Standards and Benchmarks for Invention/Innovation
Based on an understanding and application of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ)
The Standards for 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 learned if Technology Education teachers are to prepare our students for the workforce of the future.
Standards and Benchmarks for Technology
Purpose
The purpose of this note is to suggest the inclusion of several additional concepts in Standards and Benchmarks for the study of technology in schools. Because technology changes and advances so rapidly it is imperative that students become aware of the underlying concepts that provide and direct that rapid advancement. Several practical theories and their accompanying methods and tools are currently interacting to speed the rapid changes in technological systems. The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) provides a body of knowledge, methods and tools for the study of technological innovation, design, invention, and evolution. The Theory of Constraints (TOC) provides logical thinking and planning tools for the resolution of decisions, choices, and contradictions. Quality management processes provide statistical methods for identifying and solving problems. The tools of systems dynamics and systems thinking provide clues, not generally visible, to the functioning of systems. All of these theories have been developed extensively over the last half-century and have dramatically increased the productivity of the average worker, yet none of their powerful and significant contributions are a part of the curriculum or operation of our schools. It is worthwhile that they and perhaps other powerful tools of learning and change should become a part of the repertoire of knowledge and skills of our youth. Toward that end the following example standards, benchmarks, and indicators are offered for review.
Technological Systems Standard
Students develop an understanding of technological systems. Students explain system structure, inputs, processes, outputs, feedback, and their dynamics. Students explain the development of processes and procedures for the creation and operation of systems. Students will explain and apply systems viewpoints to identify and define problem solutions. Students will explain and apply common sense logic in the analysis and solution of problems in systems. Students will develop an understanding of variation and be able to distinguish between common and special cause variation in systems.
Benchmarks
A. Students will be able to recognize and identify the systems archetypes of systems dynamics and systems thinking.
1. Describe several systems archetypes and how they explain the behavior of systems.
2. Identify a system archetype in an existing system.
B. Students will be able to recognize, identify, and apply common statistical tools for the identification and resolution of technological problems.
1. Identify where simple statistical tools might be used to identify problems in a system.
2. Apply statistical tools to identify a problem in a system.
C. Students will be able to identify and apply multilevel systems analysis to define and solve problems in systems.
1. Explain inputs, processes, and outputs of a system.
2. Explain feedback loops and their effects on an operating system.
3. Identify cause and effect relationships within a system.
4. Explain the relationships of sub-systems and super systems to a system.
5. Compare and contrast the past, present, and future developments of a system.
D. Students will be able to identify and apply cause and effect logical thinking to the solutions of problems.
1. Diagram necessary condition logic structures to identify conflicts or contradictions in systems.
2. Diagram sufficient cause logic structures to identify the consequences of ideas or actions.
Design and Application Standard
Students will understand differences in the purposeful human activities of operation, design, research, learning, and evaluation. Students will be able to explain and apply the special knowledge of technological systems that guides them in solving design and inventive problems. Students will have an understanding of how technological systems are created, grow and evolve, mature and are replaced by emerging systems. Students will have an understanding of design, invention, and innovation and their relationship to systems. Students will be able to explain system characteristics and how they interact. Students will be able to design and make new technological systems as products and processes.
Benchmarks
E. Students will be able to recognize, identify, and apply the concept of function to the solution of technological problems.
1. Explain that function is a higher level of thinking and logic than focusing on the thing under consideration. Explain that function is the purpose for which the thing was designed and that focus on the function will expand the space in which solutions are available.
2. Explain the design axiom that form follows function.
F. Students will be able to recognize, identify, and apply the patterns of technological evolution to systems and problems.
1. Explain the several patterns of technological evolution
2. Diagram the interaction of the patterns
3. Identify the position of technological systems in relation to the patterns
4. Predict the direction of evolution of a technological system
G. Students will be able to recognize, identify, and apply the patterns of technological invention.
1. Explain and apply several of the patterns of invention to the solution of problems
2. Identify several of the patterns of invention in current products and systems.
H. Students will be able to recognize and identify the concept of contradiction in technological problems and apply the separation principles to avoid compromise or trade-off.
1. Identify how contradictions were overcome in existing solutions.
2. Identify contradictions in systems.
3. Explain the separation principles.
4. Apply the separation principles to overcome contradictions in systems.
I. Students will be able to recognize, identify, and apply the principle of uniqueness to problems.
1. Explain the uniqueness principle in the design and development of systems and draw the distinction between design and research.
2. Apply the uniqueness principle in solving problems in systems.
J. Students will be able to explain and use several problem solving and design methodologies that can expand their ability to solve problems.
1. Explain and apply the methods and tools of the Ideation Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (ITRIZ) to solve problems.
2. Explain and apply common statistical tools to solve problems
3. Explain and apply the logical tools of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) to solve problems.
4. Explain and apply common design procedures.
5. Explain and apply the concepts of system dynamics and systems thinking to the solution of problems.
Grade levels have not been identified for the example standards, benchmarks, and indicators mentioned above. It is assumed that some basic understanding of the standards is necessary at all grade levels and that the depth of understanding and the skill of application will vary with the age of the student. Students should progress from basic awareness of the concepts in their immediate concrete environment to a deep knowledge and competent level of skill in the application of the concepts by the time they complete their schooling.
Before adopting new methods and tools to be learned in schools, at least two important questions must be answered.
- First, should schools adopt tools and methods just because they are successful in business and industry? The answer to this question is a resounding no. Methods and tools should be carefully scrutinized to determine if their purpose matches the purposes of schools and if results of their use matches the results desired by schools.
- Second, why do these tools and methods increase industrial and business productivity? The answer is simple; they are tools and methods for rapid learning. Business and industry have discovered that they must learn rapidly in a rapidly changing environment and they actively seek and adopt methods and tools that provide for rapid and effective learning.
Schools must also adopt methods for rapid learning. Schools that do not make these rapid learning methods and tools a part of their curriculum will be failing their students and their communities.
