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The Challenge:

I had a wonderful experience teaching an invention class to ninth grade students. Each student group conceived, designed and built an invention prototype. These students had complete freedom to express their creativity; there were no restrictions except that all processes and the final the product had to adhere to safety parameters. Students invented, for example, universal backpack support, a device to help paraplegics to control their desk area through voice control, and a new cupcake mold to name a few. When students first learned they had to develop an invention they thought I was crazy and doubted that it would be possible. How did we start? The first step was to brainstorm ideas. If you have ever given a group of people the task of brainstorming, whether they are planning their own experiment, working on a presentation or coming up with an invention, without specific direction and methods, the brainstorming session quickly devolves. In just a short time, the participants are talking about everything except the task at hand. How do you direct students to have a great brainstorming session?

A Solution:

There is a humorous and brilliant video by Stanford University Design Institute students staging two contrasting brainstorming sessions. The task is to come up with ideas to save chewed gum before going to class, so you do not have to throw it away. The students take this rather unrealistic scenario and turn it into a great lesson. There are two contrasting parts. The first part shows students how not to brainstorm (highlighting common errors) and the second part demonstrates how to brainstorm effectively. They suggest the following rules for an effective brainstorming session: 1) record all ideas  2) encourage wild ideas 3) defer all judgement  4) build off the ideas of others 5) be visual- draw out ideas 6) one conversation at a time 7) headline ideas and 8) go for lots of ideas.

Resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmoWCSyujPY&t=54s – Brainstorming at the D.School