Problem solving is central to the teaching and learning of chemistry at secondary, tertiary and post-tertiary levels of education, opening to students and professional chemists alike a whole new world for analysing data, looking for patterns and making deductions. As an important higher-order thinking skill, problem solving also constitutes a major research field in science education. Relevant education research is an ongoing process, with recent developments occurring not only in the area of quantitative/computational problems, but also in qualitative problem solving. The following situations are considered, some general, others with a focus on specific areas of chemistry: quantitative problems, qualitative reasoning, metacognition and resource activation, deconstructing the problem-solving process, an overview of the working memory hypothesis, reasoning with the electron-pushing formalism, scaffolding organic synthesis skills, spectroscopy for structural characterization in organic chemistry, enzyme kinetics, problem solving in the academic chemistry laboratory, chemistry problem-solving in context, team-based/active learning, technology for molecular representations, IR spectra simulation, and computational quantum chemistry tools. The book concludes with methodological and epistemological issues in problem solving research and other perspectives in problem solving in chemistry. With a foreword by George Bodner.

Creative thinking, be it that of the teacher or the student, has tended to be overlooked in science, but exercising it is important. This book shows how it can be done in chemistry, both in the context of creative chemistry teaching and in learning chemistry. Going beyond principles and ideology, readers will find practical strategies, tools, examples, and case studies in a variety of contexts to bring creative thinking theory into practice. Beginning with a discussion on the nature of creativity, the authors’ debunk misconceptions and address the relationship between creativity and problem solving. Delving into opportunities for practising creative thinking in science, for instance, hypothesis generation and experiment design, the authors’ then move on to discussions around assessing and evaluating creative thinking. Further areas covered include: multisensory chemistry, language and literacy, practical work and story-telling. As a resource, this book points the way to fostering exploration and the development of creative thinking in chemistry for the benefit of the student, and for the benefit of the teacher in offering a source of satisfaction and achievement in the work they do. With a foreword by John Holman.

`It must be more important to be skilled in thinking, than to be stuffed with facts.' Edward de Bono This innovative book has been designed to teach its readers how - and not just what - to think: to question, critically and creatively, and to make judgements. De Bono's philosophy is that it is possible to learn these skills, and the authors' aim has been to provide an active, problem-solving text written to inspire students of chemistry to think both effectively and professionally.

This book was written to assist professionals and students to become proactive in their own education, improve thinking, resolve personal and interpersonal conflicts, improve pedagogy, manage departmental affairs and guide administrative decisions. The text captures the practical experience of the authors with and formal training in TOC to address many of the issues facing today’s education stakeholders. The text is designed to teach methods for 1) "win-win" conflict resolution, 2) decision-making, 3) problem solving, and 4) analysis of systems using TOC’s powerful logic-based graphical Thinking Process tools. A creative thinker can identify, plan and achieve his or her goals just knowing the Thinking Process Tools.

Creative Problem Solving • Total Systems Intervention • Robert L. Flood and Michael C. Jackson Department of Management Systems and Sciences, University of Hull, UK In the modern world organisations are faced with innumerable and multifaceted issues which cannot be captured in the minds of a few experts and solved with the aid of some super-method. It would be equally wrong to revert to a trial and error approach. We need to retain rigorous and formalised thinking, while admitting the need for a range of problem solving methodologies. The future prospects of management science will be much enhanced if (a) the diversity of issues confronting managers is accepted, (b) work on developing a rich variety of problem solving methodologies is undertaken, and (c) we continually ask the question: "What kind of issue can be ‘managed’ with which sort of methodology?" This volume, Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention, amounts to the bringing together of a huge human effort in the area of the management sciences. Each particular methodology that we have presented in this book is the realisation of years of work by many people, and the management and organisation theory to which we refer goes back nearly a century and has employed armies of researchers. Total systems intervention stands at the top of this mountain of effort and is able to offer an overview of the management-oriented disciplines which enables managers and decision makers to gain a command over how to employ them as a whole.