TOOLBOX
Promoting dialogue & creativity
Particularly in an interdisciplinary setting it is fundamental to bridge the mental gap between frameworks of thought, fields of knowledge and points of view.
These tools will help you promote dialogue, out-of-the-box thinking and creative explorations.
D-Day Icebreaker moment (divergent thinking activity)
FOR WHOM:This type of tool is targeted at Higher Education students, or the general public.
WHAT FOR: This tool is useful to warm up the conversation among participants in a meeting and to encourage thinking outside the box (divergent thinking).
Created by Bob McKim of the Stanford Design Program, the 30 circles exercise is simple in practice and quick to complete.
WHERE TO APPLY IT: The tool can be applied as an introductory exercise for STEAM students, in formal or informal context, or in any event that requires people to comfortably interact with each other (when facilitating training, workshops, brainstorming sessions and team meetings).
Fast Fun The 30 Circles Challenge (Divergent Thinking activity)
Created by Bob McKim of the Stanford Design Program, the 30 circles exercise is simple in practice and quick to complete.
FOR WHOM: This tool is targeted at Higher Education students, but can be applied in any groups in which participants don't know each other or if it's needed to sparkle the creative mode of thinking.
WHAT FOR:This tool is useful to stop yourself from self-censoring in order for creativity to flourish, and to encourage thinking outside the box (divergent thinking).
WHERE TO APPLY IT: The tool can be applied
in formal and informal contexts to start a brainstorming session, or a session to solve a complex problem. It challenges us to think outside of the box, especially in scenarios where time is key and new ideas need to be proposed.
It is a really fun way to get our creativity flowing.
Visual Thinking (Buddhist monk puzzle)
FOR WHOM: This tool is targeted at the general public or Higher Education students and teachers.
WHAT FOR:
This tool is useful to promote visual and creative thinking, it highlights how when you are trying to solve a tricky problem, logical thinking is not always the best, and that drawing helps us think and communicate our thoughts.
WHERE TO APPLY IT: The tool can be applied in a formal or informal context to promote visual thinking in order to improve communication & problem solving. The tool can also be applied as an introductory exercise for STEAM students to stimulate out-of-the-box thinking to solve complex problems.
Translation of Scientific Field
FOR WHOM: This kind of tool can be adapted for any context. In this case it was prepared as a guide the Translation of Scientific Field
WHAT FOR:
To explore the translation of the group’s scientific field into other fields (Arts/Humanities...)
Making content accessible building on pre-existing knowledge.
Making thinking Visible
Helping people Learn from Others
Promoting Autonomy and Lifelong Learning
WHERE TO APPLY IT:To use strategies to improve communication between different fields of study/research
Rotating Dice (Divergent thinking activity)
Note: based on McKim, R. H. (1980)Thinking Visually. A Strategy Manual for Problem Solving. Dale Seymur Publications
FOR WHOM: This tool is targeted at Higher Education students and launches an activity to be applied in any target groups in which participants don't know each other or if they need to sparkle the creative mode of thinking and to expand the perception of one's own thinking processes.
WHAT FOR:This tool is useful to
stimulate the process of creating multiple, unique ideas or solutions to a problem that you are trying to solve, once visual thinking involves a number of visual-spatial operations. The proposed exercise is based on a psychological test that suggests that one can directly experience certain active operations that occur in visual thinking. It is meant for students to experience the operation of mentally rotating a three-dimensional object in space.
WHERE TO APPLY IT:The tool can be applied in any event (when facilitating training, workshops, brainstorming sessions and team meetings) that requires people to comfortably interact with each other and the convergent mode of thinking is the ongoing mode.
Oriented Debate Tool
FOR WHOM:
This tool is targeted at Higher Education teachers to use in the classroom.
WHAT FOR:
This tool is useful to
to guide an oriented discussion around key words or questions led by a facilitator/ moderator to
promote students learning and critical thinking.
WHERE TO APPLY IT: The tool can be applied in the classroom context as an introductory exercise for STEAM students to trigger discussion on specific issues.
Hexagram diagram
An hexagonal diagram that aims to visually relate key topics that need to be addressed in the beginning of a project.
FOR WHOM
This tool is targeted at Higher Education teachers. In this particular case it was designed to identify key components of an educational toolkit.
WHAT FOR:
This tool is useful to identify target publics and other key components in the beginning of a project (in this case for the development of a course/module or educational toolkit).
WHERE TO APPLY IT: This tool can be adapted for any context to organize visual information when we want to get a schema of the team's thinking on the structure and the components of a project or subject.
Cut-up Text
Cut-up text is an aleatory literary technique in which a written text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text.
FOR WHOM
This tool is targeted at Higher Education students, teachers and the general public.
WHAT FOR:
This tool is useful to develop intuitive insights into personal interests within the theme of animal/human relationships or other and promote creative writing strategies to inspire idea generation.
WHERE TO APPLY IT: This tool can be applied as an introductory exercise for STEAM students, using creative writing strategies to inspire idea generation. It can be adapted for any other contexts besides the theme of animal/human relationships.
Define a Mammal
Students are asked to work independently to 'make a mammal out of any material'. Then, in pairs, each student is asked to consider their own subjective positions and reflect on these to generate a creature for a new mammal, encompassing their own and others' imaginations. The new creature will be achieved together.
FOR WHOM: This tool is targeted at Higher Education students, but can be adapted to other targets.
WHAT FOR:
This tool is useful
to rethink animal/human relationships and how our subjective views influence how we perceive reality.
It allows reflection and consideration of self in relation to the other and the use of creative means to consider what it is to be a mammal. It’s a useful tool to share and reflect on different perspectives.
WHERE TO APPLY IT: The tool can be applied in the context of an introductory exercise for STEAM students. It can be adapted to other subjects with the general aim of challenging our perspectives of reality and to generate new ideas.