Educating relational thinking to improve design creativity
01 Apr 2020-Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education (Intellect)-Vol. 19, Iss: 1, pp 81-106
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the effect of relational thinking training on the creativity of design ideas in an analogical design task and concluded that stimulating relational thinking of design students by an educational training is an effective way in design education to improve the design creativity.
Abstract: Developing the creativity of design students is widely considered to be an important goal in design education. Finding effective training and instruction to improve creativity is a challenging subject for design educators and researchers. The aim of this study is to examine the effect
of relational thinking training on creativity of design ideas in an analogical design task. The proposed training consisted of three steps: finding relations between two sources; the characteristics of each source; and relations between a new idea and the sources. The participants were 45
second-year architectural design students. The results indicated that the training significantly improved the quality of design ideas and significantly changed the type of similarity that designers established between source and design idea from literal similarity to analogical similarity.
We concluded that stimulating relational thinking of design students by an educational training is an effective way in design education to improve the design creativity.
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01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: A theoretical framework to model fixation based on C-K design theory states that fixation is characterised as a set of restrictive heuristics activated in creative reasoning, and demonstrates how this framework makes sense of the varieties of fixation in design processes.
Abstract: Despite the existence of many studies about the different aspects of fixation in creativity and design reasoning, the underlying mechanisms of fixation, i.e., the processes that interfere during creative reasoning and lead one to become fixated on a small number of unvaried solutions, remain unclear. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework to model fixation based on C-K design theory, which states that fixation is characterised as a set of restrictive heuristics activated in creative reasoning. We applied our framework in a set of experiments. We demonstrated how this framework makes sense of the varieties of fixation in design processes. We conclude by proposing three capabilities to understand fixation and overcome it: restrictive heuristics development, inhibitory control and expansion.
65 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed research on digital design in art education in the context of higher education during the period 2000-2020 and found that digital design processes in artistic education promote the development of autonomy and self-critical capacities among students.
Abstract: Digital design processes in artistic education promote the development of autonomy and self-critical capacities among students. Digital technology has transformed university education and the development of transversal skills. The objective of this study is to analyze research on digital design in art education in the context of higher education during the period 2000–2020. Bibliometric techniques were applied to 1027 articles selected from the Scopus database. The findings yielded data on the scientific productivity of journals, authors, research institutions and countries/territories that promote this topic. The data show an exponential trend, with more insistence in the last three years. Six current schools of knowledge related to art, level, formation, faculty, perception and relationship were detected. This research establishes the link between education, art and technology in the university context, and it is a tool for decision making by promoters of this field of research.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the research during the period 1917-2020 on the development of emotional creativity in art education and identified five lines of research related to visual art education, affective paradigm, metacompetency, expressive arts therapy group and cognitive empathy.
Abstract: The emotions that human beings experience have a key role in the environments in which they operate. In art education, creative processes are influenced by the emotions and experiences lived by the individual, enabling a more emotional and creative design to make life more pleasant. The aim was to examine the research during the period 1917–2020 on the development of emotional creativity in art education. Mathematical and statistical techniques were applied to 984 articles carried from Elsevier’s Scopus database. The findings yielded data on the scientific productivity of the journal, authors, research institutions, and countries/territories that promoted this field. The data showed an exponential trend, mostly in the last decade. Five lines of research stand out: emotion, higher education, education, art, and leadership. Moreover, five future research directions related to visual art education, affective paradigm, metacompetency, expressive arts therapy group, and cognitive empathy were detected. This study establishes the link between psychology, neuroscience, and artistic education to constitute the decision-making of the promoters of this topic of research. The analysis of international research allowed us to focus the future publications of academics and researchers, in addition to guaranteeing an adequate approach to the objectives of the institutions and funding centers.
3 citations
TL;DR: It is indicated that there are significant relations between design expertise with the quality, but not with the novelty of the design ideas.
Abstract: Designers rely much heavily on experience. Previously, it was assumed that particular developmental experiences are correlated with creativity which develops over time through experience. The aim of this study is to explore whether design expertise definitely improves the creativity of design ideas in architectural design. To test the hypothesis, several architectural designers at different levels of expertise, from novice students to expert architects, participated in a design task. The novelty and quality of the design ideas were evaluated as the signs of creativity. The results indicated that there are significant relations between design expertise with the quality, but not with the novelty of the design ideas. The expert designers preferred to find ideas that have practical solutions to the design problem, but novices looked for original ideas. In conclusion, design experience influences creative ideation but has different effects on various aspects of design creativity.
3 citations
Cites methods from "Educating relational thinking to im..."
...In this study the quality of the design idea was evaluated qualitatively based on expert judges in reference to other scholars (Alipour, 2020; Casakin, 2005; Casakin & Goldschmidt, 1999; Cheng, Mugge, & Schoormans, 2014; Tsenn et al., 2014)....
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TL;DR: In this paper , the authors suggested a model of four types of conceptual design: analogical, typological, pragmatic and theoretical, based on the previous studies of brain dominancy, individuals can be divided into four main groups.
Abstract: The importance of the design process in architecture is one of the most popular subjects for the researchers in this field. By reviewing the literature on the subject of design methods in architecture, the authors suggested a model of four types of conceptual design: analogical, typological, pragmatic and theoretical. Also, based on the previous studies of brain dominancy, individuals can be divided into four main groups. In order to find the relation between brain dominancy of architecture students and their preferred conceptualization methods in design, over 350 students of architecture participated in this research in Iran. Using Ned Herrmann’s brain physiology model, the findings concluded that the participants who use their A quadrant of brain prefer pragmatic and theoretical approaches. The preference of participants with B and C quarter-brain dominance is respectively typological and theoretical methods. Participants who use their D quadrant of brain prefer analogical and theoretical methods.
1 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this paper, the interpretation rules of OS implicit rules for mapping knowledge about a base domain into a torget domain are defined by the existence of higher-order relations, which depend only on syntactic properties of the knowledge representation, and not on specific content of the domoins.
Abstract: A theory of analogy must describe how the meaning of on analogy is derived from the meonings of its parts. In the structure-mapplng theory, the interpretation rules ore characterized OS implicit rules for mapping knowledge about a base domain into a torget domain. Two important features of the theory are (a) the rules depend only on syntactic properties of the knowledge representation, and not on the specific content of the domoins; ond (b) the theoretical fromework allows analogies to be distinguished o ond (b) The particular relations mapped ore determined by systemaficity. OS defined by the existence of higher-order relations.
4,667 citations
TL;DR: The use of an analogy from a semantically distant domain to guide the problemsolving process was investigated in five experiments as discussed by the authors, where subjects who first read a story about a military problem and its solution tended to generate analogous solutions to a medical problem, provided they were given a hint to use the story to help solve the problem.
Abstract: The use of an analogy from a semantically distant domain to guide the problemsolving process was investigated. The representation of analogy in memory and processes involved in the use of analogies were discussed theoretically and explored in five experiments. In Experiment I oral protocols were used to examine the processes involved in solving a problem by analogy. In all experiments subjects who first read a story about a military problem and its solution tended to generate analogous solutions to a medical problem (Duncker's “radiation problem”), provided they were given a hint to use the story to help solve the problem. Transfer frequency was reduced when the problem presented in the military story was substantially disanalogous to the radiation problem, even though the solution illustrated in the story corresponded to an effective radiation solution (Experiment II). Subjects in Experiment III tended to generate analogous solutions to the radiation problem after providing their own solutions to the military problem. Subjects were able to retrieve the story from memory and use it to generate an analogous solution, even when the critical story had been memorized in the context of two distractor stories (Experiment IV). However, when no hint to consider the story was given, frequency of analogous solutions decreased markedly. This decrease in transfer occurred when the story analogy was presented in a recall task along with distractor stories (Experiment IV), when it was presented alone, and when it was presented in between two attempts to solve the problem (Experiment V). Component processes and strategic variations in analogical problem solving were discussed. Issues related to noticing analogies and accessing them in memory were also examined, as was the relationship of analogical reasoning to other cognitive tasks.
2,425 citations
TL;DR: For example, the authors showed that structural alignment influences which features to pay attention to in choice options and that alignable differences are given more weight in choice situations than are nonalignable differences.
Abstract: ions Keil, 1989 ; Rips, 1989) For example, bats have the perceptual and behavioral characteristics of birds (they are similar to birds in this sense), but they are classified as mammals, because of important (though nonobvious) properties, such as giving birth to live young On the basis of examples like this, similarity's role in categorization has been challenged ; it has been argued that category membership judgments are theory based rather than similarity based (Keil, 1989 ; Murphy & Medin, 1985) The process of alignment and mapping points the way to a reconciliation of similarity-based and theorybased accounts (see also Goldstone, 1994a) If we focus purely on perceptual similarity among objects, we are led to conclude that bats should be categorized with birds On this view, theory-based knowledge (such as why bats are mammals) must intervene from elsewhere to overrule this assignment However, if the similarity computation is assumed to be that ofstructural alignment, then the similarity between two instances will be based riot only on object-level commonalities but also on common relations such as common causal relations and common origins Assuming that our representations include information about theory-based relations, such as that bats bear live young, as well as information about features, then the schism between similarity-based and theory-based categorization may be more apparent than real Developmentally, if we assume that theoretical knowledge is acquired gradually, this view would account for the characteristic-to-defining shift (Keil & Batterman, 1984) in children's interpretations of word meaning from local object features (eg , a taxi is bright yellow and has a checkered sign) to deeper relational commonalities (eg , a taxi is a vehicle that may be hired to transport people) Choice and decision Structural alignment also sheds light on the processes underlying choice behavior Medin, Goldstone, and Markman (1995) reviewed paral lels between phenomena in decision processing and phenomena in comparison processing that suggest an important role for structural alignment in decision making Structural alignment influences which features to pay attention to in choice options Research suggests that alignable differences are given more weight in choice situations than are nonalignable differences (Lindemann & Markman, 1996 ; Markman & Medin, 1995 ; Slovic & MacPhillamy, 1974) For example, Markman and Medin (1995) asked participants to choose between video games and to justify their choices Their justifications were more likely to contain alignable differences than nonalignable differences As another example, Kahneman and Z'versky (1984) described to participants a hypothetical store in which a jacket could be bought for $125 and a calculator for $15 They offered participants the opportunity to go to another store and save $5 on the total purchase Participants who were offered ajacket for $125 and a calculator for $10 were more willing to make the effort to go to another store than those offered a jacket for $120 and a calculator for $15 Even though the monetary reward for going to the other store was the same for both groups, participants were influenced by the alignable difference
1,611 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe four objective measures of ideation effectiveness, and the theoretical basis of each is discussed and procedures for application of each are outlined and illustrated with case studies.
Abstract: Systematic methods for idea generation in engineering design have come about from a variety of sources. Do these methods really aid ideation? Some empirical studies have been conducted by researchers to answer this question. These studies include highly controlled lab experiments by cognitive psychologists, as well as experiments in simulated design environments carried out by engineering design theorists. A key factor in design and analysis of empirical studies is characterization and measurement of ideation effectiveness. This paper describes four objective measures of ideation effectiveness. The theoretical basis of each is discussed and procedures for application of each are outlined and illustrated with case studies.
977 citations
TL;DR: In this article, three empirical studies examine how analogical thinking influences the idea-generation stage of the new product development process, and reveal a positive relationship between the originality of the product and the extent of analogical transfer, the type of analogies used, and the presence of external primes.
Abstract: Although both the academic and the trade literature have widely acknowledged the need to foster the development of more-innovative products, little empirical research has examined the cognitive processes underlying the creation of these novel product concepts. In this research, three empirical studies examine how analogical thinking influences the idea-generation stage of the new product development process. The first study uses the verbal protocols of real-world industrial designers to trace the role of analogy in the context of a new product development task, and the second and third studies use an experimental approach to assess the effectiveness of different ideation strategies and conditions. Findings from these studies indicate that the originality of the resulting product design is influenced by the extent of analogical transfer, the type of analogies used, and the presence of external primes. In addition, these studies reveal a positive relationship between the originality of the product ...
584 citations