a behavior frequently termed “memorization and regurgitation.” This refers to the practice of recalling and repeating information without true comprehension or lasting retention.
Exceptional students are driven by curiosity; they focus on comprehension, asking “why” and “what if” questions. They seek to understand the mechanics of a formula, its interconnections with other scientific fields of study, and the outcomes that happen when they change the variables.
Curiosity is the internal drive or impulse that initiates our creative process. It is our most fundamental and inherent trait—as an aspect of our personality often linked to being open to new ideas and experiences. It’s the desire to know how and why things work, to seek innovation, and to identify gaps in our current understanding, prompting questions like “Why?” and “What if?” When confronted with a problem, curiosity pushes you beyond simple, established answers, providing the motivation to engage and explore the unknown.
This pursuit isn’t solely about “acing” tests; it’s a genuine desire for comprehension, which makes learning both exciting and increases retention of information. Grades are valuable, but curiosity impacts your future to a greater extent. Curiosity transforms learning into an intrinsic process, making it far more powerful and sustainable than the extrinsic motivation of grades. It compels you to explore beyond textbooks and to persevere with complex problems long after average students have given up.
Imagination
Imagination acts as the link, connecting your curiosity to your ability to think outside the box. It is your brain’s internal workshop – a powerful and developable skill where you generate ideas, concepts, or scenarios that don’t yet exist. This is where you start generating possibilities. You take what you already know and combine or recombine elements in new ways.
While the capacity for imagination is intrinsic, its quality and effectiveness are developed through learning, experience, and practice. As we accumulate knowledge, our imagination becomes richer, enabling us to combine elements in more complex and novel ways. It helps you answer: “What could a solution look like?” Imagination visualizes the innovative, non-standard goals that lead to breakthroughs.
Think of it like this: If you were inventing a new gadget, imagination is you mentally seeing that gadget in action, picturing its features, or even spotting potential improvements before you even sketch it out. It’s when your “What if?” question truly starts to take shape! It is the mental simulation that allows you to see the product in use, predict how it might break, or envision a better design before a single piece of metal is cut. It is the “What if?” realized.
Thinking Outside the Box (Divergent Thinking)
Convergent vs Divergent Thinking
Convergent thinking is crucial for problem-solving; it’s about finding that single correct answer, often by following established steps. However, to truly innovate and push the boundaries of knowledge, divergent thinking is essential.
Divergent thinking, often called “thinking outside the box,” is a vital and learnable skill for creative problem-solving. It involves systematically moving beyond a single imaginative possibility to generate many varied and often unconventional solutions. For instance, while imagination might foresee a car that runs on water, divergent thinking would brainstorm 50 different mechanisms—such as electrolysis, hydrogen capture, or steam power—that could potentially make that vision a reality.
While the average student excels at convergent thinking (finding the single correct answer using established methods), the exceptional student leverages divergent thinking to address unfamiliar problems, hypothesize new connections, and push the boundaries of knowledge. This is where innovation happens.
Thinking Outside the Box (divergent thinking) is a skill you can learn. It’s all about being creative in your thinking and getting in some practice, like trying brainstorming. This helps you to develop a system where you come up with tons of different, new solutions – showing off your content mastery, flexibility, and originality. Try thinking of every problem as a puzzle to solve. It’s essentially asking, “How many different ways can we make this work?” and then quickly generating a bunch of diverse, unconventional, and possible options. Finally, you try to implement those imaginative ideas and turn them into solid steps or solutions for testing or implementing your ideas.
Personal Commentary: Two Real-life examples
Since retiring, I’ve dedicated myself to two main passions: gardening and assisting family members with their electronic devices, whether it’s installing new televisions or troubleshooting computer issues.
When it comes to gardening, I’ve noticed that many gardeners simply follow seed packet instructions and use the same soil mix year after year. If a plant doesn’t thrive, they often blame a “brown thumb” or the weather, sticking to conventional methods.
However, my goal is to become a master gardener. I’m deeply committed to researching soil science, meticulously tracking the microclimates within my raised beds, and experimenting with companion planting. I view a struggling plant as a puzzle to solve. I’ll test and adjust the soil composition, fine-tune its pH, or even construct a custom cold frame. By leveraging research and divergent thinking, I’ll integrate chemistry and construction to boost my garden’s yield and deepen my understanding.
When my family and friends encounter issues with their electronic devices, I’ve observed a common tendency: they often consult installation instructions and rarely attempt to troubleshoot problems independently or consider unconventional solutions. While they can resolve straightforward issues, they tend to give up when standard steps prove ineffective.
In contrast, when faced with a computer or electronic device problem, my curiosity drives me to delve into user forums and perform internet searches. I’m not just seeking a solution; I’m driven to understand the root cause of the issue and how to prevent it. My approach goes beyond merely fixing the problem; I want to comprehend why the failure occurred. This involves using divergent thinking to connect various hardware failures and device programming issues I’ve seen in the past, and asking the question “What if?”, to devise and implement a solution. By making the extra effort to learn and understand an issue, I can effectively explain the solution to my family, teach them how to recognize the problem should it arise again, and enable them to either avoid it or, in a worst-case scenario, correct it themselves without my help in the future.
Conclusion
These three components—curiosity, imagination, and thinking outside the box—are the driving force behind answering the question “What if?” Curiosity motivates you to investigate, imagination reveals what’s possible, and divergent thinking equips you with the methods to bring those possibilities to fruition.
Curiosity compels you to challenge the status quo, prompting the question: “What if we tried something different?” Imagination then allows you to envision: “That ‘something different’ could look like this.” Finally, divergent thinking offers the various approaches: “Here are fifty different ways to achieve that ‘something different.’”
For high school STEM students, developing curiosity, fostering imagination, and practicing divergent thinking are crucial skills. These are the foundations that will enable you to become the next generation of innovators and problem-solvers.
