101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

86. Museum Madness

Background

Museum Madness (also known as the Gallery Method) is another of the many group

activities originally developed at the Battelle Institute in Frankfurt, Germany, by Horst

Geschka and his associates (1981). It is similar to other group activities that use unrelated

stimuli. However, it is different in one significant way: instead of passing ideas around

the group, members walk around to the ideas. Thus, Museum Madness reverses the pro-

cess that most group brainwriting activities use. The title of the activity derives from the

way people browse around a museum looking at works of art.

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

• At least one sheet of flip-chart paper for each participant (if there are fewer than thirty
  people; if more than thirty, use one sheet for every two people)


• Masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets


• One dark-colored marker for each participant

Procedure

1. Attach sheets of flip-chart paper to the walls of a room (flip charts on stands also
   can be used).


2. Tell the participants to silently write several ideas on a sheet of flip-chart paper.


3. After about 10 to 15 minutes of writing, ask the participants to spend 15 to 20 min-
   utes walking around the room, read each other’s ideas,and take notes on
   thoughts that might pop up.

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