Creative Problem Solving Workshop: International Conference on Creativity Education

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Creative Problem Solving Workshop
International Conference on Creativity Education

• Gerard J. Puccio, Ph.D.
• International Center for Studies in Creativity
• State University of New York, Buffalo State

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Please feel free to contact our graduate student,
contest expert, ???.(Go to Yahoo and enter
???, you will find the introduction in Chinese.
)???????????????E-mailkuokie_at_gmail.comWebh
ttp//kevinfu.blog.youthwant.com.tw/(?yahoo?????
?????? ?????????????????)
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Workshop Objectives

• Learn to separate divergent from convergent
  thinking
• Learn and apply tools for clarifying problems
• Learn and apply tools for generating ideas
• Learn and apply tools to transform ideas into
  solutions
• Identify specific ways to transfer Creative
  Problem Solving tools into the classroom other
  areas of use within the educational context

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Why should educators be concerned about
promoting student creativity?.
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Workplace Basics
Carnevale, A. P., Gainer, L. J., Meltzer, A. S.
Workplace basics.

• The Foundation
• Knowing how to learn
• Competence
• Reading, writing, and computation
• Communication
• Listening and oral communication
• Adaptability
• Creative thinking and problem solving

• Personal Management
• Self esteem, goal setting, motivation, personal
  and career development
• Group Effectiveness Interpersonal skills,
  negotiation, team work
• Influence Organizational
  effectiveness and leadership

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Beyond Workplace 2000

• Effective performance in the workplace beyond
  2000 requires three foundational skills
• Basic Skills (Reading, writing, arithmetic and
  mathematics, speaking and listening)
• Thinking Skills (Thinking creatively, making
  decisions, solving problems, seeing things in the
  minds eye, knowing how to learn, and reasoning)
• Personal Qualities (Individual responsibility,
  self-esteem, sociability, self-management, and
  integrity).

(Boyett Boyett, 1994 based on SCANS report)
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Wall Street Journal Report

• What Recruiters Expect from
• B-School Grads
• Original and Visionary Thinking
• Analytic and Problem Solving Skills
• Strategic Thinking
• Adaptability (ability to deal with ambiguity)

Alsop (2001, 2002, 2003)
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21st Century Skills, Education
CompetitivenessA Resource Policy Guide

• All Americans, not just the elite, need 21st
  century skills that will increase their
  marketability, employability and readiness for
  citizenship, such as
• Thinking critically and making judgments
• Solving complex, multidisciplinary, open-ended
  problems
• Creativity and entrepreneurial thinking
• Communicating and collaborating
• Making innovative use of knowledge, information
  and opportunities
• Taking charge of financial, health and civic
  responsibilities

Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008
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Everyday Creativity

• To live is to have problems and to solve
  problems is to grow creatively.
• J. P. Guilford (1968, p. 12)

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Creative Capital

• Human creativity is the ultimate economic
  resource. The ability to come up with new ideas
  and better ways of doing things is ultimately
  what raises productivity and thus living
  standards
• (Florida, 2002, p. xiii).

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Introduction to Creative Problem Solving
Creative Process
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Creativity Exercise

• Come up with three interesting creative
  sentences that contain these three words
• Round
• Yellow
• Sour

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Dynamic Balance The Core to the CPS Process
Diverge
Diverge
Area of Familiarity
Area of Discovery
Area of Discovery
Converge
Converge
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Dynamic Balance The Core to the CPS Process

• Divergent Thinking
• Guidelines
• Suspend Judgment
• Strive for Quantity
• Allow for Combinations
• Seek Novel Associations

Diverge
Diverge
Area of Familiarity
Area of Discovery
Area of Discovery
Converge
Converge
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Dynamic Balance The Core to the CPS Process
Diverge
Diverge
Area of Familiarity

• Convergent Thinking
• Guidelines
• Use Affirmative Judgment
• Consider Novelty
• Check Your Objectives
• Be Deliberate

Area of Discovery
Area of Discovery
Converge
Converge
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Divergent Thinking Guidelines

• Suspend Judgment
• Go for Quantity
• Allow for Combinations
• Seek Novel Associations

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Divergent Thinking Activity
How to improve a bathtub?
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Realistic Problem

• How might we better promote the creative thinking
  skills of our students?

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Creative Problem Solving The Thinking Skills
Model
Creative Leadership Skills That Drive Change
Puccio, Murdock, Mance (2007)
Puccio, Murdock Mance (2007)
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Thinking Skills Associated with CPS
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Sample Tools within Creative Problem Solving
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Creative Problem Solving The Thinking Skills
Model
Creative Leadership Skills That Drive Change
Puccio, Murdock, Mance (2007)
Puccio, Murdock Mance (2007)
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Visionary Thinking

• Articulating a vivid image of what you desire
  to create

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Cartoon Storyboard

• A visual tool designed to develop a vision of a
  desired outcome and to identify the potential
  blocks that need to be overcome in order to
  achieve the goal.

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Cartoon Storyboard - Purpose

• Using the imaginative power of drawing, Cartoon
  Storyboard is a visual tool that can help
• Develop a vivid image of a goal / desired
  outcome (personal or for the organization)
• Clarify the route to achieve it and
• Identify key-challenges (potential blocks) that
  need to be overcome to attain the goal.
• It can be applied individually as well as within
  a
• group (by building on the images/stories provided
  by
• each individual).

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Cartoon Storyboard- Directions

• Preparation Draw six square boxes on a sheet of
  paper/ flipchart (landscape position) and label
  them 1 to 6.
• Where are your going?
• Relax and get an image in your mind of a goal
  that you are trying to achieve transport
  yourself forward in time to the point where you
  have achieved your goal successfully (What does
  it feel like? What is happening?). Draw in Box 6
  a picture that conveys to you this situation.
• Where are you now?
• Bring your imagination back to present.
  Form a mental image that summarizes the major
  elements of the current situation and draw it in
  Box 1.
• Intermediate turning points.
• Depict a sequence of four key-intermediate steps
  that lead you to successfully move from the
  current reality to the desired situation draw
  the four key-scenes of the drama in Boxes 2-5.
• Potential Blocks.
• Spend some time to look at the sequence of
  pictures and think of what must be overcome in
  order to make this progression and achieve the
  desired goal. Write a word or brief phrase under
  each picture to show what might block the
  progression at that point these are the key
  challenges you must overcome.

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Cartoon Storyboard- Dianes Example
Current Reality
How to develop an open attitude towards feedback?
How to create a space that inspires writing?
Graduation
How to sustain energy and focus?
In what ways might I gain support in working on
the final details?
Desired Future
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Source

• Cartoon Storyboard is a technique developed by
  Jane Henry, who chairs the course in Creativity,
  Innovation and Change at the Open University
  Business School (UK).
• The tool has been retrieved in the Open
  University website.
• .

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Creative Problem Solving The Thinking Skills
Model
Creative Leadership Skills That Drive Change
Puccio, Murdock, Mance (2007)
Puccio, Murdock Mance (2007)
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Strategic Thinking

• Identifying the critical issues that must be
  addressed and pathways needed to move toward the
  desired future

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Sample Problem Statements
Before
After

• Can we improve our performance?
• How to develop a new health care product that we
  can get to the market quickly and costs less to
  produce than our last venture?

• In what ways might we enhance our teams
  performance on long-term projects?
• What might be some new product ideas within our
  health care line for seniors?

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Characteristics of a Good Problem Statement

• Begins with a statement starter
• Free from criteria
• Specific focus or action

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Statement Starters forClarifying the Problem

• How to...? (H2)
• How might...? (HM)
• In what ways might...? (IWWM)
• What might...? (WM)

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Webbing

• A problem analysis tool designed to go beyond the
  initial definition of the problem and to assist
  you in defining the problem at an appropriate
  level of abstraction.

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Webbing

• Identify initial problem statement.
• Ask the question Why? to broaden the view of
  the problem. Convert response to this question
  into a problem statement with a statement starter
  (e.g., How to, What might, In what ways might,
  etc).
• Ask Why Else? to continue to identify other
  more general views of the situation.
• Extend your redefinition of the situation by
  asking Why? and Why Else? of the newly
  created problem statements.
• Create more concrete views of the situation by
  asking Whats stopping you? of the original
  problem statement. Convert the answer to the
  question into a problem statement.
• Ask What else is stopping you? to create
  alternative views of the situation.
• Show connections whenever a response to Why or
  Whats stopping you links to a statement already
  included in your Web.

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Webbing Basics
Why?
Why Else?
Why Else?
Original Problem Statement
Whats stopping you?
What else Is stopping you?
What else Is stopping you?
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How to
How to
How to
How to
How to
How to
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
How to
How to
Why?
Webbing Worksheet
Why?
Initial Problem Statement
How to
What is stopping you?
What is stopping you?
How to
How to
What is Stopping you?
What is stopping you?
What is stopping you?
What is stopping you?
What is stopping you?
What is stopping you?
How to
How to
How to
How to
How to
How to
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Webbing An Example
How to create more products?
How to engage in mentorship rels.?
How to build community?
How to write more books?
How to enhance reputation?
How to make more money?
How to achieve self-satisfaction?
How might I get promoted to full professor?
How to publish more?
How to keep CV up-to-date?
How to secure letters of support?
How to find time to write?
How to network more?
How to participate in more conferences?
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Creative Problem Solving The Thinking Skills
Model
Creative Leadership Skills That Drive Change
Puccio, Murdock, Mance (2007)
Puccio, Murdock Mance (2007)
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Ideational Thinking

• Producing original mental images and thoughts
  that respond to important challenges

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Brainwriting

• Each team member receives a blank worksheet with
  one extra sheet placed in center of group.
• Individuals silently complete the first row by
  writing in suggested options.
• When a row of options has been completed the team
  member swaps his/her worksheet with the one in
  the center.
• Previously written options are read to stimulate
  new options.

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Creative Problem Solving The Thinking Skills
Model
Creative Leadership Skills That Drive Change
Puccio, Murdock, Mance (2007)
Puccio, Murdock Mance (2007)
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Evaluative Thinking

• Assessing the reasonableness and quality of
  ideas in order to develop workable solutions

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Comments on a new wheelbarrow design?
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PPC
o

• 1. Plusses
• Strengths, Good Points, Positives, Pluses
• 2. Potentials
• Future Spin-offs, Possibilities, Novel
  Aspects
• What if thinking
• 3. Concerns
• Weaknesses, Trouble Spots, Minuses
• Phrased in "How to..., How mightWhat
  might statements
• 4. Overcome Concerns Through Brainstorming
• Generate Ideas to Overcome Main Concerns

(Miller, Vehar Firestien, 2001)
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PPC
o

• Plusses
• The hopper has a lot of space
• The handle seems reinforced
• The wheelbarrow wont tip over
• The wheels gives it more stability
• Its easy to maneuver
• The leg gives it more balance

• Potentials
• It might make gardening easier
• It might reduce the number of trips
• It might reduce the number of accidents
• It might replace the traditional wheelbarrow
• It might cost less to produce
• It might be used for storage

• Concerns
• How to make wheelbarrow easier to
• maneuver?
• How to make it more attractive?
• What might be ways to make
• the grip more comfortable?
• How to improve traction?
• How to identify buyers?
• How to strengthen center of gravity?

• Overcoming Concerns
• How to strengthen center of gravity?
• Make it a longer handle
• Push down instead of lift up
• Attach and extend braces on sides of barrow
• Attach Segway technology to it
• Make it heavier near the handles
• Create a rail system for it

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Convergent Thinking Guidelines

• Use Affirmative Judgment
• Consider Novelty
• Check Your Objectives
• Be Deliberate

(Based on Isaksen, Dorval, Treffinger, 1994)
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PPCo PracticeEvaluate Improve an Internal
Communication Vehicle

• Plusses
• Generate 8
• Potentials
• Generate 8
• Concerns
• Identify 8 (phrased in the form of question,
  e.g., How to, How might, In what ways might)
• Overcome
• Select the main concern and generate 20 ideas to
  address the concern

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Some Sample Uses for PPCo

• Evaluating a proposed idea
• Providing feedback (i.e. student papers,
  assignments, projects, portfolios, etc.)
• Capturing lessons learned from a project,
  assignment or event
• Conducting performance reviews
• Developing a product concept or an idea

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The CPS Thinking Skills

• Visionary Thinking
• Strategic Thinking
• Ideational Thinking

• Evaluative Thinking
• Contextual Thinking
• Tactical Thinking

Diagnostic Thinking
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Taking It Forward

• Interesting
• Intriguing

• Professional Applications
• Personal Applications
• Other Uses

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we are done!
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Thank You Good Luck!!

• Puccio, G. J., Murdock, M. C., Mance, M. (2007)
  Creative Leadership Skills that Drive Change.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.
• www.buffalostate.edu/creativity

66
Please feel free to contact our graduate student,
contest expert, ???.(Go to Yahoo and enter
???, you will find the introduction in Chinese.
)???????????????E-mailkuokie_at_gmail.comWebh
ttp//kevinfu.blog.youthwant.com.tw/(?yahoo?????
?????? ?????????????????)