dyad of
OSCILLATION
In the midst of a project, a student oscillates between the states of ambiguity and certainty, between generality and specificity, and between abstract thought and concrete action. Ambiguity manifests itself in many ways. Perhaps the most ambiguous situations are those where the “data is incomplete, the methods are unfamiliar and the outcomes or goals are open ended or undefined”.45 The student usually navigates this ambiguity by formulating a goal; preparing a plan or strategy; identifying and learning appropriate tools, techniques and methods required for a study; and collecting and interpreting data to ‘get there’. Sometimes these steps may feel like climbing a ladder, whereas sometimes they may lead one back to where they began.46
To be able to oscillate between states, one must move away from their fixations.47 Fixations may resemble a writer’s block but they constitute a different kind of stuckness. Fixity is not to be confused with stability or permanence. Neither are fixations like anchors. Rather they are chains that imprison the mind; trappings of the worst kind. A creative or conceptual struggle is when the student is unable to come up with ideas.
A fixation, on the other hand, is when the student is unable to acknowledge that their idea is problematic, unfeasible or even daft, and as a result, they continue to persist with it. Acknowledging one’s fixations is the first step to moving past them. Consistency in practice, i.e. persistence is the key to overcoming creative blocks.
- read Colin Wood in The Development of Creative Problem Solving in Chemistry (2006).
- see Penrose stairs.
- read David G. Jansson and Steven M. Smith in Design Fixation (1991).