Technical Creativity Development in Russian Additional Education System: the Case of the Private Educational Institution "Andromeda"

Kubekov Rais Rinatovich Postgraduate, Department of Theoretical and Inclusive Pedagogy, Kazan Innovative University named after V. G. Timiryasov (IEML) 42 Moskovskaya str., Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, 420111, Russia KubekovRR@ieml.ru

IntroductionTechnical creativity has deep historical roots, originating from the very foundation of society, the appearance of ore tools, the development of human thought and the individual as part of the collective.

The development of technical creativity is of particular importance in modern conditions, when technical thinking becomes an important characteristic of a modern person. This determined the need to analyze theoretical sources and practical experience in the development of technical creativity of children and adolescents. Additional education institutions play an important role in this process. Analytical evaluation and popularization of the experience of one of these organizations is the purpose of our study, during which a brief analysis of the development of the problem in the scientific literature is made.

Scientific research of creativity began in the 1950s. Thus, S. L. Rubinstein ^[20,21], L. I. Antsyferova ^[3,4], A.V. Brushlinsky ^[7], A. N. Matyushkin ^[17] and others studied subjectively conscious links of creative activity, believing that thinking arises from a problematic situation and is aimed at solving it, they considered the procedural side of creative acts ^[6]. G. Ya. Bush in the book "Methods of technical creativity" wrote about the philosophical foundations of the genesis of technical creativity, where he pointed to the deep dialectical roots of this phenomenon and classified the methods of its application ^[8].

The level of technical creativity of students plays an important role in the development of not only the individual, but also society as a whole. The ability to think outside the box, to apply integral knowledge from different fields is a requirement of modern society, which becomes an integral part of its existence.

One of the most famous researchers in the field of technical creativity is G.S. Altshuller, in his works: "Finding an idea: An Introduction to the TRIZ theory of solving inventive problems" ^[1]; "Creativity as an exact science. Theory of inventive problem solving" ^[2], he considered creativity as an important part of any process of invention and one of the main qualities of a person who seeks to create something new or solve a complex problem. He worked on the methods of RTV (the development of a creative personality), the main of which are: the use of science fiction literature (NFL) in the development of creative imagination; predictive functions of science fiction literature; the RVS operator (parametric operator); the method of modeling "little men" (MMH); phantograms; the method of goldfish (method decomposition and synthesis of fantastic ideas); step-by-step construction; the method of associations; the method of trends; the method of hidden properties of an object; a view from the outside; changing the value system; situational tasks; fantasy techniques (techniques for generating fantastic ideas); the scale of evaluation of SF ideas "Fantasy-2"; a system of exercises for the development of creative imagination (RTV).

In addition to the listed methods of solving problems, there are also alternative ones, such as:

- trial and error method;

- methods of search activation;

- brainstorming;

- the method of focal objects;

- morphological analysis;

-the method of control questions;

- the method of synectics.

The above studies are of methodological value for the description and analysis of methods for the development of technical creativity in the conditions of the private educational institution "Andromeda".

Theoretical foundations of the studyThe theoretical basis for the study of children's technical creativity is the scientific positions formed by famous scientists, such as: L. S. Vygotsky ^[10], V. A. Gorsky ^[12], G. Ya. Bush ^[8], G. S. Altshuller ^[1,2], T. V. Kudryavtsev and I. S. Yakimanskaya ^[16], I. T. Glebov ^[11], Y. S. Stolyarov, G.S. Batishchev ^[5], A.V. Brushlinsky ^[6], V.V. Davydov ^[13], D.B. Elkonin ^[23], B.M. Kedrov ^[14], etc.

For example, Vygotsky L. S. believed that every person has the ability to create from birth. In the book "Imagination and Creativity in Childhood", he defined creative activity as a human activity that creates something new, whether it is created by creative activity by some thing of the outside world or a known construction of the mind or feeling that lives and is found only in the person himself ^[10]. He paid great attention to the problem of imagination and creativity in children, described the role of creative work for the overall development and formation of the child, noting that this activity does not manifest itself immediately, but develops gradually, from elementary forms to more complex ones. In addition, Vygotsky L. S. revealed that the foundation of imagination is always perception and the material on which something new will be built, then there is a process of processing, as a result of which the idea is embodied in external images, influencing the real world and society.

Gorsky V. A. in his work "Technical creativity of schoolchildren: A manual for teachers and heads of technical circles" considered general issues of teaching methods of technical creativity and design. He pointed out that the content of technical creativity of schoolchildren in circles is the solution of technical problems (design, technological and organizational) ^[12]. As a result, he highlighted the features of the organization of technical creativity classes and revealed the logic of device design, where the main methods of developing technical creativity are: Explanatory and illustrative; Personal display method, which is an offshoot of explanatory and illustrative and consists in an individual approach to the student; Reproductive method, which consists in the physical assembly of certain devices from improvised materials; A method of modeling, which is divided into several levels of complexity and involves assembling a model according to an algorithm from certain parts. Gorsky assumed that these methods should help the teacher to introduce schoolchildren to design activities and provide them with psychological and pedagogical support in social and professional self-determination, in the aspect of technical creativity.

Examining the work of his predecessors, Bush G. Ya. suggested that scientifically based methods of technical creativity should meet the following basic requirements:

- they should reflect the generalized experience of inventors;

- be sufficiently clearly defined and easily updated;

- the possible role and place of the method in the creative process of the inventor should be determined, as well as the typical conditions for the applicability of the methods should be generalized ^[8].

Having classified the methods according to the signs of generality, determinism, purpose, level of complexity, heuristic principle, he paid considerable attention to the last of them and identified the following groups of methods of technical creativity:

1. Methods of heuristic analogy based on a person's desire to imitate, where everyone sees the simplest analogies, but hidden ones are available only to the real inventor.

2. Inversion methods involving the search for solutions to inventive problems in directions opposite to traditional ones, where the basis is a change in the location of elements of a technical object, balancing undesirable factors by means of the opposite action.

3. Methods of the heuristic complex, where the methods are based on the unification of technical objects, their elements, functions, operations with other objects and even living organisms.

4. Methods of dismemberment and reduction based on a person's ability to dissect phenomena into their component parts and isolate cause-and-effect relationships.

5. Methods of heuristic combination based on the reflection of the world in human consciousness and the adaptation of a technical object to human capabilities, environmental conditions ^[8].

Turning to more modern studies of technical creativity, it is worth highlighting the work of Moiseeva A. N. "Innovative development of children's technical creativity in the organization of additional education", where she defined technical creativity as a type of student activity, the result of which is a technical object with signs of usefulness and subjective (for students) novelty ^[18].

In the article "Technical creativity: problems and ways of development", Shcherbakova L. A. defines this term as a special type of activity that is associated with scientific and technical information, productive research work, using technical means and information technologies and includes scientific and technical, artistic and technical and sports and technical creativity ^[22].

Komarov A. I. in his work "Technical creativity: essence, genesis, development" defined technical creativity as the process of resolving contradictions that manifest themselves during the production of artificial organs of human activity, i.e. the creation of technology ^[15]. In addition, his work is entirely devoted to the essence and genesis of technical creativity, where he pointed out that "the synthetics of technology was already fixed in ancient Greek philosophy, and the inner kinship of technology with science and art accompanies it along the entire path of historical development" ^[15].

It is worth noting that the deep historical roots of creative activity as a process of self–knowledge of a person who passes through time and space, leaving a trace in the real world in the form of the results of the creative activity of an individual as part of a team - can be traced not only in the work of Komarov A. I. Nikitina E. A. adheres to the same point of view in the work "Technical creativity as self-knowledge: to the formulation of the problem", where he analyzes the essence of technical creativity from the point of view of philosophy and comes to the conclusion that the deep foundations of creative processes are traditionally associated with the problem of the unconscious, and in the process of technical creativity, a person learns about himself in the developing technogenic world ^[19].

In the work of Glebov I.T. "Methods of technical creativity", creativity is defined as human activity aimed at setting a new task, obtaining new results in solving it, bringing the researcher closer to the "Great Worthy Goal" ^[11]. By a worthy goal, he meant one that has a direct impact on the standard of living of society. The most important result of his work was the combined group of methods of technical creativity:

1. The method of resolving technical contradictions.

2. The method of brainstorming.

3. The method of morphological analysis.

4. The method of control questions.

5. The method of heuristic techniques.

6. Methods for solving Altshuller's inventive problems by an algorithm.

7. The method of standards for solving inventive tasks.

In the article "Five basic rules that contribute to the development of children's technical creativity" Varaskin V. N. made an attempt to identify the essence of children's technical creativity in the form of a set of rules:

– the child should have his own place where he could freely engage in technical creativity;

– the child should have individual free time and not difficult classes in which they could show creative inclinations to modeling and construction;

– it is necessary that adults who are important to the child show by their example what technical creativity is and attract all five senses (sight, hearing, charm, touch, taste) to his knowledge, in order to ensure the best perception and satisfaction from the process of cognition;

– in the process of technical creativity, it is necessary to avoid strict instructions and restrictions, since from birth children are experimenters and in any difficult situation they try to find their own way, which may differ from the known one, but at the same time will have a more creative orientation;

– it is necessary to meet the wishes of the child in the manufacture of a particular model that they are interested in at a given time ^[9].

By integrating the above definitions of creativity and technical creativity, it is possible to formulate a more complex concept of technical creativity. Technical creativity is the process of solving problems of a technical nature, characterized by the implementation of a certain algorithm of actions, using methods of creative and creative approach, where tasks are aimed at creating virtual or physical objects that affect the surrounding world and society as a whole. It is also important to note that the process of developing technical creativity largely depends on:

- pedagogical conditions in which the educational process is built;

- the level of technology and technology development;

- accessibility of information to a wide range of students;

- modern requirements of society for future specialists.

Organization of empirical researchTaking into account the above factors and based on an in-depth analysis of research, an experiment was carried out to develop the technical creativity of children in the CHOU "Andromeda" (Kazan).

The essence of the experiment was the introduction and adaptation of methods for the development of technical creativity of students in the new educational program. First of all, the analysis of educational programs and directions that are presented in this institution was carried out. These include:

- programming;

- mobile robotics;

- internet of things;

- neurotechnology;

- career guidance;

- quadrocopters;

- 3d modeling;

- design and architecture.

Comparison of the number of main directions with similar private institutions of additional education, such as: Algorithmics; Netology; School 21; Akrum; Hummingbird; Technorama; Fanart kids; Without lessons; Roboscool; Elskool; Robouniver; Engineering, is presented in Table 1.

Table 1.

A comparative table of the availability of the listed areas in such institutions of additional education.

As shown in Table 1, the combination of directions of educational programs that are implemented in the CHOU "Andromeda" is not found, in full, in any of the listed educational institutions that were taken for comparison. Thus, the CHOU "Andromeda" has a fairly extensive list of the main directions in the system of additional education, while a significant part of the compared institutions have only two main ones: programming and robotics. It is important to note that Table 1 does not take into account such areas as: financial literacy, acting, languages, etc., which relate more to the humanities rather than technical and are present in some of the institutions represented.

In addition, the following methods of developing technical creativity are used in the CHOU "Andromeda", presented in Table 2:

Table 2.

Methods used in the private educational institution Andromeda.

As shown in Table 2, the number of methods used is quite large, but the relevance of applying a particular method depends on the type of discipline taught. And the teaching program is determined by modern requirements for the specialist of the future.

These indicators were not achieved immediately, but gradually in the process of introducing methods into the educational program, developing and updating the methodological base for each of the disciplines.

To form a deeper understanding of this process, we will analyze one of the directions that was introduced into the educational program of this institution relatively recently – 3D modeling. At the stage of the conception of the idea of implementing a new program , the following initial data were available:

1. It was planned to develop a teaching methodology and a plan for the implementation of an educational program on 3D modeling.

2. A set of teaching staff was planned.

3. A set of students was planned.

During the development of the teaching methodology, the basics were taken from already implemented similar programs in such institutions as "Algorithmics", "Netology", "XYZ" and others, and some features and results of their introduction into the system of additional education were taken into account in the program of the Andromeda school to achieve a balanced process of developing students' skills.

Based on the results of the work, a course program for the study of 3D modeling was developed, lasting eight months, divided into two semesters of four months. The program focuses on the practical component and project activities:

- the first semester was supposed to introduce students to 3D graphics, its features and conceptual apparatus. Creating your own project in Blender and Unity;

- the second semester was designed for more advanced students who have completed the program of the first semester, are familiar with 3D graphics, animation and have their own portfolio of projects. The aim of the second semester is to develop in-depth skills of working with the Unity and Zbrush program, as well as developing your own projects.

An example of the first lesson in the course program is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

The first lesson

Figure 1, in a simplified version, presents the first lesson of the 3D modeling course program, which describes:

- objectives of the lesson;

- tasks (in stages);

- results to be achieved based on the results;

- homework for further verification in the next lesson.

The main components that unite the two semesters of the program and are an integral part of the entire course of study are the main tasks that had to be solved during the implementation of the program:

- teach children team interaction;

- develop planning skills;

- develop project presentation skills;

- develop technical creativity skills;

- develop spatial thinking and creativity skills;

- teach to apply methods of generating ideas and solving creative problems;

- get professional training and form a starting portfolio for further development in this industry as a professional.

The course program involves the following methods of developing students' technical creativity:

- to determine the stages of development, visualize the final result and form a clear picture of the progress of the project: search activation method;

- to generate new ideas, solve creative problems: the goldfish method, the method of associations, fantasy techniques, the method of synectics;

- to form a large number of combinations of actions for the implementation of the project: brainstorming;

- to evaluate the stages of project implementation and the final result of students by other students: an outside view, morphological analysis, the method of control questions, the method of technical contradictions, the method of focal objects

- for the direct implementation of the project: trial and error, step-by-step design.

The main system–forming methods of the educational program on 3D modeling are:

- The method of search activation, which is chosen in order to instill in students the skills of competently constructing the search process for basic and additional questions on the implementation of the project, solving certain tasks, planning and presentation of the project;

- Step–by-step construction (the method was chosen because it corresponds to the specifics of the direction, which is based on the memorization model - watch and repeat), where the main task was first to learn how to clearly follow the algorithm of project implementation and creation of 3D models, objects of creative activity, and then independently plan and build implementation processes;

- The method of brainstorming was chosen because of the best assimilation by students of the algorithm of the process of its implementation, as well as a sufficiently high recognition shown during the survey among students.

30 schoolchildren took part in the course program, where they were divided into three small groups and distributed depending on the available time opportunities to attend the courses. According to the results of the control testing of students, which was conducted in the first lesson, on the knowledge of the field of 3D modeling, technical creativity skills, creative problem solving skills and experience with the main programs, the following results were obtained:

- only 5% of the students have heard about the skills of technical creativity and solving creative tasks;

- 50% of the students have heard about 3D modeling and 3D graphics;

- 5% of the students had basic skills of working in 3D modeling programs;

- 60% of the students had an idea of where 3D graphics are used, but only 10% of them had knowledge of exactly what professions related to this field are called;

- none of the students had a portfolio of works in this direction.

During the implementation of the educational program, the following equipment and software were used:

- laptops with certain technical characteristics that are able to provide uninterrupted access to modern programs;

- social networks: Telegram – for managing a group of students, timely submission of up-to-date information, as well as communication and interaction of the teacher with students online;

- MS Teams for organizing remote work on the project, and conducting online lessons;

- Trello, for the organization of structured project management;

- projectors and interactive whiteboards to ensure the comfort of knowledge transfer, improve the visual component of the learning process and increase the efficiency of the memorization process of the material passed.

In the training program, the main emphasis was not only on the personality-oriented approach of interaction between the teacher and students, which fulfilled the task of supporting the processes of self-knowledge and self-realization of the child's personality, the development of his individuality, but also teamwork skills.

Research resultsFollowing the results of the experiment and the implementation of the full course of the educational program , the following results were achieved:

- Students have developed competencies in the field of 3D modeling, developed skills of technical creativity, which consist in mastering the basic principles of solving creative tasks of a technical nature and algorithms for finding new solutions to problems of various nature;

- Each of the students had a portfolio of three projects:

1) Two 3D characters, two 3D environment objects in Blender.

2) Animation (video clip) in Blender.

3) Two projects in Unity.

- Practical skills of team interaction have been formed;

- The skills of project planning and presentation of the results of activities are formed;

- Spatial thinking and creativity skills are formed;

- Professional training has been received, which will become the foundation for the further development of the student in the field of design and 3D modeling.

CHOU "Andromeda" has its own methodological base for the 3D modeling program. Positive feedback was received from children who completed the full course, as well as parents. Thus, it was possible to recruit more than 60 new students for the next academic year. And 26 students who have completed the last program are interested in further development and training in this institution.

From the point of view of further development of the program, it was decided to record a series of 3D modeling videos for their further distribution. Lectures with public presentations were developed and several educational conferences were attended in Kazan – the Rukami Festival of Ideas and Technologies.

ConclusionsThus, it can be concluded that the system of additional education of children is endowed with a unique potential for the development of creative abilities of students.

And technical creativity is one of the actively developed areas in working with students. The system of additional education, having high flexibility in terms of adapting educational programs to the modern requirements of specialists of the future, can quickly and clearly respond to the educational needs of parents of students, form an open environment for the development of the child. In the process of developing students ' technical creativity , the:

- his socialization;

- formation of practical teamwork skills;

- formation of creative problem solving skills;

- formation of planning skills;

- formation of skills of interaction with equipment and software;

- preparing the student for professional activity and ensuring his advantages in the labor market;

Where, in turn, a combination of methods for the development of technical creativity, the use of technologies of a personality-oriented approach contribute to the significant development of skills and personality, as well as increase the demand for additional education of this format in all its variety of directions.