Sunday, April 19, 2009

Convergent and divergent thinking

Every teacher here has noticed, at one time or another, that our students seem good at some things and not quite so good at others. If we ask them to think of ideas or opinions on fairly familiar topics, they usually, but not always, react poorly and either come up with very few ideas, or take inordinate amounts of time to arrive at any.

However, much of the testing in examinations seems to test expertise in convergent thinking; the production of the one, and only, right answer.

Writing Projects, however, are designed to encourage divergent ways of looking at problems, or at least include exercises that draw upon a student’s ability to think divergently.

The fact that many of our students do not achieve what they might be expected to achieve, given their high school grades, might mean that they require some training in more divergent ways of thinking.  
• Divergent thinking is the ability to find as many possible answers to a particular problem.
• Convergent thinking is the ability to find the best single answer to a problem

Left Brain, Right Brain
I'm creative and he's analytical
Have you ever thought why some people can paint beautifully, but have difficulty adding two and two? Or why some people can understand the intricacies of calculus effortlessly, but struggle to write a one-page essay? It's all about which side of your brain dominates - the left or the right.
The human brain is bifurcated down the middle into two parts, popularly known as the left brain and right brain respectively. We know that different parts of the brain control different bodily and mental functions. Over the years, a theory that has gained in popularity is that the right brain and the left brain are responsible for different modes of thought and that the way in which a person thinks will depend on which side of his brain predominates.

Left brain vs. right brain
People who rely more heavily on the right half of their brain tend to be more imaginative and intuitive. They see things as a whole and are interested in patterns, shapes and sizes. The right brain is associated with artistic ability like singing, painting, writing poetry, etc. Left-brain dominated people may find their thought processes vague and difficult to follow, for they are quite opposite in the way they think. Left-brain dominated people tend to be more logical and analytical in their thinking and usually excel at mathematics and word skills. But this does not mean that a person who is left or right brain dominated does not use the other part of his brain. For most people, the two parts of the brain work in tandem to enable them to function as well-rounded personalities.
The right brain absorbs new information in chunks, but it is the job of the left brain to sift and sort it in an organized fashion. However, there is no clear-cut definition of the functions of the two parts of the brain. Each can do the other's work, just not as efficiently. Most people have a tendency to lean towards using the left or right brain while thinking or learning. For instance, right brain dominated people are often poor spellers as they tend to rely more on their intuition rather than actually studying the order in which the letters in a word occur.

Academics and thinking
At the time of their birth, babies are not predisposed to be either left brain or right brain thinkers. Unfortunately, our education system with its emphasis on rote learning and exam syllabi is more tuned to encouraging left brain activity, often to the detriment of right brain creativity. School examinations are designed to test left brain activity and encourage conformity in thought. There is a possibility that if right brain skills are not exercised, they may not develop sufficiently.
When it comes to academics, left brain dominated children do well at school, as they are more likely to respond to formal learning. They exhibit greater responsibility, are quite content to study by themselves and have greater concentration. Right brain dominated children, on the other hand, are less likely to perform well academically. They prefer to study with company, cannot sit still for very long and are more responsive in informal settings.

Convergent and divergent thinking
Right brain and left brain dominated people can also be categorized as divergent and convergent thinkers respectively. A convergent thinker has a systematic approach and plays by the rules. He analyzes everything and reaches a logical conclusion. Thus, scientific and mathematical activities are more up his street. Such people do very well on straightforward question and answer type tests.
Divergent thinkers, on the other hand, are creative and tend to throw the rules out of the window. They are artistic and always looking for ways to express themselves. They do much better in exams that require essay-type answers.
There is no such thing that it is better to be left brain dominated or right brain dominated. You need both kinds of thinking to function well. While a person may have a dominant style of thinking, it would be interesting to see how the other half works and even learn to develop the skills that you lack.

http://www.indiaparenting.com/raisingchild/data/raisingchild060.shtml

Divergent Thinking
According to Guilford College[1], divergent or synthetic thinking is the ability to draw on ideas from across disciplines and fields of inquiry to reach a deeper understanding of the world and one's place in it.
There is a movement in education that maintains divergent thinking might create more resourceful students. Rather than presenting a series of problems for rote memorization or resolution, divergent thinking presents open-ended problems and encourages students to develop their own solutions to problems.
Divergent production is the creative generation of multiple answers to a set problem. For example, find uses for 1 meter lengths of black cotton.
[edit] Convergent thinking
Convergent thinking is oriented towards deriving the single best (or correct) answer to a clearly defined question. It emphasizes speed, accuracy, logic, and the like, and focuses on accumulating information, recognizing the familiar, reapplying set techniques, and preserving the already known. It is based on familiarity with what is already known (i.e., knowledge), and is most effective in situations where a ready-made answer exists and needs simply to be recalled from stored information, or worked out from what is already known by applying conventional and logical search, recognition and decision-making strategies. (OWAIS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_and_divergent_production

1
Understand convergent thinking. This is perhaps the more predominant style of thinking in contemporary technological society. In convergent thought, we locate a problem at the "center" of our focus and then gather peripheral resources to bear down on the problem. So then our resources "converge" on the problem. Often times with convergent thinking, there is a single best solution that is sought. An example of convergent thinking might involve taking a multiple choice test in which there is a single "correct" answer. The test-taker brings knowledge from outside of the problem (perhaps learned in a course) and converges it all onto the problem in order to choose the correct answer.
Step2
Understand divergent thinking. Divergent thinking involves some stimulus, which can take the form of a problem, and we can locate this at the center, as we did with convergent thinking above. However, the procedure is different. Rather than gathering information and converging it on the central problem, we branch off (diverge) and shoot for novel ideas, new perspectives and creativity. Instead of a single correct answer, there may be a whole host of possibilities. An example of using divergent thinking might involve taking an open-ended test that asks how many uses one can imagine for various (often mundane) objects. What can you do with a pencil? A string? A rock?
Step3
Combine convergent thinking with divergent thinking. Perhaps the most clear-cut way in which convergent thinking may be optimally combined with divergent thinking is to engage in divergent thinking in order to generate many novel ideas, and then to evaluate these ideas by using convergent thinking. The fecund imagination of divergent thinking is tempered by the selective critique of convergent thinking.
Step4
Practice everyday application and relationships. It is probably wise to diversify your thought patterns to include both divergent and convergent thinking. Most of us are better at one than the other, but at least a little of each complements the other. This isn't just a matter of intellectual pursuits, but it can also come to bear on personal relationships. The old adage "opposites attract" might be especially applicable here too, as a predominantly divergent thinker may admire the "logical" convergent thinker, who may in turn become infatuated with the "wild" divergent thinker.

Convergent and Divergent
Thinking Styles
Hudson (1967) studied English schoolboys, and found that conventional measures of intelligence did not always do justice to their abilities. The tests gave credit for problem-solving which produced the "right" answer, but under-estimated creativity and unconventional approaches to problems.
He concluded that there were two different forms of thinking or ability in play here:

 One he called "convergent" thinking, in which the person is good at bringing material from a variety of sources to bear on a problem, in such a way as to produce the "correct" answer. This kind of thinking is particularly appropriate in science, maths and technology.
 Because of the need for consistency and reliability, this is really the only form of thinking which standardised intelligence tests, (and even national exams) can test


 The other he termed "divergent" thinking. Here the student's skill is in broadly creative elaboration of ideas prompted by a stimulus, and is more suited to artistic pursuits and study in the humanities.
 In order to get at this kind of thinking, he devised open-ended tests, such as the "Uses of Objects" test

Uses of Objects Test
Below are five everyday objects. Think of as many different uses as you can for each:
 A barrel
 A paper clip
 A tin of boot polish
 A brick
 A blanket
(No time limit: usually completed in 15 minutes)
Hudson's argument has important implications. Not only does it suggest that conventional approaches to assessment may be seriously under-estimating the talent of part of the school population; but also that the very assumptions behind current curriculum and pedagogic strategies are restrictive. With divergent thinkers, for example, it is not always realistic to specify the intended outcomes of a lesson in advance. This of course leads into the traditional minefield of assessing and accrediting creativity. Fortunately, convergence and divergence are ideal types, and not mutually exclusive.
Robert L. Fielding

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