Fostering creativity in military college students.

The problem of professional activism of the officer corps is taking on a special importance today: There must not be "sluggish" officers in the modern armed forces. As a matter of fact, the concept of activism has throughout the history of human thought been seen as one of the most important human qualities and is opposed to passivity, indifference, and infantilism.

Of all areas of research into human activity (psychological, cognitive, mental, intellectual, creative, artistic, labor, reformatory, and behavioral) today, we are interested in creativity. With regard to the military specialist, it manifests itself through special activeness that is formally classified as scientific and technical creativity. In recent years, this problem has been addressed in the works of many domestic pedagogues and educationists (both civilian and military), considering the problem of professional activism and creativity as a phenomenon that naturally generates new ideas in science and technology. Nonetheless, none of these numerous works provide an answer to this question: How to foster creativeness in engineering activity,* including in the process of socially oriented technical activity, among military college and university students? This cannot always be accomplished through a mere transfer of an aggregate of knowledge and skills of inventive and innovative activity.

The present author proposes that the activity of teachers and students at military training establishments be conducted within the framework of a pragmatic model,** helping foster their creativity in the course of engineering activity. It appears expedient to use the term "fostering" which is seen as a target oriented process of supervising man's preparation for socially useful activity. The pragmatism of this model is predetermined by the tasks addressed by a military engineer. Pragmatic models are a means of organizing practical actions, a method of presenting an exemplary action or its result. Obviously, of all types of models (cognitive, pragmatic, and instrumental), pragmatic models are the most appropriate for projecting indoctrination tasks as they are a working representation of educational objectives.

The objective of a military establishment of higher learning is to train and educate a military officer capable of making correct engineering solutions in the process of his professional activity, generating technical invention-level solutions, well versed in the basics of patent legislation, and following the world's latest technical innovations with the help of patent literature and other sources of information. Based on this objective and taking into account the experience of navy and army specialists in engineering and training (educational) activity, a pragmatic model of fostering students' creativity in the process of engineering activity was developed. It builds on a block-modular structure, tested by the present author in the course of his years-long pedagogical practice, which is verbally described by nine modules called Objective, Title, Code, Analogue, Essence, Blueprint, Work, Effect, and Formula. The development was based on the author's experience in innovative activity within the bounds of both current and earlier legislation.

Taken together, the modules reflect an algorithm of creating a new technical solution from concept formulation to its realization. Their execution calls for a creative approach in the process of engineering activity: an ability to formulate the objective of a technical project, to describe it (identify it among technical objects), to study the analogues of the proposed solution, to describe its essence and operation, to present it in graphic form, and to substantiate the viability and effectiveness of the proposed technical solution. The ability to formalize a technical solution in the form of the basic patent document--formula of invention--is also very important.

The proposed model, in effect, reflects the stage by stage character of the technical solution process with the formalization of its results within the format of an application for an invention or utility model, in accordance with the RF law. Modules, essentially, reflect the corresponding sections of an invention claim. This helps, in executing modules as a background to the training process, to prepare a student for participation in inventive and patent and licensing activities. He learns to create a technical solution and at the same time file application documents for a patent (utility model registration certificate), thus acquiring experience both in technical innovation and in patent and licensing activity.

Execution of each module accomplishes a definitive objective. Modules are not equal in the complexity of execution, which is assessed on a 10-point scale (Table 1), using corresponding complexity coefficients (CC).

The content and complexity of modules predetermine training tactics in executing the model. We would like to recommend teachers to consistently execute the modules in the education (indoctrination) process. Yet experience in working with students shows that this is not often the case. Execution of a pragmatic model requires the application of the "from the simple to the complex" principle. It is preferable to do this beginning with Module No. 6, Blueprint. Preparation of illustration materials/blueprints encourages a student to use his imagination as he subsequently elaborates proposals, which can sometimes be imperfect, but always independent. This also helps foster inquisitiveness, curiosity, pragmatism in decision making, and creative thinking. In drawing up a blueprint, a student, in addition, has an acute awareness of the need for a good practical knowledge of physics, chemistry, mathematics, theoretical mechanics, strength of materials, materials technology, and other natural sciences and general professional disciplines. Priority is given not to a mechanical execution of a teacher's concept or to a mechanical copying of another student's blueprint, but a conscious selection of an original technical solution.

In executing the modules of a pragmatic model, a student also has to use knowledge of technological history. It is noteworthy, that Module No. 4 (Analogue) is best executed by second and third year students who have learned to make an effective use of information sources, including Internet resources.

Difficulties arise in executing Module No. 1 in so far as tasking (target setting) is probably the biggest problem in executing the model as a whole. Analysis shows that a student in any year of training does not find it very easy to formulate and adjust the objective of a technical project due to a shortage of theoretical knowledge and practical experience. A teacher is supposed to identify difficulties that arise in a timely manner, sustaining a student's motivation in accomplishing the task at hand.

Thus, in executing the model's modules, a student independently applies his knowledge and skills to a new situation, putting forward original, unconventional ideas. In evaluating the success of such activity within the framework of a given model, the following student creativity criteria are used: a sense of novelty, pragmatic thinking, an ability to transform the structure of an object of engineering activity, and an aptitude for technical innovation. Each of the four criteria is characterized by a set of empirical indicators (Table 2).

[TABLE 2 OMITTED]

By aggregating the appraisals on all empirical indicators and criteria, a teacher adduces an integrated creativity coefficient that can be used to analyze the dynamics of the process of fostering a student's creativity as part of engineering activity.

In conclusion, it should be stressed that the use of the proposed pragmatic model helps better materialize a student's knowledge and enhance his motivation to study.

E.A. VARNAVSKIKH

Candidate of Technical Sciences

* Creative activity (creativity) in the process of engineering activity is associated not so much with the development of weapon systems and military equipment or their production technology as with testing their serviceability, ensuring their preservation and survivability under various conditions and effective combat employment in accordance with their functional designation.

** A pragmatic model is a means of the organization of practical activities.

Table 1 A Characterization of Modules

No.  Title of Module  Knowledge, skills and expertise acquired      CC

1    Objective        Engineering objective setting                 10
2    Title            Encoding a technical solution                  6
3    Code             Classification of an engineering solution      1
                      according to the International Patent
                      Classification
4    Analogue         Analysis of the state of the art, analogous    5
                      technical solutions, and prototypes
5    Essence          Description of the essence of a proposed       7
                      technical solution as a static model
6    Blueprint        Elaboration of illustration and graphic        3
                      materials demonstrating the essence of a
                      proposed engineering solution
7    Work             Demonstration of the feasibility of the        4
                      proposed technical solution
8    Effect           Demonstration of the viability and             7
                      effectiveness of the proposed solution in
                      comparison to analogues and prototypes
9    Formula          Formalization of the results of an            10
                      engineering solution and making the decision
                      to execute them in the form of intellectual
                      property objects