The Piman's Creativity Course

I must start somewhere, so here goes! This page may become a hub for my contributions. Comments are welcome on my talk page. Ray Calvin Baker 02:19, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

You will probably want to skip down to the course outline (below).

I'm trying to CREATE this course, so I'm leaving notes (probably boring)to myself, My intent is to create materials to fascinate primary-school students (who can use CREATIVITY the best!), but I need my notes to plan and organize the ideas I believe should be in this course.

Ideas from TEACHERS (and students) will be welcomed! Ray Calvin Baker 21:38, 27 November 2011 (UTC)  TWO OF THE PI-MAN'S NOTES TO HIMSELF (to help him track and organize his material):

This is the "RaysNotes.txt" file created FRI 2011 NOV 11 11:06 AM, revised MON 2011 NOV 14 11:04 PM.

The version on my flash drive is intended for the Wikiversity. The version on my laptop's C: drive, in the "QB64Folder" folder, also documents my progress in using the Qb64 compiler and source code I downloaded.

UNIMPORTANT but POSSIBLY HELPFUL paragraph:

I am making up this course as I go along, so there will be lots of notes that I write to myself left embedded within it. I hope that these will not be too distracting to you, but that they will provide hints for the process of writing Wikiversity materials, when you want to create a course on one of your favorite topics. I expect you to want to do this! P. S. Have you taken all of the Wikiversity guided tours? Have you started any of the other Wikiversity tutorials? I don't mean to rush you -- you are FREE to do whatever YOU want, at your own pace.

I found the Wikipedia while using a computer terminal at the Easton Toyota dealership, while waiting for repairs to be made on my car. I found the Wikipedia to be very interesting, perhaps even addictive, but its goal is to record and present verifiable encyclopedia articles, not original research.

TECHNICAL NOTES (Skip these unless you are trying to do your first assignment):

You will need to become familiar with at least three web sites to master this course material. These are: (1) the "download the QB64 Compiler" page, (2) the pages of the QB64 documentation wiki, and (3) my pages of instructional materials. You have already found item (3), or you wouldn't be reading this! The first two items were furnished by other people (THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!), so they are not under my complete control. I will be learrning to use those items myself, often, only a few hours before you do.

YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT: DOWNLOAD the QB64 COMPILER

THE NARRATIVE CONTINUES....

Then I discovered the Wikiversity, which is just begging for original creative educational materials. While taking several of the guided tours, I was invited to start an account in the Wikiversity. So I did. And I played a bit in the sandbox. You can, too

Now I am trying to organize my thoughts, materials, and activities into (what I hope is an important and desperately needed) course called "Creativity". [cite Newsweek article]

- - - - -

	The Pi-man's "CREATIVITY" Course 

This course is being developed especially for primary school students. The sooner you try to be creative, the better!

I hope it will also contain many items of interest to junior and senior high school students. Please do not be offended that I try to write the simplest explanations that are possible.

I invite teachers to read my works also. They can best help me to help students by posting suggestions and requests on my wikiversity user talk page.

"Don't let schooling interfere with your education!" -- Mark Twain

EMPOWERMENT

A key theme of this course is EMPOWERMENT -- YOU too can BE CREATIVE! I enjoyed Tom Peters' chapter on empwerment, in his book, _Re-Imagine_ (This is the main source that gave me the "kick in the pants" to actually start trying to develop educational materials.)

THE COURSE OUTLINE

I. Why even attempt CREATIVITY?

A. The "up side" of Creativity

1. THE DIRE NECESSITY -- Unless the human race can solve all of the problems that beset us, some unsolved problem may kill us all. IT'S A MATTER OF SURVIVAL..

2. Often, the creator of a solution to a problem can gain some economic advantage in sharing his (This is just a standard grammatical "his" -- 		   see "line 5." below.) solution with others. (But even Thomas Edison had some troubles 		   achieving this point.)

3. You may become able to do (easily) things that most other people think (wrongly) are impossible. "We Baker boys think of things to think of, 		   which most people never think of thinking of." -- a quote from one of my younger brothers

4. ANYBODY can be creative! Any time. Any place.

5. Some creative GIRLS:

a. Ada Lovelace, the first software engineer

b. Grace Murray Hopper, the admiral who refused to retire (and helped invent 			  and promote the COBOL software tool).

c. Who invented the circular saw blade?

d. Some mathematicians who helped Einstein:

i. Lise Meitner

ii. Emmy Noether

e. Mary Shelley, author of the famous early science-fiction story, _Frankenstein_.

f. Tomoko Fuse, author of _Multidimensional_ _Transformations:+Unit_Origami.

6. If you work at creativity, you may discover that you can (literally) solve technical problems in your sleep.

B. The "down side" of Creativity

1. Creativity may upset "the way we've always 		  done things". Others may feel threatened by it.

2. The curiosity which drives a scientist is often misinterpreted (especially in social settings) as rudeness or worse.

3. Creativity requires BOTH divergent thinking and convergent thinking

4. Creativity requires ceaseless curiosity, thinking, and learning. It's a lot of work and effort!

5. There is no "magic recipe" for creativity. What you must do is spend a lifetime to develop a set of robust heuristics which works for you.

6. The career you are planning for now may be OBSOLETE before you finish college. Consider the plight of the Swiss watch makers when $10 Timex quartz crystal watches became available!

7. Creativity does not always occur when you want it to (unless you practice it a lot and WORK hard at being creative.

II. An addition to (not a replacement for) standard educational practice

My thinking is that the "standard educational practice" is too important to mess up. I needed it to be able to enter college. But I think the most important reason I was able to be a   successful programmer for thirty years, is that I read A LOT and taught myself so much additional material. I also learned to work independently. And I learned that lots of important projects simply do not fit into the normal school routines. (They require months, instead of minutes.)

So, I intend to produce the best computer-guided course materials I can, as "stand by themselves" programs when possible -- supplemental materials which do not depend very much on the attention of a class-room teacher. Besides, I lack the social skills and common sense to function in a traditional class- room setting. But, being somewhat autistic, I have an amazing ability to concentrate in an area of special interest to me -- one such area (obviously) is Computer Science; another is   Mathematics. (If a TEACHER requests something useful in her classroom, that's    another matter -- we'll see what I can do. Please post your     request on my Wikiversity user talk page.)

A. Example: "Napier's Bones"; used in a fourth-grade class as an aid in learning multiplication and long division. (A tool with amazing historical interest.)

I developed a Power Point presentation on this topic, before I dropped out of graduate school (but this was 	  only "look and learn). A fourth grade class 	   sucessfully used a paper model of the "bones", with 	   encouraging results ("hand on" experience is better). 	   I am hopeful that an interactive computer program 	   is an even better way to present this topic, and I'm 	   trying to develop ways to make this possible and easy.

B. Raymond Kurzweil's "List of Suggested Readings" is	  25 pages of book and magazine article citations -- not to mention web sites. This should be a good start for my next course -- "Tomorrow 101".

C. _The_Last_B._S._History_Book_in_History_ is 	  my journal (in progress) of my efforts to make the Wikiversity (or, at least, "Simple Simon" within it) artificially intelligent. (I know. At the present time, 	  "artificial intelligence" is in competition only with 	   "genuine stupidity". :-

D. May I use a computer? No! You MUST use a computer! How else do you expect to create your own new apps?

III. Finding (or making) CONNECTIONS (This ties in to material on the primary education portal.) Many of the topics I am preparing for this course are CONNECTED in many ways. The linear outline format does not do justice to the many connections. But, web pages can be     built with many non-linear connections. Links to connected topics can be as near as a mouse click away!

A. Learning to "see" connections

1. My childhood introduction to "Descriptive		  Geometry"

a. My father, an analog computer in the Taylorcraft factor (draftsman), had to 			  draw pictures of airplanes which hadn't 			   been built yet, so other people could make blueprints and build the airplanes.

b. Would the book, _Descriptive_Geometry_, by French and Vierk, have sold more copies had it had the title instead, _Source_Material_for_IQ_Tests_?

c. Differential Calculus in the hands of a three-year-old -- the half-silvered mirror

2. Reading through the encyclopedias (One of my favorites was volume "P": for 		  "Planets", "Plants", "Polyhedra", "Printing 		    Presses", and many other topics.)

3. Origami

A. it's "hands-on" four-dimensional geometry from a "simple" piece of paper.

B. Origami methods are actually more sophisticated than traditional "straight-			  edge and compass" geometry. Search the web for ways to "duplicate the cube" and "trisect any angle" -- easy with origami; not possible with straight- edge and compass

4. What do origami, autobiographical material by 		  R. Buckminster Fuller, and essays on Mathematical Recreations have in common? (Answer: the same pictures of regular and 		   semi-regular Polyhedra)

B. Learning to "go beyond" the usual

1. "Impossible" puzzles

a. Stewart coffin's "Convolution" puzzle

b. The puzzle I encountered in Wexham, NC

c. Four connected line segments span nine dots

2. "How to Count past a Googolplex"

3. _How_to_Find_Your_Very_Own_Personal_Solution_ _to_Rubik's_Cube_ One of the most important lessons a creative student can learn is this: "Not every problem 		  can be solved in less than two minutes." Arithmetic in primary school may appear to work that way, but I hope my BOOK will help students recognize the depth sometimes required for true, creative problem solving.

IV. "Hands on" activities

A. Computer Science

1. QB64 BASIC compiler can be downloaded from Wikipedia (This is your first assignment 		  for this course.)

2. Full documentation is available at the QB64 wiki

3. There seems to be an active "user community" of amateur (hopefully, "white hat") coders providing a plethora of sample programs.

B. Reverse Engineering

1. Re-using Wikiversity (and Wikipedia) materials -- if somebody else posted something neat in their web pages, you can learn to read the source code and use the same methods on your pages.

2. Making objects (puzzles) from published pictures Studying pictures carefully can teach you a lot!

3. Explore the many "how to do it" pages on the web.

4. The reconstruction of Colonial Williamsburg is 		  elegant example of how an entire village can be built from the most primitive beginnings.

5. The Japanese used reverse engineering to (almost) win World War II. How do you think they learned to build airplanes and battleships?

C. An adaptation of the public material on 	  MIT's course, "How to Make Almost Anything", suitable for primary school students

1. Are hacksaw blades, files, drill bits, and 2 by 4's sufficient (and safe enough to use)?

a. Also necessary are: sand paper (assorted grits), sanding blocks, pencils, erasers, combination square, protractor, drawing compass -- and LOTS of time and patience.

b. Tools of doubtful safety: hobby craft knife, block plane (requires lots of 			  muscular strength -- it's difficult for 			   young children to use.), sharp chisels

2. "Breadboards" and kits from Radio Shack These are expensive, but many present ways to 		  connect circuit components which are simple and easy enough for children to use, with proper instructions and guidance.

3. Is the $40 machine shop a workable idea? Electric Discharge Machining is versatile -- it can cut almost any conductive material (even hardened steel) into intricate shapes.

Known hazards: possible exposure to 110 volt electricity; some dielectric fluids (e. g., 		  kerosine) are toxic and/or flammable.

4. Is a $20 (child powered) scroll saw possible? A scroll saw can cut wood into almost any shape, and is probably the one power tool safest for responsible children to use. Building enough scroll saws for a class of 		  students would probably require the $40 machine shop to make metal parts for hinges and clamps.

D. Craft Activities

1. Paper Engineering

2. Making puzzles and furniture

V. Creative Problem Solving

A. My puzzle collection

1. Physical ("real reality") models

2. On-line ("virtual reality") models

B. On-line resources

1. The works of Stewart Coffin (One of the world's foremost designers of 		   non-orthogonal puzzles)

2. References to Martin Gardner and his works (deceased author of "Mathematical Games" column 		   in _Scientific_American_ magazine for 25 years)

3. Pictures of the puzzle collections of very many other puzle collectors

4. Down-loadable computer "free-ware" (CAUTION! We will need to be careful to 		   avoid "mal-ware"!)

VI. The immediate goal of the course is to encourage creativity in    as many students as my educational material can reach. Then, I    would like to offer some challenges and attempt to apply some principles of "Crowd Accelerated Innovation" in hopes of    beginning an intellectual "chain reaction" in an on-line community.

The ultimate goal of the course is to see that "Simple Simon", the smiley-faced tour guide extraordinaire for the Wikiversity, gets created in computer-compatible form, and gets promoted to the position of "acting Director for the Wikiversity", designing custom courses and leading special tours for wikiversity users and visitors. (It's [about] bot time! --    _The_Singularity_Is_Near_ -- Raymond Kurzweil) I believe that the Wikiversity could become the Singularity! :-D

The end. 