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Dr Sergiy Klymchuk
Associate Professor & Director, STEM-TEC Centre
Auckland University of Technology

About...

Dr. Sergiy Klymchuk has been teaching university-level mathematics since 1980 and has been a faculty member at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) since 2000. He completed his PhD in 1988, specializing in differential equations, and his research focus has since evolved into mathematics education. Over his distinguished career, he has authored or co-authored more than 250 publications, including several notable books such as Counterexamples in Calculus, which received the Outstanding Academic Title Award from Choice magazine of the American Library Association in 2010; Paradoxes and Sophisms in Calculus, which was featured on the cover of the 2014 Publications Catalogue of the Mathematical Association of America; and the internationally acclaimed Money Puzzles: On Critical Thinking and Financial Literacy, published in nine countries.

Throughout his tenure at AUT, Dr. Sergiy Klymchuk has secured numerous research and teaching grants and awards, totaling over $800,000, of which $600,000 were external. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (UK), a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and affiliated with several other international organizations dedicated to mathematics education. Additionally, he served as a Visiting Associate Professor of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) at Wismar University in Germany from 2006 to 2008, further highlighting his commitment to global academic collaboration and excellence.

Keynote

Enhancing Adaptive and Inventive Thinking with Innovative Pedagogical Strategies

This keynote presents two innovative pedagogical strategies for enhancing students’ thinking skills that employers highly value. The first deals with adaptive thinking, which is crucial in our rapidly changing world of information and misinformation. Fake news, conspiracy theories, information wars and deep fakes are getting more common nowadays. Therefore, improving students’ abilities to recognise mistakes and reduce their susceptibility to misinformation is very important. The first strategy suggests including so-called provocative questions in teaching and assessment. Such questions look like routine ones, but they have a catch – they are deliberately designed to mislead the solver. The intention is to better prepare and adapt students for real life by transferring their critical thinking skills outside the classroom. The second strategy deals with inventive thinking and it suggests regularly using non-routine problems like puzzles, paradoxes, and sophisms as a pedagogical intervention. The so-called Puzzle-Based Learning (PzBL) approach effectively enhanced creativity and inventive thinking. It illustrates generic problem-solving principles that can be applied in different areas and disciplines. Many high-tech companies use puzzles at their job interviews to evaluate candidates' creative problem-solving skills and select the best. There is a parallel between PzBL and TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving), a powerful systematic problem-solving approach that originated from analysing patterns of invention. Results of several surveys of school teachers and examples of the use of the above pedagogical strategies are presented in the talk. Practical recommendations for teaching practice and professional development are also discussed in the talk.

Masterclass

Enhancing Adaptive and Inventive Thinking with Innovative Pedagogical Strategies

In this masterclass we will elaborate on the two innovative pedagogical strategies for enhancing students’ thinking skills presented at the keynote address. The first deals with adaptive thinking that is crucial in our rapidly changing world of information and misinformation. We will discuss the design of provocative questions, practice in creating them, share your examples from different disciplines and subjects. A special attention will be given to the matter of including provocative questions in assessment – both formative and summative. The second strategy deals with inventive thinking and it suggests regularly using non-routine problems like puzzles, paradoxes, and sophisms as a pedagogical intervention. We will discuss several puzzles and generic problem-solving principles illustrated by them. We will discuss the difference between and applicability of convergent and divergent thinking. We will also consider relationship between principles used in solving puzzles and the inventive principles in TRIZ. A special consideration will be given to the role of intuition in the problem-solving process. Active participation of the audience is expected and encouraged.

Expected Learning Outcomes


On the completion of the masterclass participants will enhance their skills in:

  • Critically assessing new situations and question the question before trying to solve it.

  • Carefully analysing all conditions and constraints of the problem or situation before employing some procedures to solve or resolve it.

  • Making informed assumptions based on facts and evidence.

  • Adapting generic problem-solving strategies and principles to solve novel problems in unfamiliar context.

  • Applying both convergent and divergent thinking in various problems and situations.

  • Employing the above skills in their teaching practice.

  • Critically evaluating the progress of their students in applying a variety of non-routine problem-solving skills in different contexts.

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