101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

(Joyce) #1

202 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving


Related Activities



  • Say Cheese [44]

  • We Have Met the Problem and It is We [48]


Procedure



  1. Read the following to participants and ask them to respond individually:
    “Try to become as relaxed as possible. Breathe comfortably at an even rate. Listen to your breathing
    and let all stress flow out. Think about your problem in detail and try to experience it. Quickly smell
    it, see it, taste it, touch it, and hear it. Think of your sense of smell. Visualize different olfactory expe-
    riences you’ve had. For instance, you might think about some flowers you once smelled. Now, how
    might you use your sense of smell to generate ideas to solve your problem? Think of your sense of
    sight. Visualize different sight experiences you’ve had that have affected you emotionally. Now, how
    might you use your sense of sight to generate ideas to solve your problem? Continue this process
    with your senses of taste, touch, and hearing. Think of emotional experiences involving each of
    these senses.”

  2. Ask them to consider what ideas they might have thought of and to write them
    down on their individual sheets of paper. For sample ideas, refer them to the
    handout.

  3. Have each participant share his or her ideas, in turn, with the other group mem-
    bers, write them on a Post-it®Note, and place them on a flip chart to be evaluated.


Debrief/Discussion
To help participants relate to this technique, you first might have them experience differ-
ent items using their senses. For instance, you might place a number of objects varying in
size and texture into a paper bag and have participants try to identify them using only
their sense of touch. Or ask them to identify visually an object in a picture when only a
small part of the object is visible. Although this technique may not be as “all-purpose” as
others, it could be good enough to spark some useful ideas—and that’s all it takes some-
times!
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?


07 VG 167-216 10/6/04 12:17 PM Page 202

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