Assessing Invention Knowledge and Skills
Assessing Innovation and Invention Knowledge and Skills
Based on an understanding and application of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ)
The Assessing Innovation and Invention Knowledge and Skills presentation was based on the article "New Tools for Design" published in The Technology Teacher, December, 2005. Please access the article by clicking here.
The premise is that there is much more to be taught and assessed if Technology Education teachers are to teach our students to invent and innovate.
Teaching the Principles of Invention
Building race-cars, trebuchets, paper towers, and model bridges are popular activities for the technology education classroom. These fun activities provide excellent opportunities to teach many basic principles of science, technology, and design. It is important that principles such as thrust, drag, friction, yaw, balance, symmetry, trajectory, levers, torque, force, compression, tension and others are not lost or forgotten in the press for time and the heat of competitive effort to win the race, throw or travel the greatest distance, or hold the greatest mass.
Competing in these activities is a matter of applying standard knowledge and solutions to the problem at hand—decrease drag with smooth aerodynamic shape, decrease friction with lubricant and slick materials, increase torque and force with increased mass and leverage. Our students make use of these and other well-known solutions to their design problems.
These activities present routine problems and require routine problem solving to aid in besting the competition. They provide good practice applying basic principles of science and technology and the basic design process. They help us meet the expectation of our standards for design and for application of the design process.
Design, however, is more than solving routine problems. Our standards recognize this as they call for an introduction to and application of innovation and invention. Design can be thought of as a continuum stretching from routine problems on one end to inventive problems on the other end. It's important that technology educators prepare our students to work on both ends of the continuum.
Assessing Innovation and Invention Knowledge and Skills
Slide Presentation
You can access the slide presentation Assessing Innovation and Invention Knowledge and Skills by clicking here.
Systems Approach and Assessment
“A problem well defined is a problem half solved.” –Charles F. Kettering
From many years of observing people struggle to solve difficult problems, Altshuller concluded that people too often accept the problem as it is first formulated, then immediately begin searching for a solution. This tendency, sometimes called solution mindedness, gets in the way of finding and solving the real problem. One of the TRIZ tools for defining a problem is called the systems approach.
A nine-cell matrix incorporating the concepts of time and system depth guides the systems approach to problem definition.
|
|
Sub-system |
System |
Super System |
|
Past |
Past Sub-system |
Past System |
Past Super System |
|
Present |
Present Sub-system |
Present System |
Present Super System |
|
Future |
Future Sub-system |
Future System |
Future Super System |
Figure 2. The Systems Approach Matrix
A problem might, upon first appearance, correspond to any of the nine cells. Nonetheless, the systems approach asks the inventor to examine all the cells before seeking a solution to the problem. This systematic search of possibilities at the start of the problem-solving process takes time but pays off later. Consider, for example, a farmer who began encountering severe problems with a hay bailer—the drive belts virtually exploded. Having previously tested the belts and certain that they were not the problem, the manufacturer initially focused on the load placed on the belts by that particular crop of hay, and the conditions (heat, humidity, moisture content of the hay, etc.) present in the environment. After their bailers failed with a variety of crops and conditions in a number of fields, the manufacturer traced the problem to the belt and the belt manufacturer. In order to cut cost, the belt manufacturer had changed resin suppliers: the new resin reduced the effectiveness of the belts. Had the bailer manufacturer been more systematic in identifying the problem at the outset, he would likely have avoided multiple bailer failures and the resulting bankruptcy of his company.
“It’s the things you know, that aren’t so, that will hurt you.” –Anon.
Problem definition (or problem “finding”) is a key ingredient for all types of problem solving. The systems approach can help find problems located anywhere along the design continuum.
Systems Approach Activity and Assessment
Because problem definition is so critical to solving inventive problems, and because it applies to the entire design continuum, students should practice identifying the hierarchical levels of systems and examining the history of each level. Teachers can present students with a product along with a simple handout describing the systems approach and ask students to complete the nine-cell matrix for that item. This activity assesses their knowledge and understanding of the systems approach.
Patterns of Evolution of Technological Systems
Eight general patterns of Technological Evolution have been identified.
- Stages of Evolution of a Technological System
- Evolution Toward Increased Ideality
- Non-uniform Development of System Elements
- Evolution Toward Increased Dynamism and Controllability
- Increased Complexity followed by Simplification
- Evolution with Matching and Mismatching Elements
- Evolution Toward Micro-Levels and Increased Use of Fields
- Evolution Toward Decreased Human Involvement
A common activity in a history class is to construct a time-line of events. A valuable activity for Technology Education is to construct a time-line of invention and innovation. You can do this timeline for multiple inventions to identify how one invention leads to another and you can construct the timeline of a single domain of technology to see how it evolved over time. Suppose that you morph your timeline into a whole class quest to analyze music recording and playing devices, something in which many middle school students are deeply interested. You can certainly include dates, inventors, and many different inventions. You may wish to send your students deeper into the realm of invention by asking them to consider how things change over time.
Supply your class with the list of patterns of evolution and while the class is gathering information you can also set your students analyzing how the devices changed and which patterns of evolution were followed by the changes. This is a good time to have samples of recording devices available for students to inspect and a good time to have some old tape decks and CD players to dismantle. You can ask the class to speculate on how the devices might change in the future. Ask them to write a paragraph describing the features of the next step in evolution of sound recording and playing devices. Ask them, “what comes after the iPod and its several incarnations?”
Ask your students to think about how much the system could be modified, changed, and controlled by the operator. Ask them to think about what kinds of systems are involved: mechanical, electro-mechanical, magnetic, chemical, electro-magnetic, etc. Ask them about what level the changes take place: macro, miniature, micro, molecular. Ask them to think about the chronological order of these changes.
When you are finished, your students will not only have some sense of the inventors and a timeline of invention they will have a sense of patterns by which technology evolves over time. With even a cursory analysis you will be able to see that technology evolves toward increased changeability and controllability, toward micro levels and use of fields, and toward decreased human involvement. A more thorough analysis may reveal evolution in stages, evolution toward the ideal and others of the eight patterns listed above.
Evolution Activity and Assessment
Provide a common product of interest to your students along with a design brief. In the brief ask your students to identify the likely next steps in evolution of the product. Ask them to justify their choices.
Levels of Invention
In his search of the patent literature, Altshuller recognized that solutions fall into five categories according to the difficulty with which they were derived:
Level One—Standard
· Solutions that are obtained by methods well known within a specialty in an industry—no invention required.
Level Two—Improvement
· Improvement of an existing system, usually with some complication
· Solution methods are obtained from the same industry
Level Three—Invention inside the paradigm
· Essential improvement to an existing system
· Solution methods are obtained from other fields or industries
Level Four—Invention outside the paradigm
· Creating a new generation of a system
· Solution methods are obtained from science, not technology
Level Five—Discovery
· Pioneer invention of an essentially new system
· Usually based on a major discovery or new science
Altshuller discovered that most patents belonged to Level One. As these did not represent solutions to inventive problems, he focused his attention on the remaining categories. From an initial group of more than 200,000 patents he identified approximately 40,000 that he deemed inventive. From these he sought to create a method that would guide problem-solvers toward truly inventive solutions.
Levels of Invention Activity and Assessment
Classification is one of the basic steps in the development of scientific inquiry and also benefits the study of technological systems. Using the TRIZ system for classifying inventions, students can obtain an appreciation for the time and effort necessary for creating them. They can also better understand the need to explore beyond the limits of their current knowledge to solve problems.
Objective: To observe and understand the level of difficulty of technological inventions.
Assignment: Given a set of inventions selected by the teacher, students will classify them according to their level of inventiveness.
Analysis: Identify how the systems have been improved. Determine whether the improvements came from well-known sources or from sources outside the related industry. Identify whether the system was simply modified or fundamentally changed. Position the inventions according to their level of inventiveness, and justify your choices.
Present the conclusion and justification with a computer slide show and narration.
Examples could be posted on the bulletin board and/or presented to the class before beginning the assignment.
Evaluation could be based on a rubric designed by the teacher and the class.
