Basic Brainstorming: The Start of the Creative Thinking Process

Copyright © 2017 Neil Wuttke.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-0834-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-0835-9 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 05/24/2017

Foreword

Brainstorming - most of us have heard of the process, but probably think we are not good at it and that others will show us up if we are involved in a group session.

This book is a guide to how anyone, child or adult, can, with practice, improve their ability to brainstorm, think divergently or think outside the square in a variety of situations.

While the book is aimed at classroom teachers who want to initiate and develop a positive process with their students, all individuals can gain from the range of these activities.

Acknowledgements/References

1. Brainstorming: Activities for Creative Thinking

Craig Dickinson, Paula Dickinson, Eileen Rideout

Creative Publications, 1987

2. Year Seven students at Henley Beach Primary School in Adelaide during the last few years for their creative answers.

3. www.morewords.com

4. www.enchanted learning.com.au

Brainstorming is the process of generating ideas and solutions usually within group discussions. It may be used to solve specific problems, develop new ideas, stimulate thinking or to list additional information. It can be used in a high-pressure situation or just for fun. Within a group discussion it can lead the group in many directions. Group members are encouraged to think and express ideas out loud, even if they seem to be off task, divergent or do not fit the original brief. No-one is allowed to criticise, discuss or analyse any idea until the session is deemed complete.

Brainstorming was coined by Alex Faickney Osborn (1888 – 1966) in his book

‘Your Creative Power’ published in 1948.

This is how he explains the name ‘Brainstorming’.

‘It was in 1939 when I first organised such group thinking in our company. The early participants dubbed our efforts ‘Brainstorm Sessions’ and quite aptly because in this case, ‘brainstorm’ means using the brain to storm a creative problem and do so in commando fashion, with each stormer attacking the same objective.’

Why is it effective? It can be fun and encourages creative thought and stops criticism during the group’s discussions. The evaluation of the list of ideas happens later. Ideas from one group member can be built upon to make another idea or an even better idea. This can be called piggy backing. Osborn calls this ‘contagion’ and ‘chain reaction.’ He believes that more associations are produced in groups than if one person brainstorms by themselves.

Brainstorming is like any other skill; the more you practise, the better you become. However, some individuals, both student and adult, struggle to take an active role in these group sessions. It can be something that individuals need to learn and be confident about to be able to participate.

This book is about how to start the creative thinking process using individuals’ experiences and memories, to use their knowledge and understanding to help them to express their thoughts.

The activities in this book can help train students and adults to think for themselves and come up with multiple answers to a range of basic questions. It will also help them feel confident to participate in any group brainstorming sessions, think divergently or think outside the square. These activities can also be used to develop brain connections in people of all ages and help dementia patients to rejuvenate memory patterns.

My Experiences using Basic Brainstorming

As a classroom teacher for forty plus years, I’ve used brainstorming for the last twenty-six years as a daily activity called ‘Peer Group Teaching’ in middle primary (students from 8 to 10 years old) and upper primary (students 11 to 13 years old) classrooms in a wide variety of schools. Students are rostered on to run the session, and take control of the classroom, usually in pairs as this helps confidence. They really enjoy this level of involvement and this peer control can be a powerful tool in the classroom. One of the students asks