ENGINEER IN SOCIETY

CREATIVE PROBLEM
SOLVING. CREATIVE
THINKING

BY : SITI SIMA HANI

ISMAIL

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 CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING. CREATIVE
THINKING

3.0 Creative thinking

The following list describes some traits of a

creative engineer:

Stick - to - it – evenness
 Producing creative solutions to problems requires
full commitment.
 A successful creative engineer does not give up.

Asks why
 Always curious about the world and is constantly
seeking understanding.
 By asking why, the creative engineer can learn how
other engineers solved problems.

Is never satisfied
 He goes through life asking, how could I do this
better, rather than complaining.
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Learn from accidents
 Be sensitive to the unexpected
 Many great technical discoveries were
made by accident.

Makes analogies
 Recall that problem solving is an iterative
process that largely involves chance
 By having rich interconnections, the
chance of finding a solution is high.
 We obtain rich interconnections by
making analogies during learning so
information is stored in multiple places.

Generalizes
 When a specific fact is learned, he seeks
to generalize that information to
generate rich interconnections.

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Develops qualitative and quantitative
understanding
 Develop not only quantitative analytical skills,
but also qualitative understanding.
 Get a feeling for the numbers and processes,
because that is what your subconscious needs
for its qualitative model.

Has good visualization skills

 Many creative solution involve three
dimensional visualization.
 Often, the solution can be obtained by
rearranging components, turning them around
or duplicating them.

Has good drawing skills

 Drawings or sketches are the fastest way to
communicate spatial relationships, sizes, order
of operation and many other ideas.
 By accurately communicating through
engineering graphics and sketches, an
engineer can pass their ideas easily and
concisely to their colleagues or with little
explanation. 4
Possesses unbounded thinking
 Most of engineers are trained in an
engineering discipline. If we restrict our
thinking to a narrowly defined discipline, we
will miss many potential solutions.
 Perhaps, the solution requires the combined
knowledge of mechanical, electrical and
chemical engineering
 Each of engineers should develop enough
knowledge to hold intelligent conversation
with those in other discipline.

Has broad interests

 Must be happy, This requires balancing
intellectual, emotional and physical needs.
 Engineering education emphasizes your
intellectual development.
 You are responsible for developing your
emotional
 Physical skills developed by socializing with
friends (music, art, etc) and exercising. 5
Collects obscure information
 Easy problems can be solved with
commonly available information.
 The hard problems often require
obscure information

Keep an engineering ‘toolbox’

 As you progress through your
career, you will need a large
toolbox to hold all the tools you
acquire from your experience.

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3.1 Creative problem solving

The Accreditation Board for

Engineering and Technology (ABET),
in its 1985 Annual Report (New York,
ABET,1986) defines engineering as
“the profession in which a
knowledge of the mathematical and
natural sciences gained by study,
experience and practice is applied
with judgment to develop ways to
utilize, economically, the materials
and forces of nature for the benefit
of mankind.

From the ABET definition, there are

two word missing, that
is :

 creativity
 problem solving skills.

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Example :

 The scientist studies what nature has already

created.
 The engineer creates from nature what did not
exist before.

Which one is more creative, scientist or engineer ?

Creative process

In creative process, the engineer should master

their skill in :
 mathematics
 knowledge of materials (sciences)
 principles of specialized engineering discipline

From this resources, engineer can creates a new

solution for a human need or problem and usually
the economic reality is also take into consideration.
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