Generating & Developing Ideas"Generating ideas for writing is a college-bound skill. As James S. Murphy (2016) noted, 'In a recent survey of K-12 and college teachers, ACT found that college teachers considered the ability to generate ideas the most important skill for their students to possess, twice as important as the ability to analyze texts.'"
The root of generating ideas is in taking something that already exists and building upon it in some way. In other words, students need to be exposed to a variety of information on the topic being developed in order to generate worth while ideas. You must build the surface knowledge first. |
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What does it mean to be creative?Learning to copy, combine, and transform is essentially the root of creativity. We need to move away from the notion of creativity being original ideas, and understand that as we learn to connect what we know we become better equipped to be creative.
Start video at 5:49 - 8:05 |
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Adam Savage's Process of Developing IdeasWatch just the first few minutes and you'll see how Adam Savage pulls from as many different sources as possible to develop his understanding of what he intends to create.
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IDEO's Process of Developing IdeasIDEO is one of the top product design companies in the world. Their process of gathering information, sifting through it, brainstorming, and creation is what led to the formulation of what is now known as The Engineering Design Model.
Start the video at :45 - 5:20 |
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Brainstorming TipsYou may choose to have students write down their ideas on various post-its, slips of paper, or just in their Thoughtbooks.
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SCAMPERThis method is used to help students learn to take their surface knowledge and begin creating from it: choosing one of the letters from the acronym to transform the idea they start with. Many have practiced this concept with Oreos, and if you Google "Scamper Oreo" you'll find more details.
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