Ten Hands-On Tools to Spark Student Creativity and Innovation

1. Ten Hands-On Tools to Spark Student Creativity and Innovation Charlie Wood et. al, University of Tulsa

2. A Taste of 10 • All levels • Low tech • Field tested • charles-wood@utulsa.edu

3. Why these exercises?

4. Theoretical Foundations • Experiential Learning • Kolb’s model (1984) • Cyclical process: Concrete experience, Reflective observation, Abstract conceptualization, Active experimentation • Triarchic Theory • Sternberg (2006) • Intelligence has three components: Analytical, Creative, and Practical • Psychological Ownership • Allport (1946) • Student motivation and learning increases as ownership increases

5. The 10 Tools • New Product “Wall of Shame” • Two Buckets * • Innovation U • 100 Uses • iWish * • R&D • Visioning • Cardi-io • Perceptual Maps • Innovation Challenges

6. 1. New Product “wall of shame” • Find real, everyday examples from the world around us • Show them / Pass them around • Get conversations started

7. Yogurt for men? Squeezie? HAPIfork? Kitchen safe?

8. Caterpillar Generators “Tech-manitarians” Afthon’s Detonation Generator http://afthon.com/

9. 2. Two Buckets * • Form teams of 3-5. • Each team: randomly choose a card from each of 2 buckets • One has major brand names. One has product categories. • Combine them to make a new product. • Task – 3 minutes • Describe your new product’s features and benefits • Who would buy it? • Can you name your new product? • Any ad ideas?

10. Innovation as Combination • Combining ideas is a key ability for innovation that can be developed. • Netflix = Book of the month club + DVD rentals • Kiva.org = Venture Capital + 3rd World Relief • Google AdWords = Ad placement + Auctions • Hunger Games = Reality show + Iraq war • Biomimicry = Nature + Technology

11. 3. Innovation U • Ask students: “Create a poster about YOU” • Their favorite quote • Inspirational person • What they know the most about -outside of family and school • (Gladwell’s “outliers” idea) • When, where they have experienced “Flow” • Their Jung typology • Gardner’s multiple intelligences: “How are you smart?”

13. 4. 100 uses • In teams, ask students to form teams and write down 100 uses for old newspapers • in 10 minutes • Lesson: • Lower inhibitions for sharing ideas • Remember that feeling when brainstorming

14. 5. iWish * • First, think of a problem or hassle people face often • Awkward social situations, parking tickets, bad breath, late,… • Can direct – e.g., visually impaired, developing world, military, … • Take 3 minutes: • Form teams, share ideas, and choose a problem that can be addressed by a new app. • “I wish acell phone could _______.” • Grab an Expo marker, draw its screen on the iPhone whiteboard, and be ready to present

17. 6. R&D Try working the standard innovation process backwards: • Instead of • starting with problems and developing many possible innovations, • start with innovations and consider their application to many problems • R&Dmag.com: Spider silk, … • Inventables.com: Rapid prototyping, MakerBots

18. www.rdmag.com Spider silk: 5x stronger than steel Ask: “What could we do with this?”

19. Antenna Clothing Researchers are incorporating radio antennas directly into clothing, using metallic thread. Ask: “What could we do with this?” Potential for soldiers, police officers, fire fighters, astronauts—anybody who needs to keep their hands free for important work. Also, elderly or disabled could wear clothing that would let them communicate in case of emergency,…

20. Chemical Nanobatteries What could we do with invisible, mobile power sources? Permanently germ-free textiles What could we do with this? Consider hospital lab coats, scrub suits, gloves, and linens. Also, food packaging, toys, medical and dental instruments, bandages,…

21. Wearable electronic devices Transistors made from natural cotton fibers can sense body temperature, automatically heat up or cool down, track heart rate / blood pressure. Uses? Self-cleaning glass Smelly socks Traps scented with the odor of human feet attracted four times as many mosquitoes as a human volunteer

23. Makerbot and the “pocket president”

24. 7. Visioning • Create a fictional, super positive news story about your students, school, or organization • (just the intro) • http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp • Ask: • “What do you think we might have done to deserve this recognition?” • A “pull” rather than a “push” for ideas

26. 8. Card-io • Put challenge questions at the top of large note cards • “How might we…” (Tim Brown, IDEO) • Each person, write an idea beneath the question, pass it to the right. • Each time you pass, build on the ideas of others, last round of ideas must be “wild ideas.” Then discuss as a group. • Lesson: • Get individuals’ input first, then open to the group • Variation: “The Worst Idea Ever” • Write down a really bad product or service idea, pass it to the right, make the idea worse, pass it on,… • Then, find a nugget of a good idea in what you see

27. 9. Perceptual Maps • Draw X-Y axes • Choose a product category • Candy, restaurants, theaters, surfboards, … • Choose 2 attributes that people consider important when buying that product. Label the axes. • Plot all the competitors • Look at the open spaces and consider new possibilities

28. 10. Innovation Challenges • A simple challenge: “ADD VALUE” out of… • Pizza boxes • Post-its (see Stanford’s ImagineIt! program) • Old computer diskettes, CDs, parts • Social innovation challenges too • Reach out! • Invite the campus, other schools, get community judges

32. Places and programs • A “place” • Considered IDEO, Google, … • We proposed “Studio Blue” at TU • http://business.utulsa.edu/centers-institutes-programs/studio-blue/

34. Places and programs • A program • The “Nova Fellowship” • Students from any major collaborating to innovate and implement projects they care about • http://www.novafellowship.org/

35. Nova Idea: Help fight hunger in OK Katie Lepine Raised $40,000 for the FoodBank

36. Nova Idea: Increase bone marrow donations 200 signed up, 3 called Caleb Lareau

37. Nova Idea: Launch a new company Abe Matamoros Jared King Launched their firm, InspireVive

38. Nova Idea: Improve the Tulsa Zoo outreach Helped create a preschool-level video series for the Tulsa Zoo Mika Yan Cayman Iguana http://youtu.be/UospK303fRE Blackfoot Penguins http://youtu.be/ffzF1OTJh5s Boa Constrictor http://youtu.be/0Vfz0h5TToM

39. Nova Idea: Host the first TEDx event at TU Katie Snyder

40. Q&A Time • Questions? • Want a list of the resources / credits, copy of the slides? • Please grab one of my cards • Email me: charles-wood@utulsa.edu

41. Ten Hands-On Tools to Spark Student Creativity and Innovation THANK YOU !

43. Empathy [directed creativity] • For some groups, you should empathize first • Then discuss solutions to their problems

44. The “Senior Games” • Empathy for elderly

45. Ideas from immersion Students visited a local prison, interviewed inmates, and produced TV PSAs on the issue of Oklahoma’s high rate of female incarceration Girl Scout meeting with inmates / daughters at Eddie Warrior Correctional Facility

46. Design Thinking • Redesign the Wallet • IDEO kit

47. Biomimicry [directed creativity] • How does nature solves a problem? • Lesson: Learn from others’ successes, blend innovations

48. Biomimicry: Do what nature does From Annoying Burr… …to Velcro

50. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjEghGEExEQ