Creative thinking and problem solving

Monday, April 29, 2013 1Graduate School Training Courses

Creative Thinking&

Problem Solving

Monday, April 29, 2013 Graduate School Training Courses 2

Aims and objectives

• To develop the researchers’ background and experience in exploring simple problems using the creative process

• To do this is a non-threatening and fun atmosphere• By the end of this course you will be have

experience of – employing idea generation strategies to introduce new

approaches to your problem solving.– identifying the stages of the creative and problem solving

process– considering strategic methods to team and individual tasks


What is creativity?…


Some definitions of creativity

• Knowledge, Imagination, Evaluation (R. Noller)• The making of the new and the rearranging of the

old (Bentley,1997)• Novel associations which are useful (Isaksen,

Treffinger, 1993)• Shared Imagination (Baillie & Dewulf,1999) • The ability to modify self imposed constraints (Ackoff

&Vergara 1988) • An unease emerging out of a struggle between two

opposing forces (Robinson & Rundell 1994)


More definitions of creativity

• The ability to develop new ideas, new methods of viewing existing ideas or the ability to develop new constructions, designs, methods of working etc especially which are unusual or require imagination and the use of all these in the solution of problems (simplified from a dictionary definition)

• Being creative is seeing the same thing as everybody else but thinking of something different (unknown source)

• Creative thinking involves imagining familiar things in a new light, digging below the surface to find previously undetected patterns, and finding connections among unrelated phenomena (unknown source)


The creativity process

Execution/Testing

Preparation/Analysis

Incubation/Synthesis

Illumination/Eureka


Creative thinking tools and techniques

Random Input Problem Reversal Ask Questions Applied Imagination Lateral Thinking

Six Thinking Hats The Discontinuity Principle ChecklistsBrainstorming Forced Relationships/Analogy

Attribute Listing Morphological Analysis Imitation Mindmapping Storyboarding Synectics

Metaphorical thinking Lotus Blossum Technique Use of drawing (Visual Thinking) IdeaToons (by Michael Michalko)

Neuro-Linguistic Programming Techniques Assumption Smashing LARC Method Unconscious Problem Solving

Basadur Simplex process The TRIZ method Third-person positioningFuzzy Thinking Chunking` Breakout Thinking


Exercise 1: Breaking out

• Join all the dots with no more than 4 straight lines without taking your pen off the paper


Breaking out: Solution


Exercise 2: Concealed colours

1. A big, old, hungry dog appeared at our door every morning. 2. The cop persuaded him not to create a disturbance.3. The Brazilian student Paulo lives around the corner from us.4. You shouldn't let an upstart like him bother you.5. He let out a big yell, owing to the injuries he received when he

fell.6. La Jolla venders decided to cut their prices in half.7. Long rayon fabrics were loaded on the truck.8. The Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli lacked the requisite

documents to enter the U.S.9. You shouldn't sell this fossil very cheaply because it is a rare

specimen.10.The new law hit everybody's pocketbook pretty hard.


1. Abigoldhungrydogappearedatourdooreverymorning. 2. Thecoppersuadedhimnottocreateadisturbance.3. Thebrazilianstudentpaulolivesaroundthecornerfromus.4. Youshouldntletanupstartlikehimbotheryou.5. Heletoutabigyellowingtotheinjurieshereceivedwhenhefell.6. Lajollavendersdecidedtocuttheirpricesinhalf.7. Longrayonfabricswereloadedonthetruck.8. Theaustrianphysicistwolfgangpaulilackedtherequisitedocumen

tsto entertheus.9. Youshouldntsellthisfossilverycheaplybecauseitisararespecime

n.10.Thenewlawhiteverybodyspocketbookprettyhard.

Concealed colours: Solution


Exercise 3: The collected works

• There are four volumes of Shakespeare’s collected works on the shelf. The pages of each volume are exactly 4cm thick. The covers are each 5mm thick. A book worm started eating at page 1 of volume 1, and ate through to the last page of volume 4. What is the distance that the bookworm covered?


• There are four volumes of Shakespeare’s collected works on the shelf. The pages of each volume are exactly 4cm thick. The covers are each 5mm thick. A book worm started eating at page 1 of volume 1, and ate through to the last page of volume 4. What is the distance that the bookworm covered?

Covers 5mm X 6 = 30mm = 3cmPages of volumes 2 X 4cm = 8cm

Total = 11cm

Look again at the arrangement of books on the shelf



From creative thinking to problem solving


Idea generation –divergent thinking

It has been shown that increasing fluency through the generation of alternative uses for common objects is correlated with the generation of novelty. In short this means that the volume of ideas is important in creativity

There are a particular set of attitudes that are conducive to productive idea generation.These are: Record all the ideas

No ‘buts’Have a PMA – think ‘why not!’, ‘what if?!’Build on the ideas of othersHave fun


From creativity to problem solving

The Process

Divergence

Convergence

Problem

Solution


Exercise 4: Alternative uses

• Produce as many uses as you can for your shoes


Strategies for ideas generation

1. Memory use2. Property or attribute use3. Category of object4. Disassembly


Six thinking hats – from divergence to convergence

1. There are six different imaginary hats that you can put on or take off.

2. Think of the “hats” as thinking icons.3. Each hat is a different colour and represents a

different type or mode of thinking.4. We all wear the same hat (do the same type of

thinking) at the same time.5. When we change hats - we change our thinking.


The thinking hat roles

Blue HatManaging The Thinking

Setting The FocusMaking Summaries

ConclusionsAction PlansWhite Hat

Information & DataAvailable DataPast Trends

Gaps in the data

Yellow HatWhy It May Work

The optimistic view

Green HatCreative Thinking

PossibilitiesAlternatives New Ideas

New Concepts

Red HatFeelings & Intuition

IntuitionGut Reaction

Emotion

Black HatWhy It May Not Work

The pessimistic view


Summary

• What are they key ideas you have learnt today?

• How will you put them into practice?

Education

Creative thinking and problem solving