Conceptual Blockbusting for TCC Administrators

1. Conceptual Blockbusting for TCC Administrators (…thinking outside the BLOX) Scott Langhorst, Ph.D.Tidewater Community College

2. Welcome! --- The Agenda --- • 9:00 am – Introductions, warm-up, and getting started thinking outside the BLOX • 10:30 am -10:40 am – Break • 12:00 Noon – Lunch • 1:00 pm – Resume workshop • 2:30 pm – 2:40 pm – Break • 4:00 pm – Evaluation and conclusion

3. Workshop objectives • To stimulate thinking and ideas • To help improve individual problem-solving skills • To build individual confidence in being able to solve problems • To demonstrate group resourcefulness • To put in context what “thinking outside the box” might really mean • To have some fun!

4. Workshop materials • Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas (4th edition) James L. Adams(…your very own copy for future reference and reading, compliments of the TCC Administrative Association) • Why Man Creates (1968) Saul Bass(DVD available through TCC LRC-Chesapeake) • A Whack On the Side of the Head(1983) Roger von Oech • Lateral Thinking (1973) Edward de Bono • Workshop hand-outs and an assortment of games, puzzles, and brain-teasers

5. Einstein on imagination “Imagination is moreimportant than knowledge.” (Nobel Laureate - Albert Einstein)

6. Warm-up exercises • Introductions, with a twist… • A brief quiz… • A movie clip about the history of ideas, inventions, and thinking…

7. Introductions Briefly answer the following (no more than 30 seconds per person): • When was the last time you came up with a creative idea? • What was it? • What motivates you to be creative? (Roger von Oech – A Whack On the Side of Your Head)

8. A little quiz… • How many “9’s” in the series of numbers from one to one hundred? • Do the Chinese have a 4th of July? • There is three errers in this sentence. (can you find all three?) • If you enter a room with only one match, & you find a kerosene lamp, a wood stove, and a fireplace, which do you light first? • What is the next letter in the series“O…T…T…F…F…S…S…?”

9. Quiz answer key • Twenty (did you forget about 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, and 99 ?) • Yes – (their calendar is the same as ours, they just don’t celebrate the fourth of July like Americans do) • “is” “errers” and only “two” errors • First, you must light the match. • “E” (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight)

10. Multimedia diversion #1 • A brief history of ideas, inventions, and thinking from the stone age to the atomic age • Mankind has been very “creative” during the past few thousand years! • On the other hand, consider how much baggage we all carry, i.e., how much of this collective memory gets in the way?

11. A history of ideas “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” (British economist-John Maynard Keynes)

12. Today’s topics? • Ideas • Thinking • Creativity • Imagination • Problem-solving • Genius, whacks on the side of the head, lateral thinking, conceptual blocks, etc. • All a part of “…thinking outside the box”

13. Thinking like a genius (Michael Michalko) Eight strategies to think “productively,” rather than “reproductively” • Look at problems in different ways • Visualize! • Produce! • Force relationships (make connections between dissimilar subjects) • Think in opposites • Think metaphorically • Prepare yourself for chance

14. The right answer That’s not logical Follow the rules Be practical Avoid ambiguity To err is wrong Play is frivolous That’s not my area Don’t be foolish I’m not creative A whack on the side of the head 10 “mental locks” by Roger von Oech -Certain attitudes (to avoid) which lock our thinking into the status quo:

15. Lateral thinking (Edward de Bono) • “ The most basic principle of lateral thinking is that any particular way of looking at things is only one from among manyother possible ways.” • “Lateral thinking is concerned with exploring these other ways by restructuring and rearranging the information that is available.”

16. Conceptual blocks (John L. Adams) “Mental walls that block the problem-solver from correctly perceiving a problem or conceiving its solution.” • Perceptual blocks • Emotional blocks • Cultural blocks • Environmental blocks • Intellectual and expressive blocks

17. Problems with problem definition • What is the problem? • Oftentimes, how you state the problem will determine the outcome. • What is “given”? What is the “goal”? • How can you get from the givens to the goal? What operations, actions, processes will transform the givens into the goal? • Take time to clearly state and understand a problem, before you try to solve it.

18. Restating the question or goal • How you ask the question can make a difference in terms of which solutions are even considered by problem solvers: • “Design a better door.”or • “Design a better way to get through a wall.” • “Opens up” many more potential solutions • A conscious process of restructuringandrearrangingthe information that is available

19. A morbid example of “what question” • How you ask the question can make a difference in terms of which solutions are even considered by problem solvers: • “What should we do in the event we bury someone who is alive?”or • “How can we make sure everyone we bury is dead?” • Also, an example that there’s usually more than one right answer! (Roger von Oech – A Whack On the Side of Your Head)

20. Average speed hill One mile One mile Up at 30 MPH Down at ??? MPH = 60 MPH for the whole trip?

21. Problem definition tools • Re-statement of givens and/or goals • What is information, what is data? • Is there enough information? Why not? • Can I change the “labels” on information? • What is not given? Why not? • Can the goal be stated more broadly? • Do I need the givens to solve the problem? • Can I use a different thinking process? • Play with the information!!!

22. e.g., apples and oranges • Three boxes of fruit are all mis-labeled. One box has a sign on the front “apples,” one box has a sign “oranges,” and one box has a sign “apples and oranges.” What is the minimum number of moves to correctly label all the boxes? i.e., look in the box, move the sign (What are the moves?) Apples Oranges Apples &Oranges

23. Looking at things in different ways • Look at the givens in a different way • Look at the goal(s) in a different way • Look at the operations, actions, processes in a different way

24. Looking at things in different ways • Interpret the following into a common word or phrase: Thinking Le vel ECNALG Town R/E/A/D/I/N/G 0Ph.D.M.A.B.A. Wear Long M.D. M.D. DiceDice kneelight He’s / himself

25. Looking at things in different ways • Advanced interpretations: 18 = H on a G C 32 = D F at which W F 5 = D in a Z C 3 = B M (SHTR)

26. Looking at things in different ways “Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.” (Nobel laureate – Albert Szent-Gyorgyi)

27. Multimedia diversion #2 • Fooling around…

28. Lateral thinking is generative Lateral thinking moves to generate a direction Lateral thinking is provocative With lateral thinking, one welcomes chance intrusions (e.g., creative thinking) Vertical thinking is selective Vertical thinking moves only if there is a direction Vertical thinking is analytical With vertical thinking, one concentrates and excludes what is irrelevant (e.g., logical thinking)(Edward DeBono) Lateral versus vertical thinking

29. Lateral versus vertical thinking • “Lateral thinking and vertical thinking are complementary.” (…you need to use both) • “Lateral thinking is like the reverse gear in a car. One would never try to drive along in reverse gear the whole time. On the other hand one needs to have it and to know how to use it for maneuverability and to get out of a blind alley.” (Edward DeBono)

30. Lateral versus vertical thinking “Nothing is more dangerousthan an idea when it isthe only one you have.”(French philosopher - Emile Chartier)

31. Lateral versus vertical thinking • Are you digging the same hole deeper and deeper, orshould you be trying to dig (more) holes in some different places?

32. Lateral versus vertical thinking “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”(Nobel Laureate – Albert Einstein)

33. Some group problems to discuss • Break into four groups (group #1 should be composed of folks who have not yet seen the “roses and petals” problem) • Talk about the problem --- “what is the problem?” how would you re-state? can you look at it in a different way? etc., etc. • Be prepared for a group spokesperson to share your group’s thought process • Don’t worry about so much about the ANSWER (but it’s okay if you happen to get one)

34. Roses and petals • How many “roses” and how many “petals” do you see? #1 ? #2 ? ? #3

35. Three prisoners • A prison warden invites three prisoners to his office to explain that one prisoner will soon go free. All they need to do is solve a puzzle. The warden shows them 5 hats (3 hats and 2 red hats). “I’m going to blindfold your eyes and place a hat on each of your heads. If you can tell me what color hat you have on, I will set you free.” (…the hats are too small for a prisoner to see his own hat) white

36. Three prisoners • The three prisoners agree to the challenge, but one man indicates that he is blind. (He really is.) The blind man says:“I’ll also participate, if you let me go last.” The warden and other prisoners agree. The warden blindfolds them, mixes up the hats, and places one hat each on their heads (and discards the remaining 2 hats out of view). He then removes their blindfolds…

37. Three prisoners • First prisoner: (looking at the others) “I can’t tell what color hat I have on.” • Second prisoner: (looking around) “I can’t tell what color hat I have on.” • Blind prisoner: (immediately shouts) “I have a white hat on my head!” • And he was correct, and could explain how he knew for sure (How did he know?)

38. Truthers, liars, and alternators • You enter a country that has only three kinds of people: people who always tell the truth (truthers), people who always lie (liars), and people who alternate telling the truth and then lying (alternators). As you enter the country, you meet a person. What two questions would you ask to correctly determine what kind of person you have just encountered?

39. Camping trip • On a camping trip, you are given a 9 oz. cup and a 4 oz. cup and asked to go to the lake and come back with exactly6 oz. of water. Both cups are unmarked. No guessing or estimating. How do you do it? 4 oz. 9 oz.

40. Multimedia diversion #3 • The process…

41. Conceptual blocks: perceptual • Detecting what you expect (stereotyping) • Difficulty in isolating the problem • Tendency to delimit the problem area poorly • Inability to see the problem from various viewpoints • Saturation • Failure to utilize all sensory inputs

42. What do you see (3 seconds)? Rabbit in the the hat Paris in the the Spring Singing in the the rain

43. Are you sure? • What do you think you saw? • Is there a group consensus? • Are you sure? • Really?

44. Want to look again? Rabbit in the the hat Paris in the the Spring Singing in the the rain

45. Overcoming perceptual blocks • All of your senses can be deceived !! • Re-state the givens and/or goals • Narrow the focus / expand the scope • What boundaries are you imposing? • Change the labels • What do I expect to see? What is there? • Do you have too much data--“easy” data? • “Touch” the problem, “taste” the problem, “smell” the problem, “hear” the problem…

46. Overcoming perceptual blocks • Spelling bee • Match problems • Three cups • Camels • Two pencils • Telephone dial

47. Conceptual blocks: emotional • Fear of feeling like an idiot • Fear of taking a risk • Feelings of inadequacy • To err is wrong • Avoiding ambiguity and chaos • Feeling like you can’t ask for help from others (i.e., “it’s your problem…”)

48. Overcoming emotional blocks • Barnyard exercise • All of Von Oech’s “attitudes” (Whack em!) • Know that emotions can (really) interfere • Try anyway --- “…just do it!” • I’m okay, you’re okay, and we both may not have a clue (…but that’s okay) • Ask for help! Involve others!

49. Multimedia diversion #4 • The judgment…

50. Conceptual blocks: cultural (i.e., American, Caucasian, middle-class, ethos) • Problem solving is serious! • One right answer (for everything) • Intuition and insight are bad (= logic and rational thinking are good) • = any problem can be solved by scientific thinking • Taboos • “Follow the rules”