What is Brainstorming? Brainstorming is a process when you focus on a problem and come up with as many solutions as possible. One of the reasons it is so effective is that in brainstorming you not only come up with new ideas but also more ideas are also spark off from associations with other people's ideas. The goal is to build on each other’s Ideas quickly and without editing. Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: What is brainstorming? How does it work?

How Does it Work? 1)Relax and have fun 2)Identify the goal, wish or problem 3)Fact finding: gather information 4)Generate ideas 5)Explore your ideas 6)Evaluate your ideas 7)Take action on your ideas Remember to have fun along the way

1. Have Fun and Relax When trying to come up with new ideas it’s important that your in the right state of mind. Start off by relaxing of doing something FUN. When you’re fretting and anxious about a big decision or project it makes thinking much more difficult. It has been shown that those “A-Ha” moments of genius come when we’re in a calm yet excited state. Simply taking a few deep breathes and calming down or doing something that makes you laugh can enhance your ability to think clearly and more broadly. Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: Why should you have fun and relax when you are brainstorming.

2. Identify the Goal, Wish or Problem Define your goal, wish or problem as a creative challenge. Here are some examples of creative challenges: How can we redesign are logo to make it more contemporary? How can we raise money to go on a field trip? How can we create a new arts program at our school? A well designed creative challenge generates the best ideas to solve your problem. Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: How should you identify the goal, wish or problem?

3. Fact Finding: Gather Information Gather as much information about the creative challenge as possible: Research on the internet – look at other ideas people have come up with for the same challenge Explore – Creative ideas are all around us. Look around you, be observant. Look in the dictionary. Look at magazines. Write it down– When something sparks an idea write it down or write down your ideas on how you could use that concept in your own way. This is one of the great functions of Pinterest, helps people document inspiration Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: What are some ways you can find facts about your idea?

4. Generate Ideas When you are ready to generate ideas there are several techniques you can use: Have everyone suggest ideas by calling them out, while one person records the ideas on a flip chart or white board. Go around the room and have each person read an idea from his/her list until all ideas have been written down. Give each participant 5-50 sheets of cut up scratch paper or sticky notes. Then ask the group for their ideas on the topic and have them write a single idea on each slip of paper. Remember: Withhold criticism, focus on the quantity of ideas – more is better and embrace wild ideas. Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: Give an example of how you might generate ideas. What should you NOT do when you are generating ideas?

More Ideas to Generate Ideas – Mind Maps If your group gets stuck here is another way to generate ideas: Mind Map: This works best in smaller groups, so if you have a large group break them down into groups of 4-5 students. Write the focus of the brainstorm in the middle of the paper. During the brainstorming write down anything that relates to the center thought (no matter how relevant it is). Branch off new ideas until you run out of paper. If necessary use an additional page. Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: In your own words describe what a mind map is? How does it work?

More Ideas to Generate Ideas – Night and Day If your group gets stuck here is another way to generate ideas: Night and Day: This brainstorming activity is all about opposites. Start by making a list of common words such as night, smart, heavy, quick, apple. Then have your group list the first opposite meaning word that comes to mind such as night/day, smart/stupid, etc. Then challenge them to come up with three further opposite words for each words. Limit the time on this to minutes. This activity helps get the creative juices flowing. After you are done introduce the “real” brainstorming activity. Write down the creative challenge and let those creative minds go to work generating ideas. Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: In your own words describe what the night and day activity is? How does it work?

5. Explore Combine and improve ideas – good ideas may be combined to form a single better idea. This is a separate step in which you edit and rebuild. Use different colored pens to categorize, group, connect and link the random ideas. Condense and refine the ideas by making new headings or lists. Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: How can you explore the ideas once you have created them?

6. Evaluate Your Ideas Once all the solutions have been written down, evaluate the list to determine the best action to correct the problem. To do this you could: Use a show of hands to allow each person to vote on their three to five favorite ideas or have each person put a tally mark by their top three to five ideas. When the voting is completed delete all items with no votes. Narrow the list down to the top five ideas that received the most votes. Then have everyone vote again. This time they only have two votes. Narrow down again to the top two ideas. Then give everyone one final vote to make the decision on the top idea. Note: you could narrow down to the top 2-3 ideas and then explore those ideas more to see which one will work best. Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: Describe how to evaluate the ideas so that everyone has a say in the final idea?

7. Take Action on Your Ideas The most important step, after coming up with your unique idea, is to take action. What are your next steps? Time line? Who’s responsible? It is essential to develop a clear positive outcome, so that your group feels like their effort was worthwhile. When they see their efforts have resulted in action or change they will be motivated to help again. Objective: Students will be able to describe the creative brainstorming process. CFU: What should you do after you have identified your idea? Why is it important to take action?