Open AccessPromoting and assessing creativity and innovation in physics undergraduates
Author(s) -
Patrick B. Kohl,
H. Vincent Kuo,
Susan E. Kowalski,
Frank V. Kowalski,
N. Sanjay Rebello,
Paula V. Engelhardt,
Chandralekha Singh
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
aip conference proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.177
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1551-7616
pISSN - 0094-243X
DOI - 10.1063/1.3679988
Subject(s) - creativity , context (archaeology) , mathematics education , engineering ethics , work (physics) , creative thinking , computer science , engineering , psychology , mechanical engineering , social psychology , paleontology , biology
Creative thought and the ability to innovate are critical skills in industrial and academic careers alike. There exist attempts to foster creative skills in the business world, but little such work has been documented in a physics context. In particular, there are few tools available for those who want to assess the creativity of their physics students, making it difficult to tell whether instruction is having any effect. In this paper, we outline a new elective course at the Colorado School of Mines in the physics department designed to develop creativity and innovation in physics majors. We present our efforts to assess this course formatively, using tablet PCs and InkSurvey software, and summatively using the discipline-independent Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. We also describe early work towards developing a physics-specific instrument for measuring creativity.
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