In engineering design, engineers must be able to think creatively, effectively toggling between divergent thinking (developing multiple novel ideas) and convergent thinking (pursuing an appropriate idea using engineering analyses). However, creative thinking is not emphasized in many undergraduate engineering programs. In this empirical study, we analyze the divergent thinking of teams working on a virtual laboratory project. Fifteen student teams' solution paths–as represented by Model Maps–were analyzed to characterize and compare the various elements of divergent thinking: fluency, flexibility, and originality. The solution paths of these teams were compared in two physical laboratory projects and to experts completing the same virtual laboratory project. We found that students demonstrated more divergent thinking in the virtual laboratory project than in the physical laboratory projects; yet, divergent thinking and quality of solution did not correlate. There was little difference between measured elements of divergent thinking between student teams and experts.

中文翻译：

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在工程专业的学生团队中培养创造性思维：计算机介导的虚拟实验室可以提供帮助吗？

在工程设计中，工程师必须能够创造性地思考，有效地在发散性思维（发展出多个新颖的想法）和趋同性思维（使用工程分析寻求合适的想法）之间切换。但是，许多本科工程课程中并未强调创造性思维。在这项实证研究中，我们分析了从事虚拟实验室项目的团队的分歧思维。分析了以模型图为代表的15个学生团队的解决途径，以表征和比较发散性思维的各个要素：流利性，灵活性和独创性。这些团队的解决方案路径在两个物理实验室项目中进行了比较，并与完成同一虚拟实验室项目的专家进行了比较。我们发现，与物理实验室项目相比，学生在虚拟实验室项目中表现出的分歧更大。但是，分歧的思想和解决方案的质量并没有关联。学生团队和专家之间发散思维的可衡量元素之间几乎没有差异。