Foundations of Technology

Creativity & BrainstormingCreativity & Brainstorming

© 2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association, STEMCenter for Teaching and Learning™ Foundations of Technology

Teacher Resource Day 5

The Purpose of this lesson is to incorporate creativity techniques in the brainstorming process of re-designing a vehicle

How do geniuses come up with ideas?

Is there a common style of thinking geniuses use?

Is genius linked to intelligence?

Can genius be measured by testing?

For years researches have tried to study how the minds of creative geniuses work

There are strategies that we can use to become more creative thinkers

Being creative is not about receiving a perfect score on your SATs

Most people can solve any given problem with the expected outcome

Creative people will solve a problem in several different ways other than the most obvious

CREATIVITY IS SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT IS WHAT LEADS US TO NEW AND BETTER IDEAS, INNOVATIONS, AND INVENTIONS.

CREATIVITY SIMPLY IS THE ABILITY TO THINK AWAY FROM THE NORM.

IF EVERYONE WHERE TO THINK EXACTLY THE SAME WE WOULD NEVER HAVE ANYTHING NEW AND ALL INVENTIONS WOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN MADE.

What is half of 13?Most common answer

6.5Creative answers

Thir – teen 1 – 3XIII = 11 – 2XIII 8 - 8

In 1899 the director of the US Patent office suggested that the government close the office because everything that could be invented has been.

Chester Carlson invented xerography in 1938. Every corporation laughed at his idea because they said that carbon paper was the best way to copy things. (and no one wants to buy a copier)

Fred Smith a student of Yale, came up with UPS, all of his professors told him that the company would fail

A process used to find a solution to a problem by collecting ideas without regard for feasibility, which occur from a group of people brought together for a specific purpose.

One conversation at a time.

Stay focused. Encourage wild ideas. Defer judgment. Build on the ideas of

others.

1. Try not to judge ideas immediately, allow them to be recorded and build on wild ideas

2. Do not criticize an idea

3. Do not provide negative comments

1. All ideas should be recorded regardless of feasibility and humor

2. The best ideas are often the most off-the-wall

3. Be creative – you are only limited by your imagination

1. Build on other people’s ideas

2. Record everything – all ideas / all comments

1. Focus on the “Big Idea” of the lesson / activity

2. All everyone to participate and share ideas

3. Stay focus on the topic

1. Listen to each group member

2. Refrain from duplicating ideas

3. Allows everyone to participate

There are several technique we can use to help use become more creative problem solvers

With each project or activity in this class we will try new techniques

We will breifly discuss 3 techniques for creativityMind-MappingThe Da Vinci Method Inventive problem solving

The human brain is very different from a computer. Whereas a computer works in a linear fashion,

the brain works associatively as well as linearly - comparing, integrating and synthesizing as it goes.

Every single word, and idea has numerous links attaching it to other ideas and concepts.

Mind Maps are an effective method of note-taking and useful for the generation of ideas by associations.

To make a mind map, one starts in the center of the page with the main idea, and works outward in all directions, producing a growing and organized structure composed of key words and key images.

The creative potential of a mind map is useful in brainstorming sessions.

You only need to start with the basic problem as the center, and generate associations and ideas from it in order to arrive at a large number of different possible approaches.

By presenting your thoughts and perceptions in a spatial manner and by using color and pictures, a better overview is gained and new connections can be made visible.

DA VINCI OFTEN CAME UP WITH CREATIVE PAINTINGS BY CREATING CATEGORIES AND LISTS OF VARIATIONS FOR EACH CATEGORY.

HE WOULD THEN MIX AND MATCH DIFFERENT VARIATIONS TO CREATE ORIGINAL IDEAS.    

For the Mona Lisa he created categories of physical qualities of women. Under each quality he listed several different possibilities. Then he randomly selected these traits to create the famous painting

You could use this method for cooking dinner. Look at the chart and make random selections in each category to come up with a creative new meal.

Inventive problem solving consists of a large number of various combinations of possibilities and the essential ability to select those that are most likely to be useful

You have been tasked to re-design a plain little car so that every consumer would want to purchase it.

You must brainstorm several possibilities using one of the creativity techniques that we discussed.

You will sketch Your Design in Your Engineering Journal