TRIZ Heuristics Improve Creative Problem Solving Self-efficacy of Engineering Students.

Based on the analysis of studies that demonstrated students’ creative problem-solving skills increased after being introduced to heuristics of Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) (Blicblau & Ang, 2017; Shukhmin & Belski, 2017; Smith, Belski, Brown, & Kalyvas, 2018), Belski & Belski (2018) posited that creativity skills of engineering students can be enhanced by scheduling one or two classes of already existing courses to introduce a heuristic that suits the content of each particular course. The above-mentioned studies by Blicblau & Ang, Shukhmin & Belski and Smith et al. engaged full-time (FT) students that had either just started engineering degree, or that were in the engineering diploma program. They reported on improvements of students’ self-efficacy in creative problem solving as a result of embedding TRIZ heuristics into existing courses. This study planned to evaluate the influence of TRIZ heuristics on full-time and part-time (PT) students that have already completed two years of engineering degree. Hypothesis 1: Introduction of TRIZ heuristics will significantly improve creative problem-solving self-efficacy of third-year engineering students. Hypothesis 2: FT and PT student will be influenced by the TRIZ heuristics in a similar way.