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Show , Spring 2004 page 1 7 RULE QUESTIONS TO ASK OTHER ASSISTANCE RULE#1 Define the Edges Where does this problem start and where does it end? What is the scope of the project? Who is involved, who is not involved? Help the student trim down their proposal into something that fits within the thesis hours and is compatible with having a (albeit narrowly defined) life. RULE #2 Look at the Negative Spaces What is around or behind the problem? Is there research that involved a precursor concept, or a related concern that informs your project? Provide your perspective on the rich environment of the project's context, often more interesting than the questions being addressed. Negative spaces may become confounding, intervening, or contributing variables. RULE #3 Examine Relations and Proportions What is a visual representation of the problem, either drawn or actually constructed? What is the theoretical foundation, or the conceptual framework? Ask to see their models and help with reshaping a series over time. Help them find quiet, undisturbed blocks of time for this activity. Talking and reading can be real impediments here. RULE #4 Discriminate Light from Shadow What has already been found? What is left yet to do? What is still unknown? Your judgment of the literature can help the student focus efforts on something that would make an original contribution. RULE #5 Examine the Whole What is the bigger picture? What do you see when you step back? This is a deliberate attempt to move from verbal labels of small parts, to a more visual or visceral sense of the entirety of the situation, particularly the non-verbal overall impression. Go ahead and verbalize your impression. FIGURE 7: Edwards' Saturation Rules & Questions to Help a concise, clean, statement or question. The second phase of the creation process is saturation, where one immerses in information. Saturation is a conscious phase, in contrast to insight. Saturation is extremely verbal and words are very important. In research, saturation corresponds to familiarizing oneself with the literature, with what others have to say about the problem, and the context of the problem. For many disciplines, the evidence of saturation is a review of the literature. The creative rules for saturation are well known, and provide a comfortable road map for those of us who are linear and prefer structure. I've constructed a chart of Edwards' saturation rules, the questions you can ask the student, and other assistance you can provide to help them get through this phase successfully. Evans advises using model construction to accomplish Rule 3. A model in Rule 3 is a visual, wordless representation. By drawing or making a model of the problem, situation or concept in its context, the student can see how things relate to each other, and the relative importance or influence of components. You may find independent and dependent variables. You will find what can and cannot be changed. GUIDELINES FOR MODEL CONSTRUCTION Saturation requires concentrated activity at a fairly rapid pace. You can instruct the student that focus at this time is critical, and they might want to adjust their work or personal schedules to allow for intense immersion in the subject. This might be a good time for them to cut back on other courses or to take some personal days. Definitely, they should avoid major changes at this time, such as childbirth, marriage, divorce and moving. (But they never seem to take that kind of advice, do they? Nor do we.) Following these five rules of saturation leads to excess data input. This input, its pace and breadth and depth, leads to some paradoxes. In order to make a fresh, new thing, the student must become overly-familiar with what everyone else is doing. They must over-fill their brain with information while simultaneously keeping an open mind. And, the student must be confident amidst increasing uncertainty. Reaching a point of maximum anxiety and information overload is an indicator that the student is ready to end the saturation phase. You can reassure your students and yourself that feelings of being overwhelmed, overloaded and overstuffed mean that they are doing exactly the right things. The third phase of creativity is incubation. Incubation is an occasionally painful period of waiting for inspiration and cannot be hurried. I believe that this is the least understood, least recognized, but most important phase of the creative |
