Effects of the Butterfly diagram education in primary and secondary schools on contradiction problem solving ability

In the history of science and technology, many creative and innovative cases were found in contradiction problem solving. However, most research about creativity has rarely paid attention to contradiction solving so far. This paper introduces the way how adolescent solves contradiction problems with the Butterfly diagram, and shows the effects of the Butterfly diagram education in primary and secondary schools on contradiction problem solving ability. The Butterfly diagram uses symbolic notation and systematic representation for solving contradiction problem. It shows the structure of a given contradiction problem visually. Drawing a Butterfly diagram for solving a contradiction problem can reduce the problem space because it helps to figure out the problem structure and the problem type of the given problem. In the three experiments of this paper, we analyzed the effects of the Butterfly diagram education on contradiction solving ability. The students who learned the Butterfly diagram have awarded for 9 years (2007~2015) in a row when they participated in invention festivals. Three primary school students, 12 secondary school students, and 46 college students have awarded in invention festivals so far. Among them, 5 middle school students, 4 high school students, and 15 college students, and one graduate school students have registered 18 patents.