101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Time

60 minutes

Related Activities

• Bionic Ideas [53]


• I Like It Like That [55]

Procedure

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


2. Tape a sheet of flip-chart paper lengthwise on a wall or table.


3. Read the following instructions aloud:
   “On the left side of the paper, list in a single column all major problem attributes (for example,
   name, form, parts, shape, structure, processes, materials, functions). For each attribute, list several
   subattributes that describe the attributes. Thus, ‘round’ and ‘square’ would be examples of two
   types of shapes. Write these in a line to the right of each attribute.
   “On a separate sheet of paper, write down several analogies or words similar in meaning for each
   subattribute. The word ‘round,’ for example, might spark ‘circular,’ ‘a dog chasing its tail,’ and ‘a
   rolling ball. You may use paper or electronic thesauri to help select these words.”


4. Tell them to examine each word analogy as a group, see what ideas are triggered,
   write them on Post-it®Notes (one per note), and place them on flip-chart paper for
   evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion

Chain Alike is slightly more complicated than other analogy-based activities. More work

is required to set up the stimuli to use as idea triggers. Ask the participants if they felt the

extra work was worth the effort and if the quality of ideas was any better than when com-

pared with other activities.

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?

Grab Bag: Miscellaneous Activities 235

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