Some Easy Creative Strategies

1. Some Easy Creative Strategies To use with your class, your company, your family, or yourself

2. 1. Use Humor--Cartooning • Promote figural creativity; • Express ideas in a different format; • Explore humor; • Increase interest Cramond

3. Some Strategies: • Complete a cartoon • Add a caption • Put panels in sequence • Use to learn about criteria • Which cartoons are best? What makes them good? • Analyze symbols– Uncle Sam, dove, etc. • Compare messages • Express ideas • Demonstrate understanding • Show humor • Introduce a topic Any grade Any subject Not necessary to draw Different levels of complexity

4. You can have students complete them Cramond

5. Write a caption Cramond

6. Represent Current or Historical Events

8. Create a Cartoon to Represent the Other Side • Participants could discuss the issues on both sides of a controversy, such as the Patriot Act, and draw an editorial cartoon in answer to this one.

9. And to Demonstrate Understanding of a Concept Newton’s Laws of Motion

10. Inertia

11. If you can’t draw… Great costume! Great Neck! Great Costume! Great Neck! Bonnie http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Activities/Cartoons

12. Or, use collage or photo-editingOne way to create a cartoon… • Choose a current event or news item. • Try to find an absurd, funny, ironic, exaggerated, etc. side to it. • Decide how to depict it. • draw • collage • photoediting • Add a title or caption.

13. Some Good Sources of Cartoons for Educators General Education Math www.trottermath.net/humor/cartoons.html http://www.simonsingh.net/Mathematics_Cartoons.html http://www.sciencecartoonsplus.com/gallery/math/index.php http://www.charlottemathtutor.com/htmlfile/cartoons.html http://www.mathcartoons.com/ • Higher Education by Gary Olsen • http://www.dubuque.k12.ia.us/cartoons/ • Daryl Cagle’s Pro Cartoonist Index Home Page with lesson plans • http://www.cagle.com/teacher/ • CSL Cartoonstock • http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/F/Free.asp • National Geographic for Kids Cartoon Factory • http://cartoonfactory.net/ • Class Brain: http://www.classbrain.com/artteensb/publish/cat_index_19.shtml • Andertoons //www.andertoons.com/cartoons/education_and_teacher

14. Question of… Identity Awareness Isolation Risk or danger Wisdom 2. Use an encounter experience EXAMPLE: Introducing a Lesson on Native Americans What kind of Native American are you? What do you see? Hear? Smell? Taste? Feel? You are away from the rest of your people. Why? You hear voices of the enemy near. Who are they? What are they doing? What have you learned about? What would you like to know?

15. Groups of 4 with inkblot or paint blot on paper 3 2 4 1 3. Inkblot Fold the paper in half horizontally and vertically. 2. Then put a few drops of paint, refold paper and press to smear. 3. Number the 4 sides and brainstorm for 2-3 minutes on each side what the blob could be.

16. 4 Inkblot 3 2 4 Skd;fjff’asdfj Sdfkljfas;fjkasdfl;dsfjsf;jsfd Sdfkjsf;ksdf’; Sd;fjsdfl;sdf Sd;fsdfkldfldfl 1 Turn the page so that the 1 faces you. When I say begin, jot as many things that you can think of that the shape looks like on one or both sides of the number. When I say STOP—stop. Pass the paper to the person on the left. Turn the paper so that the 2 faces you. Repeat.

17. A Variation on the Inkblot Activity Using Smells or Textures • Put glue on the paper and use aromatic spices or different flavors of jello as you would glitter. • Have students brainstorm all of the things that would smell like each smell on the paper: • e.g. Cinnamon: pumpkin pie, cinnamon toast, baked apples, cider, Christmas caroling, Grandma’s house, warmth, etc. • Have different textures for students to pass around and let them brainstorm things that feel like: • Sandpaper—snake’s skin, tree bark, camp sheets • Silk—baby’s skin, soy milk, tassels, Mama’s hair • Wet soap—fish, inside of mouth, paste • Rabbit fur—puppy, coat, short grass, carpet

18. Creativity--discuss who had the most Responses (fluency), Unusual response (originality), Detailed response (elaboration), Categories of responses (flexibility) Recognize other attributes of creativity such as humor, emotion, fantasy, etc. Geometry--Use graph paper; make a polygon out of the figure; figure (or estimate) the area Art--Have students choose to draw or paint details to complete the picture Language Arts/English/Foreign Language--Have students write stories about the picture Inkblot: Applications

19. 4. Movement • Familiarize students with Rube Goldberg machines like the one below.

21. Machine • A volunteer makes a repeated machine-like movement. • one by one others add a motion to the machine. • remaining students are asked to brainstorm what the machine is and how the various movements work together. *Gives students an opportunity to express creativity through movement.

22. 5.Brainstorming and Just Suppose: • Principles: • 1. Deferment of judgment. • 2. Quantity breeds quality. • Rules: • 1. Criticism is ruled out. • 2. Free wheeling is welcomed. • 3. Quantity is wanted. • 4. Combination and improvement are sought--hitchhiking.

23. Some Applications of Just Suppose • Economics Example: Just suppose you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? What might some effects be? • Science/Social Studies: Just suppose we could cure all diseases. What would be the effect? • Mathematics: Just suppose you could invent your own symbol system for mathematics. What might be some symbols you would create, and what would they mean?

24. 6. Scamper (Eberle, 1971) • Substitute • Combine • Adapt • Magnify or minify • Put to other uses • Eliminate • Reverse or rearrange

25. “What are some ways that we could make zoos better for animals?” • Substitute— • group animals and vegetation together as in the wild and let them hunt or forage for their own food • Combine- -have the birds from the aviary in the same place with the monkeys • Adapt— • use climate control domes and vegetation to simulate their natural environment • Magnify or minify— • make zoos larger with more space; breed smaller versions of animals so that the space seems larger

26. “What are some ways that we could make zoos better for animals?” • Put to other uses— • give the animals activities to occupy them • Eliminate— • remove as many unnatural sensations as possible--sights, sounds, smells, foods, textures, etc. • Reverse or rearrange– • put the people in enclosures and let the animals run free

27. SCAMPER--Activity In groups, try to think of at least one idea to improve education using each of the SCAMPER prompts. Consider: cafeteria, discipline, schedule, grading, homework, administration, grade levels, etc. • Substitute • Combine • Adapt • Magnify or minify • Put to other uses • Eliminate • Reverse or rearrange

28. Scamper--Application Language Arts: How might you use the SCAMPER techniques to change a familiar story? Social Studies: How might you apply the ideas of SCAMPER to create a new society? Mathematics: Can you write word problems using the ideas of SCAMPER? Science: How can you design a new experiment using the principles of SCAMPER.

29. 7. Metaphorical Thinking • Life is like...______________ because_________. • “...a jigsaw puzzle but you don't have the picture on the front of the box to know what it's supposed to look like. Sometimes you're not even sure you have all the pieces.” • “...riding an elevator. It has a lot of ups and downs and someone is always pushing your buttons. Sometimes you get the shaft, but what really bothers you are the jerks." • What do you think life is like?

30. 8. Using Analogy or Metaphor to Solve a Problem How does nature solve this problem?

31. Forced Fit • If you can’t think of a comparison, try choosing anything and figuring out how they are alike. • Life is like a book. How? • What is a garden like? How? • How are schools like businesses? prisons? gardens? Zoos? • Play a game with two teams; each must think of a problem and an unlikely object with which to solve it. If the solvers can think of a reasonable solution using the object, they get a point. Otherwise those presenting the problem get the point. Take turns. • Example: How could you use a spoon to get children to clean their rooms? (If anyone can help solve this problem, with or without a spoon, all of us travelers will be eternally grateful!

32. 9. Synectics-this is not easy to do completely, but you can try one or two steps … • Solve problems using analogies and opposites • Force fit generated responses into a realistic solution for the problem. • direct, actual comparisons with similar situations • personal, identify with some aspect of the problem • symbolic, putting two conflicting aspects of the problem together, or some other way of objectifying the problem • fantasy, uses imaginary ideas to find ideal solutions

33. Synectics Application How can we improve the efficiency and efficacy of security lines at airports? Direct: Move people through like products move through a factory line--> sit on a people mover like Disney has to ride through security Personal: How would I want people to go through security if I were a security worker?-->people go through security without any belongings wearing paper pajamas. Symbolic: Is there a way to have low intrusion security?--> scan people without stopping them and making them take off their shoes, jackets, jewelry, phones, take out laptops, put liquids in 3 ounce containers in bags. Fantasy: How might we go through the airport like we did before there was so much security?--> stop the threat of terrorism so that the world is like it was before.

34. 10. Looking at Attributes

35. Attribute Listing & Analysis • Example: "How to improve the playground" • _______________________________________________________________ • ELEMENT ATTRIBUTE IDEAS FOR POSIT/NEGAT IMPROVEMENTFEATURES • _______________________________________________________________ • Swings too high lower small kids can swing/ • can be dangerous • Ground hard blacktop soften with mats safety; more games/ • artificial turf cost/weathering • _______________________________________________________________ • This activity can be cyclical as each positive and negative feature is translated into a new element of the problem to be run through the entire process again.

36. Attribute Listing, 2nd Chart ___________________________________________________ELEMENT ATTRIBUTE IDEAS FOR POSIT/NEGAT IMPROVEMtFEATURES ___________________________________________________Childrendifferent ages separatesafe/ less interaction Cost highfund-raiser/effective/ donation work to get_______________________________________________________________

37. Attribute Analogy Chain If we wanted to improve the design of a television set…list attributes NAME: television FORM: geometric, angular, cube FUNCTION: entertain, educate, accompany To each of these attributes we might tag the following analogy ideas: NAME: videotube, idiot box, entertainment cube, etc. FORM: prism, sphere, semicircle FUNCTION: live theater, school, conversation

38. Attribute Analogy Chain From these, we might produce the following alternative views: Change name to Entertainment Prism (EP). Try prism forms which allow for different screens at different angles--with ear phones families can view different shows in the same room.

39. Morphological Analysis • Put one attribute across the top and one along the left • Example: Invent a new kind of math story problem

40. Morphological Synthesis

41. 11. DeBono’s Lateral Thinking Get information on a contentious issue, then try to analyze the issue: • EBS--Examine Both Sides • Argue one, then the other side of the Patriot Act. • ADI--Agreement, Disagreement, Irrelevance (to look at sides in argument--should come after EBS) • Read an article, choose key statements, then label • OPV--Other People's Views: Two parts: • Identifying the other people who are really part of the situation: What people and groups have an interest in the censorship of lyrics to popular songs? • Getting into the shoes of all of these others: How would you feel if you were a parent of a child who listened to them? A record producer? A recording artist? A disk jockey? • PMI--Plus, Minus, Interesting • Listen to a political debate and try to label each point made by the debators as a plus, minus, or interesting point

42. 11.DeBono’s 6 Thinking Hats Positive Organized Emotional Negative Neutral Creative

43. Example of Discussion withDeBono’s 6 Thinking Hats Let’s list the pros and cons I think we should continue the research But that is killing babies!! Positive Organized Emotional Creative Neutral Negative We can create the same effects by using placental rather than fetal cells We shouldn’t fool with nature. There are scientific benefits and moral concerns