101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

128 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving

Time

30 minutes

Related Activities

• Ideas in a Box [25]


• Parts Is Parts [30]


• 666 [34]


• Word Diamond [35]

Procedure

1. Distribute the handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions
   they may have.


2. Instruct participants to generate two lists of five to six words related to their prob-
   lem and write them on a flip chart. Tell them to do this as a group.


3. Have each group member take turns selecting one word from each list and have
   the group use the combination to stimulate ideas.


4. Direct them to write down any ideas on Post-it®Notes and place them on flip
   chart paper for evaluation.

Variation

• If time is available, have individual group members generate their own lists of words
  for the group to use as idea triggers.

Debrief/Discussion

This can be a useful technique for at least two reasons: (1) it has the potential to create

many different perspectives and (2) it combines elements of both related and unrelated

stimuli. That is, it uses attributes related directly to the problem and combines these

attributes to create a more or less unrelated stimulus. Thus, it helps create perspective

changes not possible with activities that rely on a single stimulus.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:

• What was most helpful about this exercise?


• What was most challenging?


• What can we apply?


• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?


• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?


• What did you learn?


• What will we be able to use from this exercise?


• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

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