Teaching Effective Thinking: Game – Good News / Bad News
This is a good exercise in looking at things from a different perspective. Give the students an example such as the one below, which is a common saying in England.
Teaching Effective Thinking: Game – Forced Connections – Similes 2
This is another activity which encourages random association. It is also another activity for which you can use the same picture cards or board as you did in the other ‘Forced Connections’ games (see previous blog posts). You will also need cards with abstract nouns (happiness, peace, sadness, love, anger etc.) written on them. Read more
Teaching Effective Thinking: Game – Forced Connections – Comparatives
Another game to encourage remote connections is the Boasting game. You can use the picture cards or board you used for the last game (‘Forced Connections Similes – see last blog post). Read more
Teaching Effective Thinking: Games – The Brick Test
This is probably the most well-known ‘creative thinking’ activity. You may know it as ‘The Alternative Uses Test’. Show the class a brick and ask them to think of ways in which it can be used. They need to come up with as many ideas as they can in, say, 5 minutes. There are no bad ideas. You could brainstorm in a tradition, whole class way, or use a brainwriting technique (see last blog post). Read more