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
11. Switcheroo
Background
Switcheroo is based on the old saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” We some-
times get so close to our problems that we lose the perspective needed to generate cre-
ative ideas. One way to overcome this obstacle is to shift our focus to something else.
Objectives
- To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
- To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas
Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each
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
30 minutes
Related Activities
- Essence of the Problem [38]
Procedure
- Have someone in each group write down a problem challenge on a flip chart.
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