Microcomputer Demonstration Exercises for a Course on Creativity and Problem Solving

Abstract

In the context of an applied psychology course on thinking” designed for management and engineering students, four programs for personal computers on campus nave been developed that (I) present various types of puzzles and problems discussed in the course, (2) display the changing elements of the problem 35 the student works on it, and (3) collect various types of behavioral data on the student’s problem solving activity, these puzzles and problems *11 involve "convergent" thinking (focused deduction or induction) and two 3 is to require creativity (or “divergent” thinking) in the sense of requiring flexibility of approach or method in order to achieve an efficient solution. Two of these programs have already seen usage in the course, and this paper describes those two 39 well as the data collected through their use and the teaching points aide for the students by examining these data in class.