The Development of Creative Thinkers through Environmental Action Dr Peter Le Masurier Scientist in Residence, Yew International School of Shanghai.

The Development of Creative Thinkers through

Environmental Action

Dr Peter Le MasurierScientist in Residence, Yew International Sc

hool of Shanghai

Creative Thinkers…Why the Need?

Global Needs

Business

New ProductsNew Manufacturing MethodsNew Markets

Research

New TheoriesSolutions to global issues

Society

EnvironmentPopulation growth

What are the Leaders Saying?

“Ideas are more important than knowledge”

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”.

Innovation in Business

Sales Forcast for New Product X

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Years

Mill

ion

US

$

“ Make Product X and all this will be yours…!”

Certainly!

We’re with you!

How much do you need!

Yes but?

The Reality• People don’t like change

– The longer you have being doing something the worse you become

• People don’t like risk– Making mistakes is seldom an advantage

• People are naturally skeptical– Most peoples first response is NO.

• Companies are driven by financial results

Momentum of SalesSales Forcast for New Product X

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Years

Mill

ion

US

$

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

1 2 3 4

Years

Mil

lio

n U

S $

• Start small quickly deliver• Separate the risk• Choose an area where

you can make a difference• Align with the interests of

the decision makers

Three Steps

Creative Idea

Results

Change

Start Small

“I had an idea once… nobody listened to me!”

Creative thinking in Schools?

Is that what we really want?

“What about the grades?”

“What about the syllabus?”

A* “How will I keep control?”A B C

The Normal Response

““Good try, but not right”Good try, but not right”

““Nice idea, lets look Nice idea, lets look at that tomorrow”at that tomorrow”

““Your actually right, but the Your actually right, but the MARKSCHEME says…”MARKSCHEME says…”

Science…. any better?

Newtonian

Relativistic

The REAL Solution

Moving away from the Syllabus….• Grades will suffer• Most students will be lost and won’t support you

Momentum of Ideas

• Avoid areas of risk• Stay separate from the syllabus

• Focus on areas where we can deliver results• Areas where ideas can be put into action

• Start small• Students also don’t like failure

• Align with the interests of the students• Often not the syllabus!

ENVIRONMENTENVIRONMENT

Environmental Challenge

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8307272.stm

Arctic to be 'ice-free in summer'

“Creative thinking certainly needed here!”

According to Professor *********, faster shipping and easier access to oil and gas

reserves were among short-term benefits of the melting.

Separate it out

Qing Lin Environment Club

Paper recyclingCarbon offsetting

Greening the school

Classroom Auditing

Observable Results

http://www.rootsandshoots.org

1000 Trees in

Inner Mongolia

On a Global Scale

Summary

• Reduce the Risk• Stay separate from the syllabus• Don’t risk their grade averages

• Align with the students interests• Generating ideas should be fun

• Start small• Students also don’t enjoy failure

• Deliver results• Share the success