CREATIVITY

Yes, You Can Learn to be Creative….And it Starts

with a Bird

Just like learning to play basketball, baseball, roller

blading, you can learn to be creative

Brainstorming

• Sit in groups of four to five.

• Review brainstorming rules. – Participants must go fast as they list

ideas that come to mind

– The recorder must write them down

Brainstorming Rules Continued

• No criticism allowed – people tend to automatically evaluate each suggested idea . Neither positive nor negative. Either type inhibits the free flow of thought and requires times which interferes with the next rule

Brainstorming Rules Continued

• Work for Quantity – People must experience a braindrain (get all the common responses out of the way) before innovative, creative ideas can surface; therefor the more ideas the more likely they are to be quality ideas

Brainstorming Rules Continued

• Hitchhiking welcome – Hitchhiking occurs when one member’s ideas produces a similar idea or an enhanced idea in another member. All ideas should be recorded

Brainstorming Rules Continued

•Freewheeling encouraged – Outrageous, humorous, and seemingly unimportant ideas should be recorded. It is not uncommon for the most off the wall comment to be one wherein lies the solution of the problem

Brainstorm BirdsGroup Project 1

Fluency

Flexibility• Look at the list and see how many different

categories your answers fall into.• You may have …▫ athletic teams with the nickname of birds. (St.

Louis Cardinals or Baltimore Orioles)▫musical groups named after birds. (“The Birds”)▫movies named after birds. (“The Crow”)▫ species of birds (robin, bluebird, owl, nightingale)▫ food from the flesh of birds (turkey, turkey

stuffing, chicken cacciatore, pheasant under glass)▫ idiomatic sayings using birds (“Don’t put all your

eggs in one basket” or “A bid in a feather equals two in the bush.”

Originality

• Look at your lists and see which items are the most original or rare.– i.e. You may have the name of a

professional basketball player, “Larry Bird” or the name of a flower “Bird of Paradise.”

– If the unusual item does not appear in the lists of other members in the class, we will call it original.

Elaboration

• Take drawing paper and draw one of the most interesting items on the your list.

• Each person should individually draw something interesting.

• Draw it in some detail and invest the drawing with individuality.

Transformation

• An assignment in divergent production-

• Exchange drawings and work on your partner’s drawing, changing it into a different drawing.

CREATIVE PART OF INVENTIVE THINKING

FLUENCY – The production of a great number of ideas

FLEXIBILITY – The production of ideas or products that show a variety of possibilities or realms of thought

ORIGINALITY – The production of ideas that are unique or unusual. This is why there are no rules in STEM

ELABORATION – The production of ideas that display intensive detail or enrichment

Risk Taking: dealing with the unknown by taking chances, experimenting with new ideas or trying new challenges.

Complexity: creating structure in an unstructured setting or building a logical order in a given situation.

Curiosity: following a hunch, questioning alternatives, pondering outcomes and wondering about options.

Imagination: visualizing possibilities, building images in the mind, picturing new objects, reaching beyond the limits of the practical

Group Project

Answer the Following Questions

Fluency: generating a great many ideas, related answers, or choices. (Many)

• Think of as many solutions as you can to the bullying problem.• How many figures can you use to build a home?• List everything in your home you could use to measure the width of your bedroom.

Imagination: visualizing possibilities, building images in the mind, picturing new objects, reaching beyond the limits of the practical. (Fantasize)

• Imagine you invented a new energy source. What is it? What would you do about it?• Imagine how William Shakespeare would react to Hollywood films.• If you had no mouth, how would things be different?

Curiosity: following a hunch, questioning alternatives, pondering outcomes and wondering about options. (Inquiry)

• The results: A broken window and a crying baby. What happened?• What is more intriguing to you, a broken engine or a broken heart?• Pretend you are a bee. What would you want to know about humans?

Complexity: creating structure in an unstructured setting or building a logical order in a given situation. (Intricacy)

• Which is more intense, fear or pain?• Explain all the ways computers influence our lives.• List all the possible effects of ocean temperature rising 5 degrees.

Risk Taking: dealing with the unknown by taking chances, experimenting with new ideas or trying new challenges. (Exploration)

• Rename your classmates to match their personality.• If you could do anything with absolutely no negative consequences what would it be?• What is more important to you, love or power?

Elaboration: expanding, enlarging, enriching or embellishing possibilities that build on previous thoughts or ideas. (Adding on)• Explain why mathematics is a language.• What do you think this means, “We should speak softly but carry a big stick”?• Complete this story, She panicked, he hands flew across the cluttered desk liberating papers, pens, and fast food wrappers……

Originality: seeking new ideas by suggesting unusual twists to change content or coming up with clever responses. (Uniqueness)

• In what ways could you power your home without using electricity or natural gas?• What could you invent that would solve the problem of world hunger?• What might George Washington say to President Barack Obama?

Flexibility: changing everyday objects to generate a variety of categories, by taking detours and varying sizes, shapes, quantities, time limits, requirements, objectives or dimensions. (Adaptability)

• Classify professions that use mathematics in as many ways as you can.• What questions could all have the answer, Martin Luther King Jr.?• If there were no phones or cell phones how many ways would life be different?