Divergent+Thinking

=Design= = =

[|Creatively Speaking, Part Two: Sir Ken Robinson on the Power of the Imaginative Mind (Divergent Thinking)]
What can you do with a roll of garbage bags?

Street Art: Joshua Allen Harris' Inflatable Bag Monsters
media type="custom" key="2879303"

Gambian Women Make Purses from Trash Bags
media type="custom" key="2879415"

What can you do with a pencil?

=[|Definitions of Divergent Thinking (Wikipedia):]= = = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_thinking
 * Divergent thinking** is a thought process or method, which is usually applied with the goal to generate ideas. It is often used for [|creative] and [|problem solving] purposes in conjunction with [|Convergent thinking]. There are different methods in divergent thinking.

= =

==As Physician Ulrich Kraft notes in a recent article, "Creative people can free themselves from conventional thought patterns and follow new pathways to unusual or distantly associated answers. This ability is known as divergent thinking, which generates many possible solutions."==

("Unleashing Creativity" //Scientific American Mind//, Volume 16, Number 1, p. 19).
http://www.uwsp.edu/education/lwilson/creativ/divergentthink.htm

What can you do with a string?

= =

It implies tearing a topic apart to explore various parts.

Divergence relates to diversity and diversification.

It implies heading off in new directions.


 * Divergent thinkers are the "bad boys and girls" of brainstorming.**

They turn things upside down.

They break the rules.

They do stuff backwards.

They start at the end.

Ask ‘em to put two and two together, and they get twenty-two.

Divergent thinking is the cornerstone of creativity; without it, we’d always do the same old things in the same old ways.

One way to identify divergent thinkers, according to creativity experts, is to identify folks who excel at "ideational fluency." (That’s the new, cutting edge term for what you and I have always called "free association.")

What can you do with a rock?

=[|Strategies of Divergent Thinking:]= The goal of divergent thinking is to generate many different ideas about a topic in a short period of time. It involves breaking a topic down into its various component parts in order to gain insight about the various aspects of the topic. Divergent th inking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner, such that the ideas are generated in a random, unorganized fashion. Following divergent thinking, the ideas and information will be organized using convergent thinking; i.e., putting the var ious ideas back together in some organized, structured way. To begin brainstorming potential topics, it is often helpful to engage in self analysis and topic analysis.

[|Self Analysis]
Ask the following questions to help brainstorm a list of potential topics.
 * 1) How do I spend my time? What are my activities during a normal day?
 * 2) What do I know about? What are my areas of expertise? What am I studying in school?
 * 3) What do I like? What are my hobbies? What are my interests?
 * 4) What bothers me? What would I like to change in my world or life?
 * 5) What are my strongest beliefs, values and philosophies?

[|Topic Analysis]
Ask the following questions to help narrow and refine a broad topic into a specific, focused one. Substitute your topic for the word //"something."//
 * 1) How would you describe //something//?
 * 2) What are the causes of //something//?
 * 3) What are the effects of //something//?
 * 4) What is important about //something//?
 * 5) What are the smaller parts that comprise //something//?
 * 6) How has //something// changed? Why are those changes important?
 * 7) What is known and unknown about //something//?
 * 8) What category of ideas or objects does //something// belong to?
 * 9) Is //something// good or bad? Why?
 * 10) What suggestions or recommendations would you make about //something//?
 * 11) What are the different aspects of //something// you can think of?

[|Methods and Techniques of Divergent Thinking:]

 * brainstorming
 * breaking components into sections for modular analysis
 * keeping a journal
 * freewriting
 * [|mind and subject mapping]
 * great thinking
 * taking time to think
 * art work

** Asking questions **

 * description
 * causality
 * effects
 * identifying importance
 * understanding the parts that comprise the topic
 * types of change present
 * taking stock of known and unknown qualities
 * classification
 * moral classification

What can you do with a paper clip?

=[|Techniques to Stimulate Divergent Thinking]= 1. //Brainstorming//. Brainstorming is a technique which involves generating a list of ideas in a creative, unstructured manner. The goal of brainstorming is to generate as many ideas as possible in a short period of time. The key tool in brainstorm ing is "piggybacking," or using one idea to stimulate other ideas. During the brainstorming process, ALL ideas are recorded, and no idea is disregarded or criticized. After a long list of ideas is generated, one can go back and review the ideas to criti que their value or merit. 2. //Keeping a Journal//. Journals are an effective way to record ideas that one thinks of spontaneously. By carrying a journal, one can create a collection of thoughts on various subjects that later become a source book of ideas. People often have insights at unusual times and places. By keeping a journal, one can capture these ideas and use them later when developing and organizing materials in the prewriting stage. 3. //Freewriting//. When free-writing, a person will focus on one particular topic and write non-stop about it for a short period of time. The idea is to write down whatever comes to mind about the topic, without stopping to proofread or revise the writing. This can help generate a variety of thoughts about a topic in a short period of time, which can later be restructured or organized following some pattern of arrangement. 4. //Mind or Subject Mapping//. Mind or subject mapping involves putting brainstormed ideas in the form of a visual map or picture that that shows the relationships among these ideas. One starts with a central idea or topic, then draws branches off the main topic which represent different parts or aspects of the main topic. This creates a visual image or "map" of the topic which the writer can use to develop the topic further. For example, a topic may have four different branches (sub-topics), and each of those four branches may have two branches of its own (sub-topics of the sub-topic) *Note* this includes both divergent and convergent thinking.

What can you do with shoe polish?

=What Does Divergent Thinking Imply?=


 * We travel on the road less traveled

=**Divergent Exercise:**= 10 minutes http://www.wordle.net/

What can you do with a blanket?

=Divergent Thinking Project=