Teaching Creative-Thinking Skills in a Confucist Context

Creative thinking skills are crucial for the execution of many work responsibilities, especially so in medical work. The traditional approach to education in China has been teacher centered, lecture based, and test oriented. The result is that while students are able to memorize vast amounts of rote information and reproduce it for an examination, they are poorly prepared to deal with a myriad of challenges which come their way in the work place. In the training of maternal and child workers in rural north China, we have begun using quiz and discussion questions designed precisely to challenge their thought processes, with the desired goal of improving their ability to more creatively and actively deal with problems and questions which come their way in the carrying out of well baby work. Sample questions are provided and discussed.