101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

98 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving

101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving.Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley &

Sons, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. http://www.pfeiffer.com

Time

30 minutes

Related Activities

• Ideatoons [26]


• Doodles [37]


• Drawing Room [59]


• Modular Brainstorming [62]

Procedure

1. Distribute the Picture Tickler Handout and have the participants look at Figure
   5.1.


2. Ask the large group whether it suggests any images to them. Any specific associa-
   tions? Thoughts? Feelings? If so, suggest that the visual stimuli in the picture may
   have affected them.


3. Ensure they understand how to use the picture to generate ideas. Answer any
   questions they might have.


4. Distribute the magazines and catalogs to each group.


5. Have the group members take turns selecting a picture that the large group then
   will describe in detail and write down descriptions of on a flip chart. Encourage
   them to note any relationships, concepts, and principles visible. Emphasize the
   importance of describing actual or implied actions or processes. Note that the pur-
   pose of this exercise is to stimulate ideas, not achieve consensus on correctness.
   This reminder is important because members are likely to disagree with others
   about the accuracy of their descriptions.


6. After all the descriptions have been recorded, tell the groups to look them over
   and see which ones might stimulate ideas. To help them think of ideas, have them
   take turns free-associating aloud and be playful with their associations. (This way
   they will be more likely to generate fresh perspectives. Rigidity is an enemy of cre-
   ative thinking.)


7. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it®Notes (one idea per note) and place
   them on flip charts for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion

Many people respond best to visual stimuli when generating ideas. People who tend to

create mental images when generating ideas probably respond well when looking at visu-

al stimuli. Note that one way to test whether they are visual thinkers is to ask group

members to take turns observing each other’s eyes while the other thinks of a creative

solution to some problem. If someone looks to the left and up, he or she is probably con-

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