Excited Educator

Lenny Dutton
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact

Brainstorming Problems

1/10/2019

 
My Grade 7s are five weeks into their First Lego League robotics unit. The theme this year is 'City Shaper' and students are looking for problems in their city that they can solve through design. We have laid a lot of the ground work, through watching different videos, including 'Sustainable Development City' and 'EPCOT' (from 10 minutes 20 seconds). We've also discussed if Stuttgart is stressful or not, as it was voted the least stressful city in the world. We also had an excellent guest speak, UX designer Elinor Samuelsson, who focusses on improving mental health through design. She worked on the Kokon, a relaxation pod for offices, and is now working on a happiness project, for Helsingborg, Sweden, which is part of the cities larger innovation project.

​Today teams had to brainstorm lots of problems in our city, then finally each team selected the problem they are going to focus on. You can use this brainstorming technique for any scenario. I love it because they go big first, coming up with as man ideas as possible, then they find connections, then they narrow it down! It's also fun and get's students out of their seats!

1. CLASS DISCUSSION: As a class we discuss the theme first [Here was talked about city problems & Solutions - everything from e-bikes to the amount of people who smoke in public in Germany]
2. CARDS: Each table was given a stack of cards. Each individual student wrote as many problems as they could. One problem on each card.
3. SORTING, CONNECTING: When they had their cards filled, as a class, we worked on sorting them and making connections [themes that emerged including entertainment, art, green spaces and pollution]
4. ELABORATING: One student, who has been taking the lead on making the connections shared out with the class the themed that emerged and how the cards were organised. He also read out loud some of the cards
5. JUSTIFYING: Each student choose the one problem they cared most about, then answered some questions in their process journal.
6. SHARING: In their teams, each student had one minute to share out the problem they picked and why. Their team mates were encouraged to ask 'what makes you say that?" whenever their teammate could provide more details
7. SELECTING: The groups had time to focus on the problem they want to focus on.
8. HIGHLIGHTING: Students wrote a newspaper headline about their problem. They could write it either about the problem right now, or they could write a future headline!

Below you can see some of their ideas. I also added a picture of the hole puncher I use to make these.
This fits in with one of my favourite AtL skill indicators! Thinking - Creative Thinking - "​Use brainstorming and visual diagrams to generate new ideas and inquiries"
Gary Green
2/10/2019 02:01:07 am

This is terrific, Lenny. What I like is that the brainstorm moves from an intuitive 'I think, I feel' to a range of thinking dispositions through sorting, clustering, justifying, sharing. It has a progressive and clear learning arc that goes beyond a first impulse to a more considered and conflicted engagement which has opened up the inquiry. This strategy helps make students accountable, too, they have to be engaged multiple times in making a deliberation. Very fine work in my view:-)

Find More link
2/10/2020 06:22:29 am

Thank you so much for this Post

Complex Promax Results link
2/10/2020 06:23:15 am

Absolutely stunned by your blog!

ALAT BANTU SEX link
15/11/2020 12:15:52 am

Test sebuah alat terbaik untuk bantu

Ncert solutions for class 9 science link
2/12/2020 10:19:08 pm

Nice Post!!

My Way Teaching link
7/12/2020 05:28:09 pm

Nice Post…


I’m having very interesting information regarding <a href="http://mywayteaching.com/cbse-class9-science.php">Ncert solutions for class 9 science</a>

Biomass Briquettes in Tamil Nadu link
27/12/2020 05:15:51 pm

Maxwell eco Industries is offering a good quality of Biomass Briquettes also we are Briquettes Manufacturer, Exporter & Suppliers from Tamilnadu, India

Online tution for science link
31/12/2020 02:46:03 pm

Your post is so useful,Thanks for such a nice post!

Online Maths Tution for class 9 link
4/1/2021 03:08:37 pm

So interesting!

NCERT solutions for class 11 Maths link
12/1/2021 12:10:05 pm

Nice blog!

NCERT solutions for class 10 Maths link
20/1/2021 07:18:44 pm

Your post is so informative thanks for sharing with us!

RD Sharma Class 9 Solutions link
10/2/2021 08:06:31 pm

Good post!

GST filing in Chennai link
27/3/2021 08:26:50 am

Are you looking for GST filing in Chennai? mygstzone has a team of qualified GST filing consultants in Chennai to help you with GST filling. We providing File GSTR-1 Online Chennai, GST return filing service provider etc…

Newspaper Ad Agency in Chennai link
4/8/2021 10:54:42 am

Eumaxindia - we are No.1 Newspaper Advertising Agencies in Chennai / Newspaper Ad Agency in Chennai


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    September 2016
    July 2016

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  Excited Educator
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact