101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

(Joyce) #1
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


04 VG 39-76b 10/5/04 5:31 PM Page 45

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