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Creative Thinking & Critical Problem Solving
- 1. Creative Thinking and Critical Problem Solving Muhammad Bilal Kayani
- 3. Problem Solving What is a Problem? A problem arises when a living creature has a goal but does not know how this goal is to be reached. [A problem exists] whenever one cannot go from the given situation to the desired situation simply by action. [K. Dunker, On Problem Solving, (1945) p. 1] What is Problem Solving? Problem Solving is the process of working out or discovering how to reach such a goal.
- 4. CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING What is creative problem solving?
- 6. DEFINITION “Creative thinking and problem solving is - looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.” Adapted from a famous quote from a former Nobel prize winner, Albert Szent-Gyorgi.
- 7. Critical Thinking “the process we use to reflect on, assess and judge the assumption underlying our own and others ideas and efforts” Creative Thinking “the process we use to develop ideas that are unique, useful and worthy of further elaboration.”
- 8. with critical thinking you can find wrong answers with creative thinking you can find wrong questions When you think creatively you are exploring many new ideas When you are thinking critically you are making choices
- 9. BARRIERS THAT GET IN OUR WAY Time Why change? Usually don’t need to be creative Habit Routine Haven’t been taught to be creative What are some other barriers that get in our way?
- 10. Puzzle • An ordinary American citizen, with no passport, visits over thirty foreign countries in one day. He is welcomed in each country, and leaves each one of his own accord.
- 11. Clue To Puzzle
- 12. Answer To Puzzle He is a mail courier who delivers packages to the different foreign embassies in the United States. The land of an embassy belongs to the country of the embassy, not to the United States.
- 13. MENTAL BLOCKS Mental blocks are reasons (attitudes) why we don’t “think something different.”
- 14. MENTAL BLOCKS 1. The _______ answer. 2. That’s not _________. 3. __________ the rules. 4. Be ______________. 5. ________ is frivolous. 6. That’s not my _____. 7. ________ ambiguity. 8. Don’t be _________. 9. __________is wrong. 10. I’m not __________.
- 15. MENTAL BLOCKS 1. The right answer. 2. That’s not logical. 3. Follow the rules. 4. Be practical. 5. Play is frivolous. 6. That’s not my area. 7. Avoid ambiguity. 8. Don’t be foolish. 9. To err is wrong. 10. I’m not creative.
- 17. BEING MORE CREATIVE How can we be more creative? Write down at least 3 ideas that come to your mind.
- 19. 10 Questions To Encourage Ideas 1. What if…? 2. How can we improve…? 3. How will the Employees benefit from training? 4. Are we forgetting anything? 5. What’s the next step?
- 20. 10 Questions To Encourage Ideas 6. What can we do better…? 7. What do you think about…? 8. What should we add? 9. What should we eliminate? 10.What other ideas do you have...?
- 21. TOOLS & TECHNIQUES BRAINSTORMING Purpose: To generate a large number of ideas in a short period of time.
- 22. BRAINSTORMING Rules for Brainstorming: The more ideas the better! No discussion No idea is a bad idea Build on one another’s ideas Display all ideas
- 23. BRAINSTORMING EXERCISE Ideas: Freely record your ideas as they come to your mind. How Do We Motivate Our Employees to manage time Effectively?
- 24. 1. Practice question: How Do We Motivate Our Employees to manage time Effectively? 2. Clarify understanding. Once all the ideas have been generated (it may take approximately 5 to 6 minutes), review ideas offered. BRAINSTORMING GUIDELINES Remember Creative Thinking What did you mean by that?!!! Re-state the question to keep the process going
- 25. BRAINSTORMING GUIDELINES 3. Combine items that are similar and/or eliminate duplicates. 4. Completion. Let’s combine ideas!!! Are we done yet?
- 26. TOOLS & TECHNIQUES - MULTIVOTING Purpose: To help a group of people make a decision with which they are comfortable. Definition: A way to vote to select the most important or popular items (alternatives) from a list.
- 27. MULTIVOTING Steps 1. Generate a list of items and number each item. 2. If two or more items seem similar, they may be combined. 3. If necessary, renumber the items. Multivoting List 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Revised List 1. 2. 3.
- 28. MULTIVOTING Steps (Continued) 4. Write down the numbers of the items you feel are the major cause of the problem. 5. Share your votes by a show of hands. 6. Eliminate those items with the fewest votes. 7. Repeat steps 3 (renumber) through 6 on the list of remaining items. Continue this process until only a few items remain. If a clear favorite does not emerge, the group may discuss the items listed and make a choice.
- 29. MIND MAPPING Definition : A visual picture of a group of ideas, concepts or issues. Purpose : Unblock our thinking. See an entire idea or several ideas on one sheet of paper. See how ideas relate to one another. Look at things in a new and different way. Look at an idea in depth.
- 30. Mind Mapping Exercise Over-sized blank sheet of paper. Select word, phrase or problem statement to serve as a focus for discussion. Print it in the middle of the paper. Enclose it in a box or oval. Let a word pop out of your mind. Print it anywhere on the paper. Underline it and connect the line with the problem statement (or key phrase or word) you are working. Record the next idea and connect it to original focus point or the prior thought. Continue printing and connecting words. 1. Initial Tumble of Ideas. Think freely!! Motivating Members Methods How
- 32. COMPLETED MAP Draw over clusters of similar thoughts that are associated with the main focus point. Have fun using a different color highlighter with each cluster of words. How do the variety of ideas relate to one another? Do you notice any common causes of the problem? What are the most important causes? You are now ready to brainstorm solutions! Have Fun Drawing Your Own Mind Map!
- 33. APPLICATION OF LEARNING What Are The Three Greatest Problems / Opportunities Your Employees Currently Facing? i.e. “How do you motivate your employees?” 1. 2. 3.
- 34. A boy went to the dentist to get a cavity filled. The boy was the dentist’s son, but the dentist was not the boy’s father. How can this be?
Editor's Notes
- Before you begin this workshop, ensure you have the following materials available: Overhead projector, flip chart paper, colored markers for groups, masking tape (optional if you want to put finished charts on wall), booklets or handouts for each participant.. Review the Instructor’s and Participants’ Workbooks. Useful background information is covered on page 2 of Instructor’s Workbook.
- The instructor asks the participants this question to engage them in the discussion. She/he may record the participant’s comments on flipchart or make mental note of them. After the discussion, go to the next slide.
- Conclude the discussion with this definition. While there may be other valid definitions, this provides a good transition to the remainder of the workshop.
- After the initial discussion, refer participants to page 4 of their workbook and cover the main points (pages 7-8 of Instructor’s workbook). Once you cover the main points, ask about other barriers to keep participants actively involved.
- Most of us have certain attitudes that keep us thinking the same way (blocks our thinking). There are 10 main mental blocks.
- Refer participants to page 5 of their workbook (pages 8-13 of Instructor’s Workbook) and ask them to take notes as each point is covered.
- Throughout our school years, we have all been taught to look for the “right answer”. What happens is that if we think there is only one “right” answer, then we will stop looking as soon as we find it. Our creative thinking process stops with that one “right answer.” When we allow ourselves to use our imagination, we are able to discover many answers. For example: Tests in schools that are multiple choice and true/false questions look for only one right answer.
- Refer participants to page 6 of their workbook. Ask the participants for ways in which we can be more creative and have them write down their thoughts in the workbook. The instructor or one of the participants can record the participants’ thoughts on a flipchart. Following the group discussion, the facilitator shares with the participants the following “golden rules” of creative thinking.
- Review the 10 questions with the participants, provided on the 2 charts. Explain that these are questions that can be asked to get the thinking process started and to keep it going. Participants will have an opportunity to practice these questions with the exercises that follow.
- Cover the PURPOSE with a piece of paper. Ask the participants the purpose and the rules of Brainstorming. Ask these questions first in the event some of the participants are familiar with brainstorming. It is helpful to the learning process to invite them to share their understanding. After a brief discussion of the purpose, remove the paper to expose the answer and continue discussion of the rules of Brainstorming.
- The more ideas the better! Everyone thinks freely and adds as many ideas as possible, regardless of how crazy they may seem. No discussion during brainstorming - keep the thoughts coming!! No idea is a bad idea - no criticizing, groaning, or making fun of other people’s ideas. Hitch hike or piggyback on one another’s ideas. Display all ideas for everyone to see (recording ideas on a flipchart works best).
- The instructor leads the participants through an exercise to practice brainstorming. If there are more than six participants, break the class into small groups (groups of 4 to 5 participants is preferable. How do we motivate our local Optimist Club Members is shown as an example question. Following are other brainstorming questions that may be used. Please feel free to make up your own process questions! - Why do people join Optimist International? - What does Optimist International have to offer its members? - What are the causes of a car failing to start? - When shopping for a TV, what does one need to look for? - What are the uses of a paper clip? Note: Should the instructor be working alone, we encourage you to invite a friend, colleague or family member to join you in the practice exercise. If that is not possible, try to unlock your mental blocks and let your thoughts flow. Let’s see how imaginative you can be.
- The previous slide was a practice exercise. This and the next slide present additional information to teach the brainstorming technique and process. GUIDELINES: 1. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. Brainstorming is an exploration of thought and ideas. It may be helpful for the instructor to periodically re-state the question to keep the process going. 2. Once all the ideas have been generated (it may take approximately 5 to 6 minutes), review ideas offered. This is the time participants may ask questions of one another’s ideas to clarify their understanding. i.e. “What did you mean by that?”
- 3. Combine items that are similar and/or eliminate duplicates. 4. The brainstorming process is completed once the ideas have been offered, discussed and consolidated.
- Direct participants to page 12 of their workbook. Review the purpose and definition with the participants.
- Take the participants through an example of the multivoting process. See pages 20-21 of Instructor’s Workbook. Step1. You may use your list of brainstorming results. Step 2. However, it is important that the group agrees. Step 3. (No explanation needed.)
- 4. Have the participants write down on a sheet of paper (or in the booklet) the numbers of the items they feel are the major cause of the problem. Allow each participant a number of items equal to at least one-third of the total number of items on the list. For example: 48 item list = 16 choices; 37 item list = 13 choices 5. After all the participants have made their selections and recorded them on notepaper, you may have them share their votes. Call out the item numbers, members vote by a show of hands. 6. If you are working with a small group (5 or fewer) you may need to eliminate items with 1 or 2 votes. If you are working with a medium sized group (6-15), eliminate items with 3 or fewer votes. If the group is large (more than 15 members), eliminate items with 4 votes or less. 7. Each participant has one vote.
- The instructor asks the participants to turn to page 13 in their workbook (see pages 22-24 of Instructor’s Workbook). Review the definition and the purpose of mind mapping (you can cover the slide with a piece of paper while you solicit ideas from the participants as you discuss the definition and purpose). You may ask if any participants are familiar with this technique, if so, ask them to share their experience with mind mapping with the group.
- Use these guidelines to assist the participants to learn how to use mind mapping. An example is on the next slide; the basics are illustrated on this slide. See pages 22-23 of Instructor’s Workbook. Initial Tumble of Ideas. 1. Start with an over-sized blank sheet of paper. (a flipchart is ideal) 2. Select a single word, phrase or problem statement (focal point) that will serve as a focus for the discussion. Print it in the middle of the paper. Enclose it in a box or oval.(Be sure the group agrees!) 4. Let a word pop out of your mind. Print it anywhere on the paper. Underline it and connect the line with the problem statement (or key phrase or word) you are working. See example next chart 5. Record the next idea and connect it to either the original focus point or the prior thought. 6. Continue printing and connecting words as they come into your mind. Don’t be afraid to think freely!!
- Refer participants to page 14 in their workbook to see a diagram of a mind map.
- Look for clusters of similar thoughts that are associated with the main focus point (key phrase or word). Draw over each of these words with a highlighter pen. Use a different color highlighter with each cluster of words. Seeing the ways in which ideas relate to one another gives people a better understanding of the focus issue. It is now possible to see the various causes of a problem. You may identify the most important causes and then brainstorm solutions.
- Refer participants to page 16 of their workbook (page 25 of Instructor’s Workbook). The instructor starts by asking the participants to list what they see as the three greatest problem/opportunities that their club is currently facing? i.e. “How do you motivate your club members?” The instructor then leads participants in answering this question by utilizing the previously discussed problem solving tools. First – the instructor may start with brainstorming to have participants come up with and prioritize the important issues with which the club is dealing. Second – the instructor may use mindmapping to help participants visually illustrate the possible and probable solutions. Third - the instructor may use multivoting to assist participants in selecting a specific solution and course of action to follow. NOTE: These three tools may be used interchangeably to illustrate the causes and generate possible solutions. THIS COMPLETES THE WORKSHOP. Don’t forget to have participants complete the evaluation form on the last page of their workbook and forward to Optimist International.