Using Divergent Thinking Tools in your Classroom

1. Using Divergent
Thinking Tools in
STEMx Subjects

2. BRAINSTORMING
 Mrs. Sudha‟s 8th grade class was working on a project about
the effect of screen and text color on retention of information.
 The challenge was worded: “How might we change
text/background color of our class-website to increase
retention of content?”
 Mrs. Sudha asked her students to use the Brainstorming tool
to list popular text and background colors that the students
felt contributed to retention.
 In a few minutes, the students came up with a number of
text/background colors that they felt would help them retain
information
 The color combinations they brainstormed included: blue/
white, blue/yellow, blue/green, red/yellow, green/yellow, red/
purple, red/green, red/white

3. SCAMPER...
 Mr. Chen‟s 7th grade students are
working on a project to create a lowcost solar food dehydrator – to preserve
fruits and vegetables.
 They used a long thin cardboard box
for the collector and a taller, nearly
square, cardboard box for the drying
box

4. ...SCAMPER
They used SCAMPER to gather ideas to design the solar dehydrator.
Some of the ideas they came up with are:
 Substitute – Use low-cost cardboard instead of expensive metal for the box
 Combine - Place the solar dehydrator box on an unused/old chair to
lift it off the floor
 Adapt – Construct boxes to size by cutting and taping together small
cardboard pieces
 Modify – Minify the design so that it is light enough for anyone to carry
 Put to another use – Use the solar-dehydrator as a convenient storage
box, when not in use
 Eliminate – The need to paint by lining the collector box with a black
garbage bag
 Reverse – Re-position the collector box – as needed – through the day
to catch the sun‟s rays

5. Forced Relationships
 Ms. Lacey‟s 7th grade was studying the effects of pollution caused by petrol
stations
 They did some research and had found that there are high levels of organic
compounds such as benzene, around petrol stations
 They decided to investigate “How can the effects of pollution by petrol stations
be minimized?”
 They used the „Forced Relationships‟ technique to further explore the question.
 The students glued pictures of everyday objects on a board to generate some new
and unusual ideas on what can be done to minimize the effects of pollution by
petrol stations. One of the objects happened to be a clothing belt.
 One of the students used the picture of the belt and force fitted: Belt + Petrol
Bunk = Establish a 100m belt around petrol stations where building of
housing, schools, hospitals and community centres is restricted.

6. WHY? WHAT’S STOPPING YOU?...
 Mr. Spedding‟s 6thgrade students
want to design a new solar-cooker
that lets them pop corn for their
class parties.
 However, they are having trouble
with the design. They use the „Why?
What‟s stopping you?‟ tool to drill
down to the root of the problem.
This is how they use the tool:

7. ...WHY? WHAT’S STOPPING YOU?
 Why can‟t we pop corn in the solar cooker? Because it
doesn‟t get hot enough.
 Why doesn‟t it get hot enough? Because the temperature in
our box cooker reaches only 200 degrees centigrade – not
hot enough to pop corn.
 Why doesn't it go beyond 200 degrees centigrade? Because
the panels in the box cooker are not curved to concentrate
enough sunlight.
 What‟s stopping you? We need to find a way to make/buy
properly curved solar panels
 The students then refined their Problem Statement to: “How
might we find a way to make/buy properly curved solar
panels to improve the design of our solar cooker?”

8. Word Dance
 The goal is to think of the problem statement in new
ways. For Example, if the problem statement being
considered is: “Do video-games affect your body
physiology?”, the students may be asked to:
 Create a list of substitutes for the verb: “affect” –
hurt, benefit, increase, decrease, etc
 Create a list of substitutes for the object words: “body
physiology” – mind, ears, eyes, etc
 Mix and match the responses to get new problem
statement such as: “Do video games hurt your ears?”
or “Do video games increase your mental reflexes?”

9. Let Ideas Flow Freely in your
Classroom