Enrichment Seminar #3 “Creative Thinking” – Part A Dr. Kelly Cohen July 21, 2009.

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Enrichment Seminar #3“Creative Thinking” –

Part A

Dr. Kelly CohenJuly 21, 2009

Going Beyond The cliché

Acknowledgements

Components of Critical Thinking

• Identifying and challenging assumptions.

• Recognizing the importance of context.

• Imagining and exploring alternatives.

• Developing reflective skepticism.

Critical Thinking Involves

• Recognizing underlying assumptions. • Scrutinizing arguments.• Judging ideas.• Judging the rationality of these

justifications by comparing them to a range of varying interpretations and prospective.

• Providing positive as well as negative appraisal.

Creative Thinkers• Consider rejecting standardized formats

for problem solving.

• Have an interest in a wide range of related and divergent fields.

• Take multiple perspectives on a problem.

• Use trial-and-error methods in their experimentation.

• Have a future orientation.

• Have self-confidence and trust in their

own judgment.

Creative Thinking Questions

• What would exist that does not exist now?

• What would be happening that does not happen now?

• What decisions would be made and executed?

• What accomplishments would be in place that are not now?

• What patterns of behavior that currently in place would be eliminated?

Problem Solving Strategies

Real Problem Versus the Perceived Problem

Professor: “You can’t outrun the Bear, even in Running Shoes!”Student: “I don’t need to outrun the Bear, I only need to outrun you!”

Impatient Guests

Guests stopped complaining when mirrors were installed on each floor in front of the elevators

New Problem Definition “Find a way to minimize complaints by taking guests minds off their wait time”.

Characteristics, Attitudes and Environment For

Effective Problem Solving

Characteristics of Problem Solvers

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Establishing a Creative Team Environment

"Don't give people goals; give them directions (i.e., roughly aim them)."

"Encourage contrarian thinking." Dissent stimulates discussion, prompting others to make more perceptive observations. It ultimately influences decision making for the better."

"Build a textured environment to extend not just people's aspirations but their sensibilities." You can't buy creativity, but you can inspire it. Creative people require an atmosphere conducive to thinking in nonstandard ways. The work environment needs to be informal and relaxed."

"Build emotion into the system." Defensiveness is the bane of all passion-filled creative work. One way to keep defenses down is to encourage problem-finding as well as problem-solving. The world is moving so fast that problems are being created all the time. The people who can find them have tremendous powers of creative observation."

"The safer you make the situation, the higher you can raise the challenge." The workplace should be safe, so that the workers are not afraid to take risks and make mistakes, but the standards should be set high."

"Encourage accountability over responsibility." Traditional responsibilities, like punching a clock from nine to five, can inhibit creativity. Instead, people should be made accountable for the results of their work."

"Getting ordinary people to reach beyond themselves and do extraordinary things can be the result of establishing a nurturing creative environment." To establish this type of atmosphere requires the reconciliation of traditional corporate attitudes with more iconoclastic entrepreneurial attitudes. If this fine line can be traversed without abandoning the very characteristics that have led to a company's success in the past, much progress can be made."

References• http://www.geocities.com/krrrisssy1/creative-thinking.jpg• http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/humour/assets/creative_thinking.jpg• Strategies for Creative Problem Solving, Second Edition (ISBN: 0-

13-008279-1), by H. Scott Fogler and Steven E. LeBlanc. 2008, Pearson Education, Inc.

• http://www.greekshares.com/uploaded/files/einstein-tongue.jpg

Enrichment Seminar #3 “Creative Thinking” – Part A Dr. Kelly Cohen July 21, 2009.

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