{"id":996,"date":"2019-01-27T13:39:52","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T18:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/?p=996"},"modified":"2019-04-09T12:42:14","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T16:42:14","slug":"creative-resonance-fostering-aha-moments-through-interdisciplinary-connections-a-letter-from-ashwin-vaidya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/2019\/01\/27\/creative-resonance-fostering-aha-moments-through-interdisciplinary-connections-a-letter-from-ashwin-vaidya\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative resonance: Fostering “aha!” moments through interdisciplinary connections – a letter from Ashwin Vaidya"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Ashwin Vaidya, PhD,<\/strong> is an Associate Professor in the departments of Mathematical Sciences and Physics in the College of Science and Mathematics at Montclair State University. He is interested in the kinds of mathematical theories that explore nonlinearities, connections, and emergence in nature; and deeply committed to using these ideas to create a more engaged classroom. Contact Dr. Vaidya directly: vaidyaa@montclair.edu<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Dear Neil<\/p>\n

Over the years we have had some wonderful conversations about different topics — especially creativity, a subject that has consumed a good fraction of both our scholarly lives. I must confess, however, that while I have read the works of philosophers, psychologists and educators on this subject, and constantly preach the value of creative thinking to my students, I have struggled to get a firm grasp of this notion. Dictionary definitions are clich\u00e9d; and psychological treatments of creativity, while rich,\u00a0provide\u00a0little or no tangible clues about how creativity emerges. Most explanations are\u00a0a posteriori<\/em>. I have also found wanting exercises that claim to\u00a0release<\/em>\u00a0one\u2019s inner creativity as though every person with his\/her inner quota of creative energy exists in a\u00a0vacuum. While there\u00a0may be\u00a0some merit to such practices, they fail to take into account the key role of the environment in this process.<\/p>\n

However, I am (cautiously) excited to tell you that I may have found some hints about the nature of the creative process in the theory of \u2018complexity\u2019, an interdisciplinary branch of mathematics which I spent a lot of time studying during my recent sabbatical. I welcome the opportunity to write this note to you\u00a0as a means to\u00a0develop an interpretation of creativity through the lens of complexity science, and will let you and other interested readers set me straight on the logic of my epiphany.<\/p>\n

Before I go any further, I should probably tell you a little about the field of complexity or complex systems theory which you may have heard of under the name of \u2018systems theory\u2019. The central idea of complex systems theory can be stated simply as \u201ceverything is connected\u201d. You may think this is\u00a0fairly obvious, for, after all, we see life through the lens of\u00a0cause and effect<\/em>\u00a0and attribute a \u2018natural\u2019 temporal connection to events in our lives and beyond. But a complexity theorist would argue that such causal, isolated connections are overly\u00a0simplistic\u00a0and\u00a0have been forced\u00a0upon us by a linear, Newtonian worldview which emerged during the enlightenment period. Complexity theory, which sees the world, rather, as a network<\/em> of spatially and temporally connected events, promotes a nonlinear causal structure and presents a far more interesting picture of the world. The\u00a0oft-repeated\u00a0example of \u201ca flutter of the butterfly\u2019s wings in Brazil can set off a typhoon in Japan\u201d is a classic example of the main idea of complexity theory1<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

So now I hear you asking, \u201cWhat has this to do with creativity?\u201d I will answer this question through an analogy:\u00a0 Lego blocks!\u00a0 Legos are among the favorite toys for children around the world. They hold such universal appeal because they can\u00a0provide\u00a0children the opportunity to \u2018create\u2019 freely. The ability to \u2018connect\u2019 (blocks) and make new meaning out of old ones is precisely how we think of creativity. But there is something deeper in this analogy. Imagine a Lego kit filled with blocks of the same shape, allowing only one link. While there is still room to play and create with such a Lego set, the outcome will inevitably be \u2018linear\u2019 and predictable, and kids would soon become weary of it. In addition to connectivity, I would argue it is\u00a0the diversity of\u00a0shapes<\/em> in the kit that allows imagination to roam free, and provides for unexpected \u2018Aha\u2019 moments and nonlinear outcomes.<\/p>\n

Drawing from this analogy, I\u00a0am tempted\u00a0to think of an academic institution, an ideal one, as not so dissimilar to a Lego kit.<\/p>\n

The American liberal education model as articulated in the well-known \u201cYale Report of 1828\u201d2<\/sup> argued for a broad curriculum which caters to the educational needs of the student and the nation; a curriculum designed to develop the human being and the citizen. However, our modern curriculum does not sufficiently capitalize upon\u00a0the diversity of\u00a0disciplines on campus. We are adept at producing graduates with very specific disciplinary skills; however, without breadth and perspective, these skills allow one to see the world only linearly. We are teaching to produce specialists and — despite the constant drumbeat about the values of interdisciplinary learning — such efforts occur in isolation. What complexity theory appears\u00a0to be\u00a0telling us is that the university is a veritable playground of ideas, and the job of teachers is to lay the groundwork to create connections for the students so they may freely roam and “play” in this space. Our job is not always to tell students what or how things “are;” there\u00a0must be\u00a0room in our education system for students to create new knowledge out of old ideas.<\/p>\n

To use a physics analogy, creation, or work, is the realization of the potential energy<\/em> of a system. Creativity, therefore, is nothing but an emergent property of any complex system, including education, where new knowledge and \u2018ways of understanding\u2019 can arise spontaneously — provided the curriculum\u00a0is founded\u00a0upon and accepting of diverse ways of knowing.<\/p>\n

To test out the practicality of these ideas, where connections and diversity\u00a0are intrinsic to the curriculum, some of my colleagues and I have initiated the LASER (Linking Art and Science through Education and Research)<\/strong> program, which aims to bring together faculty from diverse disciplines (arts and science at this stage): Mathematics, Physics, Photography, Music and Education. Our plan runs the gamut, from merely\u00a0guest\u00a0lecturing in each others\u2019 classes to team-teaching courses and even having our students work with us on research projects such as the mathematics of music, the physics of painting, visualizing flows and the fluid dynamics of vocal music, to name a few. Feel free to take a look at our website on the\u00a0CSAM\u00a0page3<\/sup> which contains some of our ideas. My colleague Mika\u00a0Munakata\u00a0and I have also experimented with some of these ideas in our mathematics courses over the past few years and have shown success at fostering creativity and engagement in the classroom4<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

I realize that this “Lego-philosophy” of creativity can only be validated, in time, with the maturation of The LASER Project<\/strong>. I will keep you posted about the outcomes. In the meanwhile, let me know your thoughts about this. I have benefited tremendously from our Creative Research Center-related conversations. Similar talks with colleagues from other disciplines here at Montclair State have made me see things in\u00a0a new\u00a0light and, on several occasions, clarified things I believed I already knew. I am hoping the same can happen for our students.<\/p>\n

As 2019 takes hold of our lives, I wish you and the followers of the CRC, a new year filled with creativity!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/sup>https:\/\/www.aps.org\/publications\/apsnews\/200301\/history.cfm<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2<\/sup>http:\/\/www.liberalartscollegereview.com\/articles\/11<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3<\/sup>https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/csam\/laser-initiative\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4<\/sup>https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/csam\/programs-and-opporutnities\/creativity-in-mathematics-and-science\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Ashwin Vaidya, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the departments of Mathematical Sciences and Physics in the College of Science and Mathematics at Montclair State University. He is interested in the kinds of mathematical theories that explore nonlinearities, connections, and emergence in nature; and deeply committed to using these ideas to create a more engaged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-research-center-guest-essay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1070,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions\/1070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}