101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Story Boards Handout

Suppose you are an automobile manufacturer and your problem is developing ways to

reduce auto theft. You get together a group of your best engineers and decide to use Story

Boards. You generate problem attributes and write them on cards, as shown in Figure 9.1.

Next, you use each category to help stimulate ideas. Finally, you examine all the solutions

and see what new solutions might be suggested.

The nine ideas listed in Figure 9.1 suggest additional solutions when combined. For

instance, someone who tries to break a window might receive a shock (from “break-proof

glass” and “car shocks when touched”). Or the car might automatically photograph any-

one who walks within five feet of it (from “flashing lights” and “automated voices”).

Figure 9.1. Story Board Example

286 101 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

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