Teaching 21st Century Skills: Creative Problem Solving

As many of you know, I'm currently working toward my master's degree. This post is a "lesson trial" for my Creative Problem Solving/Inquiry course, applying the concepts we've learned to our work in the classroom. I wasn't sure whether my fourth graders would "get it" or think the activity was "lame" (always a concern!) but the lesson went so well, I wanted to share it here.

In this lesson, I worked to explain the benefits of creative thinking and creative problem solving to my fourth graders. In our “carpet discussion,” the kids sat on our classroom carpets and we talked casually about why creative thinking would be important in their lives, and why it had the potential to make them stand out in a world where innovation will be essential. They readily agreed that in a world where information is so accessible, it may well be their ability to problem solve and think creatively that will help them most to succeed.

We talked first about how to generate creative ideas and the brainstorming process. I explained that during this stage of problem solving, we needed to generate as many ideas as possible, without evaluating them at all. I stressed that they were free to suggest ANYTHING, no matter how outrageous or unrealistic. I began by asking if anyone in the class had a problem we could help to solve. James raised his hand immediately, and told us about how his pets wake him about an hour before he had to wake up for school, and how he then had difficulty going back to sleep. I explained that in order to think positively, we were going to rephrase the "problem" to a WIBNI (Wouldn't It Be Nice If) question and said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if James could sleep until six o’clock without being woken by his pets?” The kids asked James great questions about how the pets woke him, where they slept, etc. Then we started coming up with ideas. They loved posing crazy ideas, one of which was drugging either James or his animals!!

In the next step, we talked about how sometimes it was difficult to come up with so many ideas. I told them there were some tools to help exercise their brains, and asked them if they would be interested in trying one. I introduced SCAMPER, and we worked as a group to think about how we would change an everyday object using SCAMPER. We began with a standard #2 pencil. Students began thinking, and suggested substituting the eraser with a tip that would allow replacing the eraser when it ran out, since the eraser is always gone long before the pencil is. They wanted to combine the pencil with a flashlight so they could write in the dark! We added another point with a pen, and even rearranged the pencil so that the lead was in the middle and erasers were on each end for shading! They really enjoyed the activity.

I handed out a sheet with the SCAMPER instructions, and a piece of paper that was divided into each of the letters in SCAMPER.

Students could pick any common object, and were not required to use every letter. I was pleased with the results, and think my students will be very open to more of these activities. For them, the brain-play is fun!

Source: Treffinger, D. J. Isaksen, S. G., & Stead-Dorval, K. B. (2006). Creative Problem Solving: An Introduction. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press Inc..