Thinking Outside the Box

Thinking Outside the Box

withDr. Janet Mills

A Rational Problem to Solve Four people want to cross a bridge. They all begin on the same side. You have 17 minutes to get all of them across to the other side. It is nighttime, and there is only one flashlight. A maximum of two people can cross the bridge at one time. Anyone who crosses the bridge, alone or with another person, must have the flashlight with them. The flashlight must be walked back and forth; it cannot be thrown, etc. Each person walks a different speed. A pair must walk together at the rate of the slower person's pace.

Person 1: 1 minute to cross

Person 2: 2 minutes to cross



A Rational Problem to Solve

1 and 2 cross = 2”1 returns = 1” 3 and 4 cross = 10”2 returns = 2”1 and 2 cross = 2” Total = 17”

The Rational Problem Solving Model

1. Define the problem

2. Generate alternative solutions

3. Evaluate and select an alternative

4. Implement and follow up on the solution

Tools 1: Change your perspective

How many squares can you count?













Tool 2: Find and define the problem

How many SMALL triangles (with no intersecting lines) can you count?

Tool 2: Find and define the problem

How many SMALL triangles (with no intersecting lines) can you count?

1

23

4

56

Tool 3. Identify your assumptions

Slice the pie into eight pieces using only three cuts

Tool 3. Identify your assumptions

Slice the pie into eight pieces using only three cuts

Tool 4: Reason concretely as well as abstractlyFour Classical Volumes

Four classical volumes form a set of books in the illustration below. The pages of each book are two inches thick. The book covers are each one sixth of an inch thick. A bookworm began eating his way from page 1 of the first volume and ate all the way through the last page of the fourth volume. What distance did the

worm cover?

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

5”: Note where page 1 of Volume I is and where the last page of Volume 4 is.

A Creative Problem to Solve

You are downstairs with only three light switches in front of you. Upstairs there are only three lights. Each switch is connected with a single light upstairs. To start with, all the switches are in the off position (down) and the three lights are off. By flipping a switch on and off, the connected light upstairs will go on and off...but you cannot tell which light is from downstairs. You are allowed to go upstairs only ONCE. Tell me how you determined which switch is connected to which light for ALL THREE LIGHTS! Again, no tricks! The three lights are the same type bulb and they all work. There is nobody else upstairs to ask. No mirrors or peepholes. You only get to go upstairs once, and you can't go back downstairs.

Tool 5: Identify artificial constraints

The Nine Dot ProblemWithout lifting your pencil, draw four straight lines through all nine dots, crossing each dot only once.

Tool 5: Identify artificial constraints

The Nine Dot ProblemWithout lifting your pencil, draw four straight lines through all nine dots, crossing each dot only once.

Tool 6: Don’t be boxed in by previous solutions

The Animals Each Need a PenDraw two squares to create a private pen for each animal below.

Tool 6: Don’t be boxed in by previous solutions

The Animals Each Need a PenDraw two squares to create a private pen for each animal below.

Tool 7: Use multiple thinking languages

In what ways can we express “half of eight?”

Tool 7: Use multiple thinking languages

In what ways can we express “half of eight?”

4 8-4 6-2Cuatro quatre vier

o 3 E IV IIII S eig quattro yon

What is creativity?

• Creativity

• Innovation

• Rationality

A Creativity Test

Write down all of the possible uses for an empty tin can you can think of.

Elements of creativity

• Fluency: How many ideas did you create?

• Flexibility: How many categories did you create?

• Originality: What unique, unusual applications did you create?

• Elaboration: Did you detail or expand on the item itself?

Stages of the Creative Process

• Preparation

• Concentration

• Incubation

• Illumination

• Evaluation or verification

• Innovation

Other Routes to Creativity

• Serendipity Accidental discovery or random coincidence

• Synchronicity Meaningful coincidence; something beyond random chance

• Chaos Re-figuring a complex system; no clear cause-effect

Tool 9: Idea generation methods

• Brainstorming

• Brain-writing

• Affinity diagrams (Silent idea generation and categorization of ideas)

Tool 10: Statistical tools for improvement from TQM

To understand processes or systems

• Flow charts

• Process charts

• Deployment charts

• Opportunity flowcharts


To understand processes or systems• Flow chart at Boise State for drop-add after

registration closes1. Student2. Course instructor3. Dept Chair the course is in4. College Assoc. Dean the course is in5. Student’s Adviser6. Dept Student is in7. College Assoc. Dean for Student’s Dept8. Registrar’s office


To collect data

• Check sheets

• Concentration diagrams

• Work-flow diagrams


To collect data

• Check sheets for falls in nursing home per month


To look at data relationships

• Pareto charts• Time plots• Control charts• Frequency plots• Cause-effect diagrams• Scatter plots


To look at data relationships

• Frequency plot of falls in nursing home by unit

• Time plot of falls in nursing home by unit

• Pareto chart to see where and when the majority of the falls occurred

• Cause-effect diagrams

Thinking Outside the Box

Documents

page of volume

connected light

light switches

creative problem

crossa rational problem

single light

small triangles

intersecting lines