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

Materials, Supplies, and Equipment

• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart
  sheets


• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots
  (^1 ⁄ 2 ” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it®Notes

Time

45 minutes

Related Activities

• Copy Cat [3]

Procedure

1. Prior to a meeting, ask approximately one-half of a group to consult an expert on
   the problem topic. They could do this by contacting people they know as experts
   or get referrals from others. Local universities would be a source, as would the
   Internet. For instance, they could use Google.com to search for experts or written
   examples of their advice. Tell them to take written notes from their investigations.


2. Assemble the participants into small groups and have them compare notes with
   other group members. That is, have one person in each group report what he or
   she has learned, then have the next person do the same, and so forth (exclude any
   duplicate information).


3. Tell them to use this information to suggest ideas and to write down any ideas on
   Post-it®Notes.


4. Direct the groups to select what they think are the best three responses and take
   turns reporting those to the large group.


5. Have all of the groups discuss the ideas they have heard and select the top three
   of those.


6. Tell the groups to pick the single best response, report it to the large group, and
   select the best of all those reported. (To facilitate this process, you may want to
   have the groups place their best ideas on flip-chart sheets taped to a wall and
   invite the group members to vote for their favorites using colored, sticking dots—
   available from office supply stores.)

Debrief/Discussion

Not all the ideas from non-experts may appear practical or workable. You may want to

note that ideas should be considered the raw material of solutions, in that every idea has

the potential to stimulate new ideas.

Basic Idea Generation: “No-Brainers” 45

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