CoRT4 TeachersGuide PDF

Teachers Guide
CoRT 4
Copyright 2012 Devine Media Ltd All Rights Reserved
CORT 4 CREATIVITY
THIS BOOK CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING
OVERVIEW OF CORT 4
FOREWORD AND AUTHORS NOTES
MODEL LESSON FORMAT
PRACTICE AND PROJECT ITEMS
STANDARD LESSON SEQUENCE
THE TEN LESSONS
1.
Yes, No, Po
2. Stepping Stone
3. Random Input
4. Concept Challenge
5. Dominant Idea
6. Define the Problem
7.
Remove Faults
8. Combination
9. Requirements
10. Evaluation
THE TEST MATERIAL FOR CORT 4
Page 1
OVERVIEW
It is too often assumed that creative ideas come only from inspiration and
that there is nothing else that can be done about it.
CoRT 4 covers the basic creative techniques, procedures and attitudes.
Creativity is treated as a normal part of thinking, involving processes that
can be learned, practiced and applied in a deliberate manner.
Some of the processes are concerned with the escape from imprisoning
ideas.
Others are concerned with the provocation of new ideas.
Problem definition is an important part of creativity.
So is the evaluation of suggested solutions.
FOREWORD
The six sections of CoRT Thinking Lessons do not have to be used in
sequence. A teacher may elect to use different methods. For example a
teacher may use CoRT 1 followed by CoRT 4 and then move to CoRT 5. Though
a few lessons in CoRT 2 do refer to CoRT 1 lessons, the rest of the sections
may be used in any order.
Creativity is always fun and highly motivating to the people involved. This
sense of fun should be kept throughout CoRT 4, but at the same time
creativity is a serious matter. The purpose of creativity is to arrive at an
effective new idea, not to offer some bizarre gimmick.
It is unfortunate that in ordinary language the word creativity is often

applied to artistic creativity, which involves emotional resonance,
craftsmanship and many other characteristics in addition to the ability to
create new ideas. In CoRT 4 the type of creativity that is developed is the
design type of creativity. This type of thinking the author has called lateral
thinking (a word which is now officially recognised in the Oxford English
Dictionary).
Page 2
Many of the processes put forward in CoRT 4 arise directly from the nature
of lateral thinking. The processes are put forward as thinking tools which
can be applied deliberately and directly in order to produce a result. There
is no attempt to explain why the processes should work or how they work
(for example why should a random word be useful in solving a problem?).
There is, however, considerable theory behind these processes. Those who
are interested will find this covered in two of the authors books (Lateral
Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity and The Mechanism of Mind).
Experience builds up patterns of perception and patterns of action. For the

most part these are very useful and life would be impossible without them.
We can even say that the main asset of the brain is that it is brilliantly
uncreative. It creates fixed patterns out of chaos of experience and then
looks at the world through these fixed patterns. This gives order and
meaning to life. But now and then these patterns need changing. Now and
then we need to escape from a blind alley or an old pattern in order to enjoy
the benefits of a new one.
Having no skill in creativity is like being unable to use the reverse gear in
a car and getting trapped in the first blind alley you come to. On the other
hand you would not choose to demonstrate your skill with the reverse gear
by attempting to drive in reverse throughout the day. Creativity must take its
place as an essential part of thinking along with other skills.
There is an unfortunate mystique about creativity. It is regarded as a special

gift which some people have and others can never acquire. This is a mistake.
Lateral thinking is a type of thinking which everyone can learn. Some people
will be better at it than others, just as some people are better at tennis than
other people. But most people can learn to play in a reasonable manner
if they put some effort into practising the skills of both tennis and lateral
thinking.
Skill in lateral thinking is a mixture of attitudes and techniques. For example
an attitude encapsulated in the word PO is that of provocation, of allowing
an idea into the mind in order to see what effect it might have. The stepping
stone is a deliberate tool that can be used - as is the random word.
Page 3
As usual with the CoRT lessons the teacher must remember that the
purpose of the lessons is to practice some operating skills. The CoRT 4
lessons should not be used for discussion of creativity in general or design
processes in particular. The lessons should be focused upon the practice
of some specific thinking tools. A tool should be simple, deliberate, effective
and usable.
The tools put forward in CoRT 4 have been used and tested with thousands
of adults and children. Many corporations around the world now use some
of the tools regularly. This applies to some governments as well.
It can be emphasised again that the CoRT Thinking Lessons are not tentative
and experimental but have been used widely. If a teacher has difficulty with
the lessons it is up to that teacher to examine his or her teaching style and
to consider whether matters are being overcomplicated.
AUTHOR S NOTE
Many years of experience with these materials have taught me that
teachers will want to use these Teachers Notes in two distinct ways. The
first is as a guide to the specific lessons. The second is as an introduction
to the subject of teaching thinking in general and also to the particular
method used here. The teacher should if possible read the sections
Teaching Points and Standard Lesson Format before starting the lessons.
However, once this background material has been read it becomes of less
importance than the actual guidelines for running the individual lessons. It
is for this reason that Teaching Points and Standard Lesson Format follow
the Lesson Notes in this book.
As an additional aid to teaching the lessons, teachers are referred to the

section A Model Lesson Sequence, which consists of a one-page outline of
the lesson style.
In CoRT 4 it is much more important that the teacher read through the
Lesson Notes than in any of the preceding CoRT sections. The format of the
lessons is rather different.
Page 4
In previous sections the important part of the lesson was announced at the
beginning and the rest of the lesson dealt with practice. In CoRT 4 there is a
flow format. In other words, the students are eased gently into the lesson
and the important statements are placed at intervals throughout the lesson.
In this way the lesson flows along from example to practice to learning
point to practice, etc. If teachers do not read both the Lesson Notes and the
students notes they may well miss the point of the lesson.
There is a further reason why it is important for the teacher to read the
Lesson Notes. The subject is creativity and the students are being asked to
turn up creative ideas. From time to time they will find this difficult - in fact
they may not be able to get going at all. They will then expect teachers to
produce ideas themselves in order to show what can be done. Teachers
may or may not be able to do this at that instant, but if they consult the
Lesson Notes they will find that for every task given to the students a
suggested answer is given in the Notes. This suggested answer has no
special value and should not be taken as the right answer. It is simply there
to provide teachers with something to say if they cannot think of anything.
These suggestions are more in the nature of illustrations than answers.
MODEL LESSON FORMAT

In practice, teachers should read through the Lesson Notes before the
lesson and mark the items they are going to use. During the lesson
itself the teacher should use the teachers notes in conjunction with the
students notes.
CoRT is currently in use throughout the world. The CoRT Thinking Lessons
have been used with students from elementary school through the college
level as well as by scientists, academics and professionals - including
senior executives of major Fortune 500 corporations.
The reason CoRT thinking can be used by so wide an audience is because

thinking is a basic skill that can be applied to all situations and problems,
from the most simple to the most complex.
Page 5
The practice items have been carefully designed to be usable across a

broad range of ages and abilities: Naturally, a higher degree of thinking skill
is demanded from the more able student even if the practice item is the
same.
Teachers are encouraged to modify the items and to adapt them to local
circumstances or news items.
A MODEL LESSON SEQUENCE

1.
Introduce the TOOL or SUBJECT of the lesson and explain

simply what it does. You can use the introduction in the
students notes.
2. Carry out an open class example by setting a task and asking

for individual responses. Repeat the letters of the tool as
often as you can. Make sure it is seen as a TOOL.
3. Divide the class into groups of 4, 5 or 6. Select a practice

item from the students notes. Allow about three minutes.
4. Get feedback from the groups, for example by getting one

suggestion from each of the groups.
5. Alternate teaching points and practice items. Allow time at

the end of the lesson for discussion on the process of the
lesson.
Page 6
Creativity
It is too often assumed that creative ideas come only from
inspiration and that there is nothing else that can be done
about it. Module 4 covers the basic creative techniques,
procedures and attitudes. Creativity is treated as a normal
part of thinking, involving processes that can be learned,
practiced and applied in a deliberate manner.
1: YES, NO & PO
Po, a device for showing that an idea is being used
creatively without any judgment or immediate evaluation.
2: STEPPING STONE
The use of ideas not for their own sake but because of
other ideas they may lead to.
3: RANDOM INPUT
The input of unrelated spurious ideas into a situation may
change the situation.
4: CONCEPT CHALLENGE
The testing of the uniqueness of concepts may lead to
other ways of doing things.
5: DOMINANT IDEA
In most situations there is a dominant idea. In order to be
creative one must find and escape from it.
6: DEFINE THE PROBLEM

An effort to define a problem exactly may make it easier to
solve.
7: REMOVE FAULTS
The assessment of faults and their removal from an idea.
8: COMBINATION
By examining the attributes of seemingly unrelated items new
items may be created either by fusion or by combination.
9: REQUIREMENTS
An awareness of requirements may influence the creation
of ideas.
10: EVALUATION
Does an idea fulfil the requirements; what are its advantages
and disadvantages?
Page 7
Lesson 1
Yes No and Po
Po, a device for showing that an idea is being
used creatively without any judgment or immediate
evaluation.
INTRODUCTION
Po is a new concept, an artificial word used to indicate that we are operating
outside the judgement system. Usually, we judge whether something is
right or wrong, true or false, useful or useless, appropriate or inappropriate.
The purpose of judgement is to keep us within the channels of our
experience. As soon as we move out of a channel, judgement pushes us
back by deciding that we are out of the channel.
Po indicates that an idea is not offered as true, accurate, or the way things
are, but in a creative sense - to open up new ideas and new ways of looking
at things.
Creativity seeks to discover new channels, and this is impossible if the
judgement system is operating all the time.
It is perfectly true that the final idea, the one that is acted upon, must be
judged as correct and useful. But if judgement operates at every step, then
we might never get to any creative ideas at all.
With humour we operate outside the judgement system.
If a person starts a funny story about an elephant in a tree you do not stop
him/her and say that you do not believe elephants ever go up trees.
You accept that in humour things are not to be judged but to be treated as
ideas.
The same thing applies in obvious fantasy. No one asks for the species
identification of Humpty Dumpty.
Page 8
But outside of humour and obvious fantasy we do not have a way of

indicating that an idea is put forward not to be judged but with a creative
purpose that is to be treated as an idea. Po was designed to fill this need. It
is a way of showing that humour or fantasy is involved even when this is not
obvious.
The word itself is derived from poetry; where strange ideas may be put
together in order to achieve an effect. Such ideas cannot be judged on a
strictly factual basis. It is also derived from supposition and hypothesis,
where an unproven idea is put forward in order to stimulate further thinking.
So po is a device for showing that one is operating outside the judgement
system. It must be emphasised that po is not just an inability to judge
something.
We have expressions like perhaps, possibly, may be, or dont know for
the occasions when we are unable to judge or choose not to.
Po is a deliberate indication that one is operating outside the judgement
system by intention and not through inability to judge. When people put
forward a statement covered by po it is offered as a provocation or creative
stimulus in order to start up some new ideas or new ways of looking at
things.
When people use po as a response they are indicating that they will treat
the ideas as a statement deserving thought and do not intend to judge it
just yet.
This ability to use ideas outside the judgement system is the basis of the
whole of creativity.
Unless the point is understood very clearly, creativity is impossible.
Po is merely a convenient device for crystallising the point so that it can be
understood and used.
No one has to go around muttering po for ever after.
A little deliberate muttering at first is very useful. After that the attitude can
take over.
Throughout the lesson the students should be encouraged to say po in a
definite manner - even to shout it.
Page 9
An understanding of po and silent, internal acceptance is not enough.

Example:
THE LESSON ITEMS
Open class. The teacher reads through the items and asks the class as a
whole to respond by shouting yes, no or po. It should be done at a fast
pace, without stopping to question why one student responds differently
from the rest. The last two items clearly are not meant to be true, so the
teacher watches the reaction to these and can open a brief discussion on
what the response should be. This can end with a remark like: We need
something to indicate when an idea is not meant to be true.
1.
Say yes, no or po to the following:
Five plus six equals twelve.
The Second World War started in 1943.
Ice floats in water.
Girls are usually smarter than boys.
Holidays are more fun than school.
The cow jumped over the moon.
The bug-eyed monsters from Mars have landed.
A discussion on judgement and non-judgement. Teachers must make a

clear distinction between the case where people would like to judge but
do not have enough information (so they say perhaps, may be, or dont
know) and when they do not want to judge (so they say po). Reference
should be made to the drawing on the students notes, which shows
yes and no in stable boxes, but po is in a rolling circle and the po sign
indicates movement. It is necessary to explain that po is artificial but is
derived from poetry (putting together ideas in a stimulating way which might
not be accurate), suppose (putting forward a tentative, unproven idea), and
hypothesis (speculative explanations).
2. 2. Judgement; when you judge something to be true or right
you say: yes. When you judge something to be untrue
you say: no. (When you are unsure, you can say maybe
or dont know.)
Page 10
Non-judgement; Sometimes you may not want to judge an idea but to treat
it creatively as a fantasy or suggestion or way of looking at things, so you
say: po.
The word po comes from poetry, suppose, hypothesis, etc.
3. Which of the following are yes statements which are no
statements, and which are po statements?

For one hour every day, shops should cut prices by 10%.
Supermarkets lose thousands of dollars through shoplifting.
More people would shop at night if shops stayed open later.
Shops are there to make money for their owners
Shop assistants are always very polite.
You could press buttons for the things you wanted and then
collect them all at the end.
For many people, shopping is a sort of hobby - they really enjoy

it.
Groups or open class. Groups can be allowed three minutes to work through
all the items and then indicate in turn which ones they have given a yes, no
or po.
Some discussion may be allowed on why some groups have given po to
one item rather than another. The teacher must emphasise that po is not the
same as not sure or dont know.
In an open class the item can he tackled in the same way as the first
item: taking each statement in turn and getting the whole class (or named
individuals) to give a yes, no or po.
Suggestions:
Po: For one hour every day shops should cut prices by 10%.
Po: More people would shop at night if shops stayed open longer.
Po: You could press a button for the things you wanted and then collect
them at the end.
Po: For many people, shopping is a sort of hobby - they really enjoy it.
Page 11
NOTE: it does not really matter to which statements po is applied. The

procedure is not a strict categorical one. It is enough that the students
realise that po can be used instead of its right or its wrong.
4. Emphasise the two-step operation:

Do I want to judge this?
Do I want to treat it creatively?
These are the questions students should ask themselves.

It may seem that if the answer to the first question is negative then po
would be used automatically, but this is not so, for it may be a dont know
situation.
Po should he used only when there is a deliberate intention to treat the idea
creatively.
5. Choose which of the following statements to give a yes, no
or po.

No one wants to work hard any more.
Most intelligent people go to college.
Politicians are just people who are good at getting elected.
Many students think they are smarter than they really are.
Every other week should be a vacation.
Working in a factory can be made more interesting.
One day people will be able to eat leaves and grass.
A rock singer does more for society than ten miners.
Treat this item in the same way as item 3 was treated, or else in an open
class with rapid-fire answers.
In fact, any one of the statements can be treated as a po statement if
someone wishes.
If something is put forward as a provocative statement it merits a po, if put
forward as a fact it merits a yes or no. This can be the basis of a discussion.
Page 12
6. Make up a deliberate po statement about: cars, school food,

hair.
Open class or groups. Po statements on all three are fashioned and then
read out. Any provocative, fantasy or speculative statement can qualify but not a descriptive statement.
Suggestions:

Po: cars should fly.
Po: cars should last a lifetime.
Po: all cars should be painted yellow.
Po: cars should eat their passengers.
Po: school food should be so tasteless that you would not notice
you had eaten it.
Po: the more food you eat the more it increases in amount.
Po: students should cook their own food.
Po: hair should never need cutting.
Po: you should be able to alter the length of your hair from moment
to moment by willpower.
Po: hair should change colour in the winter.
7.
Po is used to show yourself and other people that you are

not judging an idea but are treating it creatively as an idea
and as a way of looking at things.
Item seven is a summary of the lesson.

It can be read aloud and if there is time a discussion can be started.
The main point is to treat po as a practical tool, not a philosophical point.
Page 13
Lesson 2
Stepping stones
The use of ideas not for their own sake but
because of other ideas they may lead to.
INTRODUCTION
This lesson logically follows the first lesson.
To use an idea creatively means to use it to develop some new ideas. In
other words, the idea is not judged but it is used as a stepping stone to
get to new ideas.
Suppose we were considering the problem of factories that pollute rivers
and make life difficult for those further downstream. We could say, All
factories should be downstream of themselves. This is a preposterous idea,
and in the judgement system it would be instantly dismissed as ridiculous.
But we say, po: all factories should be downstream of themselves, and
then use the idea as a stepping stone. Very quickly we get to the idea that
in order to make a factory downstream of itself, all one would need to do
would be to reverse the position of the inlet and outlet pipes to the river. We
could legislate that inlet pipes must be downstream pipes only, and so each
factory would get a sample of its own wastes and thus realise what it was
doing.
It does not matter how closely the new idea is related to the stepping stone
that was used. Once used, the stepping stone can be forgotten.
A stepping stone can be set up deliberately by saying anything unlikely or
outrageous.
The simplest method is to reverse the situation, turn it inside out, upside
down, or back to front (e.g., po: cars should control traffic lights).
But there is another use for stepping stones. In ones own thinking one
often comes up with an idea that seems to be wrong. Instead of rejecting it
at once, you can use it as a stepping stone.
Page 14
Other people often come up with ideas that seem to be wrong. Such ideas
can be used as stepping stones rather than rejected at once. It does not
mean that such ideas have to be accepted in the end.
They are used briefly as stepping stones to see if they lead to anything
interesting and then they can be rejected. It is a matter of inserting the
stepping stone phase before the rejection phase.
The Stepping Stone is a method for getting out of the channels of thinking
formed by experience in order to increase the chances of finding new
channels. The general attitude involved is a very open one. It is the attitude
of treating any idea not only for its own value but in terms of what it may
lead to.
The previous lesson introduced the idea of statements which were not to
be judged but to be used provocatively in a creative fashion. This lesson is
concerned with the use of such statements as a stepping stone towards a
new idea. The operation is to take a statement and to see where it can lead.
Lesson Items
1.
A stepping stone is something you move on to, not because

you want to stay there but because you want to get
somewhere else.
Ideas can be used as stepping stones in order to move on to new

ideas.
The drawing on the notes shows the process of stepping onto an

idea, not in order to stay there but in order to move off again. You
do not look at what is right or wrong in a statement but at what is
of interest, and toward the new ideas that are suggested.
Page 15
2. Look at the statement: Po: both teams should be able to

win a basketball game at the same time. You could say this
statement is silly, ridiculous or impossible. But because we
have used po, the statement is to be used creatively as a
stepping stone.
From the statement we can go on to the new idea of treating each

half of a basketball game as a separate game (then both sides
could win).
An example of the use of a stepping stone. If a basketball game is

split into two games then clearly each side can win that game. The
teacher must avoid getting bogged down in semantic arguments
such as it is no longer one game, so strictly speaking each side
does not win.
There is no attempt to justify the stepping stone or even to fulfil

its statement - merely to get to a new idea. Once you have arrived
at the new idea the stepping stone is forgotten.
3. Which of the following statements do you think could be

used as a stepping stone to get some new ideas about
shoes?
Page 16
Shoes wear out much too quickly.
Shoes are good to eat.
High heels are bad for the ankles.
Fashion affects shoes too much.
Shoes should have voices of their own.
Everyone should wear the same size shoe.
Some of these are descriptive statements and others are provocative and
can be used as stepping stones.
The item can be done on an open class basis with the teacher asking
named individuals or calling for volunteers. It can also be done on a group
basis with a group separating the statements into stepping stone and
descriptive.
Suggestions: po: shoes are good to eat.
Po: shoes should have voices of their own.
Po: everyone should wear the same size shoe.
4. Emphasise the deliberateness of the double operation:

A. What can I use as a stepping stone?
B. Where can I move to from the stepping stone?
The students must be definite about what they are using as a stepping
stone. This may involve rephrasing in a more definite manner an idea that
comes up in a vague way.
5. You are asked to tackle the problem of traffic congestion in
cities. Use the following stepping stone: Po: cars should
have square wheels.
Group or open class. Students are allowed 4 minutes to develop ideas. In
accepting the ideas, the teacher should encourage and praise the more
creative ones.
Suggestions
If cars had square wheels there would be no cars and no problems.
This is not a good use of the stepping stone - it is too direct and produces
no new idea.
Page 17
Square wheels would mean a bumpy ride. Perhaps we could have

lots of bumps on the road, with more bumps on the more popular
roads to discourage their use. A very good stepping stone use.
Square wheels would require a special road. Perhaps people who

lived in the town could have special wheels on their cars and
people from out of town would not be able to drive in town (e.g.,
Very thin wheels for use in town). Another good use.
Square wheel cars could not move by themselves but could be

moved on conveyor belts which would determine where the cars
could go in the town.
The important point is that the final idea should be new and interesting not
that it should justify the stepping stone.
6. You are trying to design a new TV program. Use the following
stepping stone: Po: everyone should be in the dark
Similar to the previous item.
Probably best as group work. A group can produce one or several ideas.
Suggestions:

Blind people are always in the dark, so people could be blindfolded,

put in a room and told to find out everything they could about the
room.
Interviews could start in the dark so you would listen to what

people had to say first before reacting to their appearance.
A panel game in which people are in the dark about some crime
and have to find out clues by careful questioning.
7.

Making Stepping Stones

You can apply po to ideas which turn up anyway, instead of
rejecting them.
Page 18
You can deliberately say something unlikely or outrageous.
You can turn things back to front, upside-down or inside-out, etc.
Explanation of how stepping stones are made. They can be fashioned from
ideas that turn up in thinking or discussion.
They can be statements which are deliberately unlikely or outrageous.
Or you can turn something upside-down, inside-out, back-to-front, etc.
8. Make up three deliberate stepping stones which might be

used to generate some new ideas for designing chairs.
A deliberate exercise in creating stepping stones. This can be done on an
immediate open class basis with students offering suggestions.
The teacher should encourage way-out suggestions rather than tame ones.
Suggestions: po: chairs should always collapse when you sit on them.
Po: chairs should be placed on the ceiling.
Po: chairs should follow you around the room.
Po: chairs should talk to you.
Po: chairs should stick pins in you when you sit in them.
9. Make up a stepping stone and then use it to design something

that could be used in place of tests.
Group or individuals (5 minutes).
Page 19
Students first create a stepping stone and then use it to reach a new idea.
Emphasise that stepping stones must be deliberate and sufficiently
provocative.
Suggestions: po: students should examine their examiners. This could
lead to: Students could be asked to choose examination questions and to
explain why they chose those questions.
Po: students should decide their own examination results. This could lead
to: A self-rating system in which students rated themselves in different
areas. Then they could take a test in one area and their accuracy of selftesting would be revealed.
Po: everyone should obtain exactly equal marks in exams. This could lead
to: If everyone got the same marks in each subject because the questions
were easy, then the number of subjects a student takes could make the
difference.
10. An outrageous idea can be used not for its own sake but as
a stepping stone in order to get to a new idea.
Item ten is a summary of the lesson. This can be read aloud and
then discussed.
The important point is not to be too timid about the stepping stone.
Page 20
Lesson 3
Random Input
The input of unrelated spurious ideas into a
situation may change the situation.
INTRODUCTION
In thinking about a problem one often finds oneself going over the same
ground again and again.
Indeed the harder one tries to concentrate the more one finds oneself stuck
with the same ideas.
What seems to be necessary is some outside stimulus that will get the mind
working along a new line.
Clearly it is not much use making an effort to choose an outside influence
because that influence would only be chosen to fit the existing ideas. To
be of any use the outside influence must be unexpected, unconnected or
random.
The random input technique involves the deliberate introduction of
something that is unconnected with the situation. Using po, the random
input is held in the same context as the problem to see what new ideas are
triggered.
In practice the simplest random input is a random word. Such a word can
be chosen in a truly random manner by using a table of random numbers
and a dictionary, but there are simpler ways, such as stabbing a finger at a
newspaper and choosing the nearest noun.
The random word acts as a parcel of concepts that are brought into the
situation in order to open up new lines of thinking. Suppose we are looking
for new ideas on windows.
We say window po cheese and see what ideas are triggered. The first idea
may be that the holes in cheese are always irregular whereas windows
Page 21
tend to be regular. Perhaps rounded, irregular windows would be more

aesthetically pleasing. Cheese has a strong smell. Perhaps we could have a
little strip of something that smelled quite strong which we would place on
the window. If there were enough ventilation in the room the smell would be
imperceptible but if ventilation were poor the smell would get stronger and
we would open the window
The lesson is concerned with the deliberate use of a random word. As
before, the attitude involved is much wider and again it is one of the basic
principles of creativity: being able to use accidental or unconnected inputs.
If you look only at what you are looking at, how are your ideas ever going to
change? One may have to look at things which seem to have no relevance
and even at things which cannot possibly have any relevance in order to
trigger new ideas.
You may concentrate harder and harder on a problem but be unable to get
any new ideas. That is because your concentration only reinforces the
ideas you had before.
In order to get some new ideas you may have to bring in something from
outside. This cannot be something you choose, for it would then fit in only
with the existing ideas.
So it must be random - that is to say it has no connection with the problem
being considered.
But once it has been brought into the context the random input is used as a
stimulus.
THE LESSON ITEMS

1.
Cigarettes po soap. What does this mean? What does soap

have to do with a cigarette?
It means that someone has brought in soap as a random input in

order to trigger some new ideas about cigarettes.
Soap suggests freshness, and freshness suggests spring, and

that means flowers.
Page 22
Perhaps every cigarette should have flower seeds in the filter so

when it is thrown away a flower will blossom from it and therefore
make parks more beautiful.
Example. There is no obvious connection between cigarettes and soap.

Soap is used only as a random input. But this random input opens up a new
line of thinking and a new idea that otherwise would have been very difficult
to reach.
2. Random
You cannot get new ideas by looking harder at the old ones, so you bring in
something which is random or unconnected with the situation.
The drawing on these notes shows thinking proceeding along the usual
track until something random is brought in and leads thinking off in a new
direction.
It must be stressed that the input must be random.
It is no use using an input which is closely related.
It is no use saying cigarettes po paper. The drawing in the notes suggests
how thinking proceeds in a certain direction.
Then a random input is brought in.
This leads thinking off in a new direction - toward the new input.
3. You are trying to invent a new detective character called

James Cooper. In order to get some new ideas, you use a
random input and say:

James Cooper po ice cream.
From this might come the idea that he ought to have a youngster
to help him (youngsters like ice cream) or perhaps he could be a
youngster?
Page 23
Ice cream might also suggest a very fat person (eating too much).
Perhaps the detective could operate an ice cream stand.
What other ideas are triggered by this random input ice cream?
Another example of the stimulus effect of a random input.
The class may be asked to suggest other ideas that might be triggered by
this input of ice cream.
Suggestions:

The detective might be an ice hockey player.
The detective might be very perceptive (different ice cream

flavours).
The detective might be very soft hearted (ice cream melts).
He might divide up the case into little portions and tackle each
one of these in turn.
He might appear to be messy and stupid but underneath he is

actually very bright.
His nickname might be Jimmy.
4. You are asked for some new ideas about police officers and
you use the random input canary.
Police officer po canary.
What ideas can this trigger?
Group or open class. Four minutes allowed.
Different ideas are put forward. In each case it must be stated how the idea
arose from the random input.
Ideas which arose independently are not accepted.
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Suggestions:

Perhaps police officers should wear very bright uniforms to

increase their deterrent effect. And from time to time other people
should wear these uniforms and so apparently increase the
number of police officers.
Police officers should have different notes on their whistles to

indicate: warning, need - help, watch-it, Im coming, etc.
From the idea of talking birds: police officers should have little
transmitter microphones which they could leave in suspicious
places and then listen in from a distance.
5. Emphasise the double operation:

A. What can I use as a random input?
B. What is triggered by the random input?
As with stepping stones, the process must be clear-cut and deliberate.

The random word is deliberately isolated and then it is used.
The deliberateness of the process is important. Otherwise ideas just drift
along with only a nod towards the random input.
6. Someone is trying to invent a new food and uses the random

input window.
What ideas can be got from food po window?
Group or open class. Allow four minutes.
As before, the teacher insists on hearing the step from the random input to
the new idea.
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Suggestions:

You can look through a window. So the new food would have no
taste or colour of its own but you could add whatever taste or
colour you liked.
A window lets in light or air or both as you wish. The fat content of
a food should be alterable as you wish by just adding something.
Windows are high on the walls Perhaps we could grow a sort of

fungus in clouds and then harvest the fungus when it fell to the
earth in rain.
Windows have frames. This new food would have a hard crust that
was nice to eat and the inside would not matter so much.
7.
What ideas can you get from book po orange?
This item can be omitted if there is not enough time. Otherwise treat it the
same way as item 6.
Suggestions:

Oranges have segments. Perhaps books should be put together

in segments that could be pulled apart quite easily as one wished
Oranges can be squeezed to give juice which can be drunk more

quickly than eating the whole orange. All books should have juice
sections where the book is summarised for quick reading.
Oranges are round and have no beginning or end. Perhaps books

could be written so that you could start anywhere you liked and
they would still make sense.
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8. You can find a random word by using any word that comes
to mind as you look around you.
You can also close your eyes and put your finger down on a
newspaper and then use the noun nearest your finger. Or you
can write out a number of common words on pieces of paper and
then put them in a bag and pick one out.
Methods of finding a random word. It does not matter which method

is used so long as the word is random. It is no use trying a word
that comes to mind when you are considering a problem.
For instance book po ink is useless, but book po kangaroo could

be useful.
Each student could write down five common words (nouns) on slips of
paper. The teacher could collect these and put them in a box as a random
word source picking one out at random when required.
9. You are asked to invent a new type of school in which
students will learn much more. Find a random word and then
use it to trigger some new ideas.
Group or open class as for items 6 and 7. Time allowed is four minutes.
The actual suggestions will depend on the random word used by the
groups or individuals.
Teachers will find that many of the random words are too close to the
situation and they can comment on this.
Suggestions:

School po toothbrush: Very short periods of definite learning

three times a day, with students left to explore subjects or do
anything else for the rest of the time. The periods get shorter or
longer according to the learning effort of the students.
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School po matchstick: From matchsticks in a box. Students could

work in several very small groups, each one on its own and
arranging its own teaching, sometimes joining with other groups.
Each group of students would be responsible for its own learning.
School po chimney: The chimney is usually at the top of the

house. A school could have the top students teaching those at
the bottom. A school could have every student involved in both
learning and teaching.
10. To trigger new ideas you may have to bring in something

that is not connected with the subject but is random.
Below is a summary of the lesson.
This can be read aloud and can form the basis of a discussion.
The important thing is that the random stimulus be truly random.
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Lesson 4
Concept Challenge
The testing of the uniqueness of concepts may
lead to other ways of doing things.
INTRODUCTION
This is the third of the three basic principles of creativity. The two previous
principles were provocative. This one is more analytical.
Concept Challenge involves looking at accepted ideas, things that are taken
for granted, adequate ways of doing things, and challenging them. This
challenge is not an attempt to prove them wrong but a challenge to their
uniqueness.
Does it have to be like that? Is that really the only way of doing things? Why
do we go on doing it like that? Can we think of any alternative here?
It may well be that the established idea remains better than any new idea
that is produced. This does not matter. What does matter is the ability to
challenge accepted concepts. If the challenge fails then the concept is
reinforced because there is now a reason for using it apart from inertia or
tradition. If the challenge succeeds then there is a better idea.
In theory, Concept Challenge sounds easy but in practice there are
two difficulties. The first difficulty is in isolating a particular concept to
be challenged. It is not really much use having a broad challenge that
challenges everything in sight.
A challenge, like a gun, must be aimed rather precisely. So there must first
be an effort to isolate the concept that is to be challenged. The second
difficulty is to distinguish challenge from criticism. Criticism involves time
spent attacking the concept and showing why it does not work. Challenge
involves looking around for alternatives and other ways of doing something.
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For instance, if we were challenging the system of interest payments

on money that had been deposited we could isolate the concepts of
uniformity and challenge that. Why do interest rates have to be the same
for everyone? From that we might go to the idea that interest rates should
be higher for older people. Thus a person aged 30 would get 10%, a person
aged 40 would get 11% and a person aged 70 would get 14%.
The extra interest would come from tax rebates or direct subsidy. The point
would be that younger people could work but older people often have to
live on investments. It would also be an incentive to saving.
As before, the principle is a very broad one. It involves an attitude of mind
that is able to question or challenge anything that is taken for granted. But it
must be emphasised that this is a positive attitude of mind, not the negative
anti-everything attitude. It is a challenge to uniqueness, not criticism.
Many things are accepted or taken for granted. A new idea or a new way of
doing things can often be obtained by challenging something that is taken
for granted and asking: Why does it have to be done this way?
The purpose of this lesson is to develop the operation of challenging
concepts. It is important to realise that the process is not one of criticism
but of challenging the uniqueness of a concept, i.e. Is this the only way of
doing it?
THE LESSON ITEMS

1.
The drawing on these notes shows arrows puncturing

balloons. The balloons represent concepts, ideas, accepted
ways of doing things, etc. Each arrow is the word why which
is used to challenge a concept in order to see whether it is
the only way of doing things.

It is best to start with a reference to the student note cover illustration
which shows some arrows puncturing balloons.
The balloons represent the concepts or ideas that are taken for granted.
The arrows represent the question why? Which is used to challenge the
uniqueness of the concept:
I.e. Why does it have to be like this?
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2. Why does a plate have to be round? A girl was asked to design

a new plate, so she challenged the idea of roundness and
as a result she designed a plate that was long and narrow
and stretched out toward the middle of the table - when you
finished eating at one end you turned it round and started
at the other.
An example of the effect of challenging a concept. It is not a matter of
deciding whether the round plate is or is not better than the suggested
long plate.
It is a matter of challenging roundness as a concept. The new idea that
turns up may in some cases be better and in others worse than the
challenged idea.
What matters is the ability to challenge concepts.
3. Challenge When you challenge a concept, you are really

asking the following questions:

Is it necessary?
What alternative ways might there be?
It is only after challenging the existing way that you start looking
for other ways.
Further explanation of what is meant by challenge.
Is it necessary?
Is it the only way?
Why must it be done like this?
4. Challenge
the
concept
of
fashion
in
clothes
and
entertainment.
Open class discussion. Individuals volunteer their challenges or the teacher
may ask individual students.
Suggestions: Instead of fashion there could be a range of possibilities from
which people could choose what suits them.
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Fashion is a way of reviving interest in clothes or entertainment

- perhaps what is wanted is change, not fashion. It could for
instance be predictable change.
Fashion means being ahead of, or adhering to, the general trend perhaps there could be anti-fashion, which moves in exactly the
opposite direction.

A. Which concept shall I pick out?
B. Why must things be done like this?
The deliberate nature of these questions is even more important than usual.
Unless you isolate a specific concept the challenge becomes pointless:
after all, you have to shoot at a specific balloon, you cannot aim at balloons
in general.
6. In each of the following areas, pick out five Concepts which

you would like to challenge:

Advertising
Home life
School buildings.
Group- work. The group looks at each of the areas and picks out five
concepts which it would like to challenge.
Time allowed is five minutes.
The teacher should note whether the concepts are real concepts or just
vague attributes. If the latter, they should be expressed in a concept form.
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Suggestions:
Advertising:

The concept of persuasion.
The concept of maximum exposure.
The concept of image.
The concept that people are easily fooled.
The use of exotic people in advertisements.

Home life:

The concept of authority.
The concept of total obedience.
The concept that parents always know best.
The concept of dependence (for money, etc.).
The lack of privacy.

School Buildings:

The concept of order.
The concept of usefulness rather than beauty.
The concept of cheapness.
The concept of modernity.
The concept of closed classrooms.
7.
Pick out and challenge three different concepts listed in the
area of sports and give alternative ways of doing things.

This can be done as group work or as individuals in an open-class
discussion. Four minutes are allowed for group work. In an open discussion
the teacher invites comments.
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Suggestions:

Why does there have to be competition? Perhaps all competitive

sports should be anonymous so that skill alone is appreciated.
Why are there so many spectator sports? Perhaps everyone

under thirty should have to play in a sport rather than watch.
Why do teams always stay the same? Instead of two fixed teams
there could be a pool of players all mixed together and then the
two sides are chosen randomly from among these.
8. A man has a difficult problem because he and his wife have

just had a new baby and they need all the money he can
earn in order to pay the new expenses. But his coworkers
are going on strike. Although he does not agree with the
strike he knows that he must support his coworkers.
In this problem situation, pick out and challenge any concepts you wish.
Group work. Time allowed is four minutes. Can also be used as an open
class discussion item.
Suggestions:

Why should his coworkers not support him by means of a special

strike fund?
Why should all strikes be a matter of principle? Perhaps in some

strikes those who disagree could stay at work.
Why is it a question of strike or not strike? Could he perhaps strike

with the others but go back if it lasted too long?
9. Suggest improvements in the local bus service by picking

out and challenging any two concepts.
Page 34
Group or individual work. This time it is not just a matter of picking out
concepts to challenge but of suggesting alternatives and improvements.
Time allowed is three minutes.
Suggestions:

Why do buses have to run on a fixed schedule? Suppose the

buses were distributed along the route and each one left as soon
as it filled up?
Why do buses have to stop all the time? Perhaps minibuses

could take people to central points and then the big buses would
operate only between central points without stopping.
10. Instead of taking things for granted, you can pick out and
challenge any concept to see whether it is the only way of
doing things.
Below is a summary of the lesson. This can be read aloud and discussed.
The important point is to focus on a concept and to challenge

its uniqueness.
Page 35
Lesson 5
Dominant Idea
In most situations there is a dominant idea. In order
to be creative one must find and escape from it.
INTRODUCTION
A dominant idea is an idea that is so dominant that it is difficult to think of
any other ideas. All thinking on the subject is captured by the dominant
channel and other possibilities are ignored.
For instance the dominant idea in the postal service is that it should be as
fast as possible. This is achieved at a high cost. If we escaped from this
dominant idea we might find that reliability and predictability were perhaps
more important. A reliable three-day postal service would for most purposes
be better than an erratic one-day service.
In almost all situations there is a dominant idea. Often it is very obvious,
sometimes it is implicit. Different people may see different ideas as being
dominant and sometimes there may be a cluster of ideas that are all equally
dominant (for example in the postal service where another dominant idea
might be that all people have to be served).
The important thing is not to argue about which the dominant idea is, but to
recognise an idea which dominates the situation. Once it is recognised it is
not too difficult to escape from it.
There is a relationship between Concept Challenge and Dominant Idea
insofar as a dominant idea is also a concept to be challenged. But whereas
a concept may play any role in a situation, the dominant idea controls the
situation. Once the dominant idea is isolated then the procedure is the same
as for concept challenge. It is this isolation of the dominant idea that is the
subject of this lesson.
Page 36
It is quite easy to find oneself thinking very hard within an area and never to
challenge the area itself. That is where the effort to find the dominant idea
in a situation can sometimes change the whole situation and the thinking
about it.
The purpose of the lesson is to develop the habit of trying to spell out this
dominant idea. Ones thinking may be very much influenced by a dominant
idea without there ever being a conscious awareness of the idea. Once
the dominant idea is spelled out, it becomes much easier to escape its
domination and to come up with a new idea.
THE LESSON ITEMS

1.
The dominant idea in the design of a bed is that it should be

comfortable.
The dominant idea in running the railways is to provide a transport

service.
The dominant idea in football teams is to win games.
The dominant idea in schools is to get students through tests.
Examples of dominant ideas can be read aloud by the teacher or someone

in the class simply as an illustration of what is meant by a dominant idea.
If there is a discussion as to whether there are other dominant ideas in a
situation it may be pointed out that different people may see different ideas
as dominant.
The judgement is subjective. What matters is that students pick out for
themselves the dominant idea in a situation.
2. Escape
In the drawing on these notes the dominant idea is shown as the main road
or highway along which thinking moves. When one is travelling along a main
road it is not easy to notice the side roads. But in order to find new ideas, it
may be necessary to escape from the main road, from the dominant idea.
Page 37
Reference is made to the drawing on the notes, which shows the

dominant idea as the main track or highway along which thinking
proceeds.
The side road is not easily seen; since its opening is small, but if
taken it can open out into a wide and useful road.
So escape from the dominant idea in thinking can lead to other

useful ideas
3. If we escape from the dominant idea that a bed should be

comfortable, we might come up with the idea that it should
put one to sleep and this may involve some special sleep
machine.
If we escape from the dominant idea that football teams should

win games, we might find that they start paying more attention to
their fans (encourage youngsters, help with training, take part in
community affairs, etc.)
If we escape from the dominant idea that railways are supposed to

provide transportation, we might find them offering entertainment:
discotheques, bars, TV, movies, etc.
What other ideas are to be found if we escape from the idea that
schools are for getting students through tests?
What other ideas are to be found if we escape from the idea that
medicine is to cure illness?)
This item shows how escaping from the dominant idea can open up new
ideas.
With the last two examples the students themselves have to suggest the
different ideas. This item is best done as an open class discussion.
Page 38
Suggestions:

If we escape from the dominant idea that schools are intended to

get students through tests we might consider that schools are to
give students something to do while they grow up and learn from
each other and the world. So the emphasis would be on keeping
students occupied and in contact with the world.
If we escape from the idea that medicine is to cure illness we

might consider the idea that medicine is to keep people happy
and doctors might then spend more time keeping their patients
happy than just curing them

What is the dominant idea?
Can I escape from it?
The important step is to recognise the dominant idea.

Once it is recognised it is usually not too difficult to escape from it and to
suggest an alternative idea.
5. What is the dominant idea in each of the following areas?

The problem with vandalism.
The design of computers.
Industry as a whole.
Choosing a career.
Writing a thriller.
Designing clothes.
This item involves group work taking about four minutes, at the end of which
the groups say which ideas they have picked out as being dominant.
This can also be done on an open class discussion basis, taking each item
in turn.
Page 39
Suggestions:

The problem of vandalism: that there is no way of preventing it.
The design of computers: that they should be fast and accurate.
Industry as a whole: to make money.
Choosing a career: that it is a very important choice.
Writing a thriller: to build up suspense.
Designing clothes: that people should want to wear them.
6. A lot of modern buildings are very ugly. You are asked for
some new ideas that will make them better looking.
Can you find the dominant idea in the present attitude and then escape from
it to find some new idea?
This is best done as group work, allowing four minutes. The groups are
expected to define the dominant idea and then to show how they escaped
from it.
7.
A 14-year-old boy has a problem. He finds school very boring

and prefers to be outside playing with his friends. At the same
time he knows that he needs qualifications to get a good job.
But this does not make school any more interesting.
What is the dominant idea here, and can escaping from it help him solve his
problem?
This is an open-class discussion. Students are asked for their ideas and
their solutions.
Page 40
Suggestions:

Dominant idea: that you should always do what is most interesting.
Escape: he does enough interesting things outside of school and

in school is prepared to do things which at first may not interest
him. He tells himself that as he gets better at them they will
become more interesting.
8. In most situations there is a dominant idea. In order to find

new ideas, you may have to detect the dominant idea and
then escape from it.
Below is a summary of the lesson. This can be read aloud and can be the
basis of a discussion.
The important point is to spell out the dominant idea in a

deliberate manner - even when one is sure one knows what it is.
Page 41
Lesson 6
Define The Problem
An effort to define a problem exactly may make it
easier to solve.
INTRODUCTION
This is a difficult lesson. It is easy enough to say define the problem but
much more difficult to do.
No instructions are given as to how problems should he defined, nor is any
attempt made to indicate that a problem has been defined satisfactorily.
The important thing is that students realise the importance of defining the
problem and make an effort in that direction. The lesson is meant to suggest
to the students that they should always strive towards a more exact
definition of the problem.
It is often difficult to distinguish between what is a more exact definition
and what are simply alternative definitions. The distinction does not really
matter.
The most important thing is that the students ask themselves the question:
What is the real problem here?
For the same reason, it does not matter too much if the definition of the
problem comes to include the cause of the problem. For instance, in
defining the problem of delinquency, someone may say that the real
problem is that children come from homes which do not put a high value
on education. This is a quite different definition from the problem is that
children find it possible and preferable to stay away from school.
Different people will certainly define problems in different ways. These
different definitions are a subject for discussion. The definition of a problem
is not entirely subjective. It is possible by discussion to work towards a
definition that is more exact than others.
Page 42
People may still see the problem in different ways because their perception
will be different; nevertheless, it is worth striving for a precise definition so
that most people will accept it.
The exact definition of a problem is not just a matter of tidiness or semantic
precision. It has a purpose. An exact definition of a problem very often
suggests new approaches and sometimes even a solution. The general
principle here is that if one is involved in a problem-solving situation,
one should make an effort to define the problem exactly. Some creative
situations are not problem-solving ones, and an effort to define such
situations exactly might actually inhibit ideas.
This is an important lesson. It is easy to know what the problem is in general
terms but more difficult to define the problem exactly. Yet it is from such an
exact definition that solutions and new ideas often arise.
This is not to suggest that there is only one exact definition of a problem, for
different people may define the problem in different ways. Nevertheless, an
exact definition is more likely to lead to an idea than is a vague generality.
THE LESSON ITEMS

1.
A supermarket had a problem because there was so much

shoplifting that it was going to be necessary to raise the
prices on merchandise. The problem was defined in the
following ways:
There is too much shoplifting.
There are too many dishonest people around.
Too many shoplifters are getting away with it.
People think it is easy to shoplift here.
Shoplifters do not know that there is a high risk of getting caught.
The definition too many shoplifters are getting away with it led to the
installation of hidden detection devices and plain-clothes detectives. This
did not make much difference.
Page 43
The definition shoplifters do not know that there is a high risk of getting
caught led to the use of obvious detection devices (like TV cameras) and
uniformed detectives. There was also publication of the number of people
caught. This approach was much more successful.
The above example shows how the problem may be defined in different
ways. It also shows how different definitions can give rise to different
solutions.
Just saying that there is too much shoplifting is too vague to be useful.
When the problem is narrowed down or defined more exactly, a course of
action is at once suggested.
2. Define
The drawing on these notes shows a large vague problem area. Inside this
is a more exact definition of the problem. Inside this again is a still more
exact definition. The way the problem is defined can make a big difference to
the way it is solved.
More exact definition of a problem means narrowing it down, focusing more
sharply.
Reference may be made to the drawing on the notes, which shows a large,
vague problem area within which is a better defined problem, and within that
a problem that is defined more exactly.
3. There is the problem with the homeless and the people who
simply cannot cope with society. Which of the following
definitions do you think is the best definition of the problem?
Society has become too complicated.
Some people will never be able to compete on their own.
There is no simpler society in which these people could cope.
The problem is one of accepting that there are always going to be

people who cannot cope.
The problem is the one of regarding such people as a problem

instead of as a part of society.
Page 44
This can be group work (3 minutes) or an open-class discussion.

The aim is to find the definition that seems to be the most exact.
The teacher must be careful to insist on the definition of the problem, not on
the causes behind the problem.
Suggestions: The problem is one of regarding such people as a problem
instead of as a part of society. (This seems to state in an exact way what
the total problem is rather than the reasons for it, as some of the other
definitions do).

A. What is the real problem here?
B. How can it be best defined?
It may seem that the two questions say the same thing.
They do not.
The first question tries to get at the real problem, e.g., it is our attitude
toward the homeless that is the problem.
The second question is concerned with the definition or statement of the
problem so that it can be tackled and communicated.
5. Which of the following is a good definition of the right price

for handmade furniture?
The problem of finding the right price at which to sell handmade

furniture.
The problem is to find out what people expect to pay.
The problem is to get people to appreciate the amount of work

involved.
Page 45
The problem is to find out how much more could be sold at a

lower price.
The problem is to attract the right buyers who can pay more.
The problem is that other furniture is much too cheap.
This can be group work (3 minutes) or an open-class discussion.

In an open-class discussion, individual students can put forward their
preferred definition and then state why they prefer it.
Suggestion:
The problem is to attract people who can afford the higher priced furniture
and then to fix a price that matches what they are prepared to pay. (This
may require a marketing effort to establish the real value or prestige value
of such furniture. It might also have a higher re-sale value.)
6. How would you define the problem of choosing a career?

Individual students think about this one for about 2 minutes and are then
asked to give their definition.
Suggestion: The problem is one of lack of information about the jobs, the
future and oneself.
7.
A father is upset that his daughter never obeys him. How

would you define his problem?
This is an open-class discussion with volunteered suggestions which are

then considered.
Suggestions:
Page 46
The problem is one of obedience.
The problem is one of respect.
The problem is one of communication.
The problem is one of knowing whether it matters.

8. A problem may not be what it appears to be at first. An effort

to define a problem exactly may make it easier to solve.
The important point is the effort to define and redefine the

problem so that an exact definition can lead to best ideas.
Page 47
Lesson 7
Remove Faults
The assessment of faults and their removal from an
idea.
INTRODUCTION
This is one of the easier lessons. When someone is asked to improve on
something or to redesign something, he or she usually tries to rectify
obvious faults. This lesson simply underlines that process and formalises it.
The first operation is to list all the faults and the second operation is to try
to remove them.
This is more precise than just thinking of a fault and then trying to
do something about it. As with other CoRT lessons, the formality and
deliberateness of the effort are important.
Faults may be obvious, as in a childs toy that has sharp corners. Such
faults are easy to spot and to condemn. At other times a fault may be a
matter of omission. It is much harder to spot something that is not there,
unless one already has in mind something that could be there.
For example, few people would complain that a car lacks a device for
communicating with other motorists (other than turn signals), because this
is not something most people have thought about.
Removing faults may he easy if they are the result of carelessness or
thoughtlessness. On the other hand, it may be very difficult if the fault is
such an essential part of the design that the whole design may have to be
altered. In that case the fault-remover may find a major redesigning job on
hand.
On the whole, removing faults is a rather limited form of creativity. It is rare
to reach a fundamentally new idea simply by removing the faults in an
existing idea.
Page 48
Nevertheless, the process is a useful one, because it does improve things.

Furthermore, the fault-removing process may have to be applied to new
ideas or suggestions which cannot he accepted until their faults are
removed. In this case the fault-removing may make a big contribution to the
emergence of a really new idea.
As with many other processes, one persons fault may be another persons
advantage. For instance, one person may regard as a fault the uniform
yellow colour of school buses because he/she might prefer buses to look
more interesting.
Another person may take an exactly contrary view and say that different
coloured buses are difficult to recognise. As with the other processes, it
is a matter of recognising that some faults would be accepted as such by
everybody but others are subjective.
The general principle of fault-removing is obvious enough. The important
thing is to make a deliberate effort in this direction. Care must be taken,
however, to see that this relatively easy path to creativity does not exclude
the other methods.
It is easy to complain about things. It is easy to pick out faults. The lesson is
concerned with picking out faults and then trying to remove them.
THE LESSON ITEMS

1.
These are some of the faults mentioned by a group of

students who were looking at the local bus service:
They do not run often enough.
The routes are badly planned.
The fare is too high for short journeys.
They are usually dirty.
They do not run to the hospital.
The drivers are usually very rude.
There are too few stops.
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The faults in this example are read through; the subject in question is the
local bus service.
Some of the faults are things which are there (e.g., usually dirty, drivers
are usually very rude) and others are things which are not there (e.g., do
not run to the hospital, too few stops).
2. List some of the faults that are to be found in a zoo.

This is an open-class discussion listing some of the faults to be found in a
zoo.
The teacher may, if needed, list the faults on the blackboard as they are
suggested.
Suggestions:

Animals are too cramped; they do not get enough exercise.
Animals are upset by people teasing them.
In an open zoo, animals are too far away to be seen.
There is no natural mating or selecting of mate.
There is no interaction of animals as in the wild.
There is not enough information on the animals.
3. Faults
A fault is something that is wrong, something that is not as it should he, or
something that can he complained about.
A fault may be something that is missing or a fault may be something that is
there but should be removed.
Refer to drawing on notes, which shows removal of faults to produce a
square.
In one case a piece is removed and in the other a gap is filled in.
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The distinction between these two types of fault is not especially important
so long as students remember to look for things that are missing and not
just things that are wrong.
4. What faults are there in the classroom?

First give the things that are missing and then the things that should be
taken away.
This is group work (4 minutes). At the end of this time, each group gives its
list of faults.
It may also be done by individuals, who are given the same amount of time
to write their own lists.
Suggestions: (depends very much on the particular classroom)

Too small
Too bare
Ceiling too low
No scope for artistic expression of students
Desks uncomfortable
Bad acoustics
No point of interest or focal point.

A. What are the faults?
B. How can they be removed?
It is probably better to list all the faults first and then to try to remove them
rather than attempting to remove each fault as it is thought of.
6. Pick out any two faults in the coinage system and suggest
how they could be corrected.
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This is group work (4 minutes). Could also be done with individuals who
are given time to make their own list of faults. An attempt must he made to
correct the faults.
Suggestions:

Faults in the actual denominations used.
Faults in the physical characteristics (too heavy or bulky, too

small, not easily distinguishable, etc.)
7.
Someone picks out the following five faults in the design of

a car. You are asked to correct these faults. How would you
do this?
Too easily damaged and too expensive to repair.
Causes too much pollution.
There is nothing to prevent a drunken person from driving.
Very dangerous in a crash.
Takes up too much road space in towns.
This can be group work or open class discussion. In group work, time
allowed is four minutes.
Suggestions:

Too easily damaged and too expensive to repair: make the panels
easily replaceable and of a flexible rubber type material.
Too much pollution: use a battery system, or hydrogen engines.
Nothing to prevent a drunken person from driving: put in a rather

complicated puzzle which the driver has to solve before the car
can start (involving some manipulation).
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Very dangerous in a crash: a better protective air-bag to surround

the passengers.
Takes up too much road space: make cars much smaller or much
thinner.
8. Pick out the three most important faults of parents and

suggest how they could be corrected.
This is an open-class discussion with suggestions taken from individuals.
At the end the students can vote on the three faults they consider the most
important and also suggest how they can be corrected. Suggestions:

Parents have forgotten the things that are important to youngsters.

(Corrected by getting parents periodically to say what they think
their children regard as important.)
Parents feel their children are going to get into trouble. (Children
should ask their parents exactly what trouble is feared.)
Parents do not give children enough money. (Children should

devise ways of earning money by doing useful things.)
9. One way to get an improvement is to pick out all the faults in

the existing idea and then try to remove them.
The important point is to list the faults deliberately and then to

tackle them.
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Lesson 8
Combination
By examining the attributes of seemingly unrelated
items new items may be created either by fusion or by
combination.
INTRODUCTION
Combination is another basic approach to creativity. Things which have
existed separately are put together to produce something that has a value
greater than the sum of its parts.
Sometimes a combination may be a simple addition like combining a bicycle
with a generator to produce electricity in a power blackout.
At other times different principles are combined as in the combination of the
hovercraft principle with a lawn mower.
Very many famous and successful inventions have relied on this
combination process. Someone comes along and puts together things
which no one has ever thought of putting together before.
The process is a relatively easy one to use because there is something to
work with - in contrast to trying to pull an idea out of the air. Sometimes two
things are put together deliberately and then an attempt is made to make
sense of this combination. This process is used at times during the lesson.
In a way this is creating a deliberate stepping stone and then seeing what
can be got from the situation.
How does one know what to combine? This is a difficult question. Sometimes
the combination attempt is almost random. At other times the separate
things may be very useful in their own right and so they are brought
together to see if there will be added usefulness. Often there is not.
For instance, a Victorian invention sought to combine a mouse trap and a
cheese grater - without great advantage to either. On the other hand, the
combination of a tiny flashlight and a key ring has definite advantages when
one is trying to find a keyhole in the dark.
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Combination is a useful exercise because it is relatively easy and yet can

produce some very interesting ideas. Putting two (or more) things together
makes one think very hard about the nature and purposes of both of them.
The general principle involved here is that new things are quite often a
combination of old things.
As in cooking, one way to create a new idea is to bring together things
which have existed separately and see if anything useful can be obtained
by combining them.
For instance, the first automobile was made by putting the newly developed
gasoline engine into a tricycle
.
THE LESSON ITEMS

1.
Putting together the idea of house and car resulted in the

mobile home.
Putting together the idea of fish and sausages resulted in the fish
stick.
Putting together the idea of meat and bread resulted in the

hamburger.
Putting together the idea of telephone and TV resulted in the

videophone.
Putting together the idea of bicycle and gasoline engine resulted

in the motorbike
The above examples of combinations; the teacher can read through the
list. It may be argued that in some cases the idea was a development (e.g.
hamburger from sandwich) rather than a combination.
This may or may not be so. It does not matter so long as the nature of
combination is explained. Students can be asked to supply further examples
of combination.
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2. What new idea can you get from putting together the idea of
a school and a hotel?
This is group work. Time allowed is 3 minutes. Each group in turn then gives
its ideas.
Suggestions:

During the winter many large hotels at seaside places are quite
empty. Perhaps they could be used as winter schools.
For half the day the students would earn money by staffing the
hotel and during the other half they would do lessons.
A second shift of students would do the opposite.
3. What new idea can you get from putting together the idea of
a hair dryer and a vacuum cleaner?
This can be group work (3 minutes), or also can be used as an individual
thinking item with the same allowance of time.
Suggestions:

To heat a room you let the hair dryer blow into the vacuum cleaner,
which then blows the warm air into the room.
The vacuum cleaner could be used to hold up the strands of hair

that would then be dried by the hair dryer - better than combing.
4. Putting Together
Sometimes combination involves combining different things into a single
new thing and sometimes it means putting things together to solve a
problem.
The idea of putting together: Sometimes this simply means adding things
together and at other times there is the combining of the old things into
something entirely new.
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Reference is made to the drawing on the notes, which shows three separate
things being combined first in the addition way and then the fusion way.
5. A small boy falls into a fast flowing river. You can only use
two of the following items to rescue him. Which two would
you use? Umbrella, football, rope, fishing rod, bicycle.
Putting things together to solve a problem: Open-class discussion of
different ideas put forward by students.
Suggestions:

Tie the rope to the football and fling this to boy and then pull him
in.
Cycle downstream to get ahead of the boy and swim out with the
rope.
Use the fishing rod to cast the rope to the boy.
(The umbrella would not serve to slow the boy down since it would
move as fast as the water.)

A. What can I put together?
B. What is the result?
Sometimes things are put together to solve a problem and sometimes things
are put together to see what would happen.
The important thing is that after the combination there should be something
more than just the sum of the parts.
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7.
Put all the following items together and make a story that
includes them:
Lame dog; policemen; piece of chewing gum, two nurses in uniform.
This is an Individual thinking effort. Time allowed is 3 minutes.

The story should not just include the items but include them in a way which
uses them.
Suggestions: The two nurses were burglars in disguise. They caught a dog
and put a piece of chewing gum under one of its feet so that it would limp.
One of them asked the police officers to hold the dog while he treated its
foot. The other sneaked into the building which the police officers were
supposed to be guarding.
8. Put any two of the following things together to get something

new. How many different pairs can you treat like this? Roller
skates, trash can, ladder, broom, tent, paintbrush, garden
hose
This is group work (5 minutes). Any two items can be put together even if the
same item is used more than once.
The combination must show some useful purpose at the end.
Suggestions:

Roller skates and trash can: trash can that can be pulled instead
of being carried.
Garden hose and paintbrush: car washing device.
Roller skates and ladder: to make it easier to push a ladder up a

wall.
Tent and garden hose: turn tent upside down and make a paddling
pool for children.
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9. It is often possible to get something new by combining

together two or more old things.
Sometimes these are just added together and sometimes they are fused
together.
Below is a summary of the lesson.
This can be read aloud and discussed.
The important point is to make a deliberate effort to combine

things rather than just wait until they fall into place.
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Lesson 9
Requirements
An awareness of requirements may influence the
creation of ideas.
INTRODUCTION
Sometimes ideas arise and then go in search of a problem to solve.
A classic example is the invention of the laser, a wonderfully powerful
optical device. Yet this device is still looking for an important problem to
solve. It does have many uses but none of them of an importance to match
its own technological achievement.
But most of the time, ideas arise in response to the need for an idea in a
situation. It may be a definite problem situation or it may be a situation in
which a new idea or improvement would be very welcome even though no
actual problem has been stated. When ideas arise in connection with a
situation, that situation has certain requirements of its own.
Those requirements may be wrong or they may sometimes be unnecessary
or unnecessarily restricting; nevertheless, they should be considered. For
example, someone setting out to design a new medication would have to
bear in mind a variety of requirements: should be safe even in large doses;
must not cause undue side effects; must show a real advantage over other
drugs; must not combine in a harmful way with other drugs that might
be used at the same time; must not affect the foetus during pregnancy;
must not be so expensive that no one could afford it; must not change its
characteristics if stored. This example is a rather special situation, but any
situation has its own requirements.
At what stage are requirements taken into account? It might be thought that
the idea comes first and then it is modified to fit the requirements. It might
also be that it is only at the judgement stage that the requirements are
brought into contact with the idea.
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In fact requirements should be considered at the beginning since they

will help to shape the idea in a creative way. For instance, if one of the
requirements in redesigning a bicycle is that it be very cheap, then attention
might be focused on a simpler method than spokes for the wheels or on
using a rubber band in place of the chain.
Keeping the requirements in mind and allowing them to shape the idea does
not mean that they have to constrain it at every stage. This would inhibit the
development of really new ideas. Sometimes the ideas put forward are po
ideas and therefore do not have to be judged by the requirements
The order of importance of the requirements is worth noting. Not all
requirements are equally important. Sometimes an idea may satisfy
the important requirements and fail to satisfy other requirements. If all
are treated as equal there is no way of telling whether such an idea is
worthwhile.
The lesson is concerned both with listing the requirements and with giving
them an order of priority. The general principle involved is that ideas do
not exist in a vacuum but are connected with a situation which has its own
requirements.
Some ideas and inventions exist in their own right. But most of the time,
ideas and solutions have to fit some situation - they have to meet some
requirements.
These requirements are not just things that are brought into the open after
the idea has been produced. The requirements actually shape the idea.
Thus the requirement that the solution must not cost too much would Shape
the idea for solving a traffic problem (it would be no use talking of expensive
bridges, etc.).
The purpose of this lesson is to get the students to look for the
requirements in a situation.
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THE LESSON ITEMS

1.
A designer is about to design a new childs toy and he keeps

the following requirements in mind:
Toughness
Attractiveness
Simplicity
Cheapness
Has the designer left any requirements out?

This is an example of the type of requirements that might have to be met.
The teacher can read through the list. Some requirements have been
left out deliberately so that the teacher can ask the class (open-class
discussion) to suggest requirements for the toy designer.
Suggestions:

Safety
Interest (as distinct from attractiveness)
Ease of manufacturing
Right size for children
2. An inventor comes up with a wonderful new idea: a bicycle

made of wood. Surprisingly the idea is turned down by the
manufacturers because it does not meet the requirements
of a bicycle.
Which requirements do you think it failed to meet?
This is an open-class discussion. The students volunteer reasons why the
wooden bicycle was turned down. These reasons should be in the form of
the requirements it did not meet.
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Suggestions:

Not strong enough
Not safe enough as it might splinter in an accident
Could not be produced by mass production methods
Offered no real advantage over existing bicycles
Not light enough
3. Shaping
Requirements include all the things that are needed in a situation. The
drawing on these notes shows how the different requirements shape an
idea, a solution or an invention. The requirements exert a pressure so that
things are done in a certain way.
Reference is made to the drawing on the notes, which shows how the
requirements exert a pressure to mould the idea. The requirements are in
fact a creative influence and not just part of the judgement of an idea.
4. List the requirements in each of the following situations:
A new uniform for the police
Employing a new teacher
A new rock group
This is group work (5 minutes). Each of the items should be tackled.

Suggestions:

Police uniform: strong, weatherproof, distinctive, dignified,
Protective against blows and knife thrusts,
Difficult to catch hold of, warm in winter and cool in summer,

comfortable to wear for long periods.
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New teacher: knows the subject, can teach, suits the particular
school, will get along with the other staff members, not likely to
want to move soon, will gain respect of students.
New rock group: recognisable style, hard workers, no internal

personality problems, likely to stay together, not too expensive
at first, attractive personalities.
5. An I l-year-old boy is caught stealing a bicycle. He is taken

home to his parents for punishment. What should the parents
do? What are the requirements of the situation?
This can be group work or open-class discussion (3 minutes). The teacher
should emphasise that the requirements of the situation are being asked for
- not what the parents should do.
Suggestions:

Find out the truth of the matter.
Find out why their son stole the bicycle.
Decide what treatment is going to make the most impression.
Speed in decision as to what to do.
Retain their sons respect.

A. What are the requirements here?
B. What is the order of importance?
Not all requirements are equally important.
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The second question asks the student to put the requirements in order of
importance, to determine priorities.
7.
Some of the requirements in running a newspaper are listed

below. Put them in order of importance:
It should make money.
People should want to read it.
It should inform and educate people.
It should be accurate and tell the truth.
It should not give only one side of the question.
It should carry a lot of advertising.
This is group work (3 minutes). Differing orders of importance can be

discussed.
Suggestions:

It should be accurate and tell the truth.
It should make money (at least enough to survive).
People should want to read it.
It should not give only one side of the question.
It should inform and educate people.
It should carry a lot of advertising.
8. You are asked to design a totally new sport. What do you

think the requirements would he for it to become popular?
Give these requirements in order of importance.
This is group work (4 minutes). The groups should not describe an actual
sport but give the requirements for it to catch on, in order of importance.
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Suggestions:

Easy to play with enjoyment
Competitive element
Definite end point or goal
No very special apparatus required.
Played out of doors.
Interesting for spectators.
9. When a very tall building catches fire, the firemen have a

problem in rescuing people who are out of reach of the
ladders.
If you were tackling this problem, what do you think the requirements would
be? Put them in order of importance.
This is group work (3 minutes). The groups are being asked for the
requirements of the situation, not suggestions of actual solutions.
Suggestions:

Must be usable on a building of any height.
Must be safe to use.
Must be able to cope with a large number of people.
Must be easy and straightforward to use.
Must not cost too much if it is to be installed in every tall building.
10. An idea that does not meet the requirements of the situation
is not much use in that situation. It is useful to be aware of
the requirements and to allow them to shape the idea.
The important point is to be aware of the requirements while

thinking up the idea.
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Lesson 10
Evaluation
Does an idea fulfill the requirements; what are its
advantages and disadvantages?
INTRODUCTION
This lesson continues directly from the preceding lesson.
An idea may be interesting and it may be creative, but is it a good idea, is it
useful, does it work?
One of the objections made to creativity is that it is great fun inventing
fantastic new ideas but that usually they are of little practical use.
The Evaluation lesson is concerned not with creativity but with judgement.
Ideas are to be judged without any regard to their creativity. They are to be
judged on the grounds of whether they would work or not.
It is suggested in the lesson that the evaluation process is a two-stage
process.
The first stage involves looking at the requirements of the situation and
seeing how the idea fits these requirements. There may be many points at
which the requirements are satisfied, and there may be points at which the
idea actually makes matters worse.
If a priority list of requirements has been set up, then an idea is judged to be
good if it satisfies the most important requirements. The more requirements
that are satisfied, the better the idea.
The second stage is examining the idea to show its advantages and
disadvantages. This is a more general process than looking at the
requirements. Obviously any advantage or disadvantage can be expressed
as a requirement, but this is rather artificial. For instance, the suggestion
that all cars should be painted yellow might have the disadvantage that
police would have difficulty tracing stolen cars.
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This could be expressed as not meeting the requirement that police work
should not be interfered with but this is artificial and unhelpful. Looking at
the advantages and disadvantages is really doing a PMI which also brings in
points of interest.
The consequences of an idea may come into requirements (e.g., a new
engine for a car must not cause pollution) or into the PMI stage. The simple
rule is that if something is not actually stated when the list of requirements
is drawn up then it should come into the PMI stage. That is why it is so
important that the PMI operation be done in addition to seeing whether the
idea fits the requirements.
It must, of course, be remembered that an idea which does not pass the
evaluation test may yet be modified to produce a good idea. But that is not
the function of evaluation.
Evaluation looks at the idea as it is and points out where it has failed. The
general principle involved in evaluation is that ideas should fulfill some
purpose. It is not enough that an idea be creative, it should also be good,
according to whatever criterion of goodness is being used in that particular
context (e.g., art, engineering, social planning, etc.).
Occasionally, a creative idea will at once make sense and be seen to work,
but most of the time there will have to be an evaluation of the ideas that are
produced.
Evaluation means looking at the value of the idea - not so much in itself but
in relation to the situation. A valuable idea will fit the requirements and will
also offer advantages over the existing wall of doing things.
It is rare for an idea to fit all the requirements, but it should at least fit the
most important ones.
THE LESSON ITEMS

1.
Some students are very bored at school, and as a solution

it is suggested that anyone may leave school after the age
of 14 so long as he or she can read, write and do simple
arithmetic.
Page 68
Is this a good solution?

It meets the desires of the students who want to leave.
It meets the desires of the schools that may be glad to be rid of

difficult students.
But what about the future needs of the students who leave and the needs
of society in general?
This is an example of evaluation of a solution to the problem of bored
students.
The example is shown to fit two of the requirements.
But does it fit the other two?
This can be done as an open-class discussion.
The emphasis, however, should be on the evaluation of the idea.
At the end of the discussion, the students should be asked to decide
whether this is a good idea or not.
2. A town has a very bad traffic problem since there is only one
bridge over the river and all the traffic has to use it.
To solve the problem there is talk of building a wide new road through the
town and a new bridge over the river.
This can also be done as an open-class discussion.
The method or process of evaluating the idea should be kept in mind.
For instance, if students say they do not think it is a good idea, they should
be asked their reasons and these should be rephrased in terms of whether
they meet the requirements or not.
Suggestions:

The bridge may not ease the traffic but only attract new traffic;
hence it may not meet the requirement of reducing traffic
congestion.
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The cost of the bridge may be very high and it may benefit only
through traffic from other areas, hence it may not meet the cost
requirement.
The bridge would require that new roads be built, which will disrupt
the town and make some people homeless, hence it would not
meet the requirement of minimal interference.
3. Fit
Evaluation means examining ideas or solutions to see which one fits
because when it fits well, like a key in a lock, it will work.
The solution or idea has to fit the requirements of the situation.
The idea of fit is treated like the idea of a key fitting a lock and so opening
it.
4. Which of the following is the best solution to the problem of

boredom?
More entertainment (TV, COMPUTER GAMES, CINEMA, etc.)
Harder work
Learning a craft or hobby
Playing a sport
Doing useful work helping others
This can be group work (3 minutes), or also be done as an open-class

discussion.
Suggestion:
The best solution might be learning a craft or hobby because it meets the
following requirements:
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Something you can do whenever you want to do it.
You can do it for as long as you like.
The better you get, the more interesting it becomes.
There is a sense of achievement.
It does not depend on other people.
5. The government needs more money, so it decides to raise

income tax. Is this a good idea?
This is group work (4 minutes). In this example it is a matter not only of
meeting requirements but of looking at consequences.
Suggestions:

Taxes are already high, so raising income taxes more will be

difficult.
Taking more money from the wealthy would not actually produce
much money.
People would be upset by it and personal incentive would be

reduced.
It would be fairer than raising taxes on goods. (So it meets the

requirement of fairness but does not meet the requirement of
acceptance or of producing much more money).

A. How does it fit the requirements?
B. What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Regarding the requirements, one wants to know which requirements are met
and which ones are not.
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Looking for the advantages and disadvantages is the same as doing a PMI.
For instance, the consequences may be taken into account here, as well
as the advantages over the existing way of doing things or alternative
solutions, etc.
It is important to realise that looking at the advantages and disadvantages is
not the same as seeing how well the requirements are met.
7.
A brother and sister are at school. Their mother becomes ill

and so the girl has to go home and look after her instead of
continuing her education.
The boy goes on to technical college (even though he is not as smart as his
sister).
Say where it fits the requirements and where it does not fit, and do a PMI.
This is an open-class discussion. It is worth trying to list the requirements
of the situation first, considering the proposed solution and seeing whether
it fits them, and then considering the advantages and disadvantages.
Suggestions:
Requirements:

That the mother is looked after (this is met).
That the childrens education continues (this is not met).
PMI:
P:

One of them will eventually have to support the mother, possibly

in addition to a family.
The boy might not be capable of looking after his mother as well
as the girl.
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M:

It is unfair to the girl who might have benefited more than the boy
from further education.
I:

It depends a lot on what the girl feels and on how long the illness
is going to last.
Is there any possibility of someone else looking after the mother?
8. An inventor invents a splendid new cloth that never wears

out. When it gets a bit worn you put it in a bucket with some
special stuff that renews it completely.
Is this a good invention? At what point does it fit requirements and at what
point does it not?
Do a PMI on it.
This is group work (4 minutes). Again it is a good idea to have the
requirements listed and see where these are met.
A more general PMI then follows.
Suggestions:
Requirements:

Advantages over existing product (many)
Acceptability to public (probable)
Safe, reliable, easy to produce, etc. (assumed)
Effect on company producing it (good)
Effect on textile industry as a whole (disastrous)
Effect on society (probably bad)
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PMI:
P:

Saves natural resources
Saves expenditure on clothes
More cloth and clothes to go round
M:

Boredom with same clothes
Textile workers would be out of work
Less cotton and wool required, so the effect on producer countries

would be bad.
I:

Would any company want to make it since in the long run they
would do themselves out of business, especially if rival companies
took it up?
Perhaps there could be something in between - a fabric that

lasted longer than at present, but not for ever.
9. Evaluation means judging an idea to see whether it is going

to work.
This means looking at the requirements it has to fit, and also looking at the
advantages and disadvantages of it.
The important point is to judge whether or not the requirements

of the situation have been met.
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TEST MATERIAL
CREATIVITY
The test material has three purposes which are described below. The
presentation of material in this section does not exclude teachers from
using similar material which they have made up for themselves. There may
be many situations in which teachers can use a local or topical problem.
Obviously the material in this section, as in the lessons, has to be suitable
for a very wide range of schools. For that reason the problems have to be
set in general terms.
As an alternative to generating their own material, teachers may sharpen
up some of the items presented here by giving them a local flavour. For
instance, an item may concern the reorganisation of the local bus service.
The teacher can put this in the context of the local bus service calling it by
name, etc.
A word of caution is necessary about the choice of item. Many students will
declare that they prefer to think about very immediate problems and are not
interested in remote problems. There is a danger in the teacher following
this inclination too closely.
Students often prefer to think about those items which do not really require
thinking about but can be tackled by a parade of experience or opinion or
prejudice. It is the more remote items that actually get a student to think.
When students have built up confidence in their thinking they will be
prepared to tackle any item - which is what skill in thinking is all about. The
best tactic is to give a mixture of immediate and remote problems.
The test material serves the following purposes:
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ALTERNATIVES
Tile test material provides an alternative source of material for use in the
actual lesson situation. If teachers are not happy about some item in the
Lesson Notes, they can substitute an item from the material given here.
If a lesson is spread over several periods, the teacher can find here the
additional material needed.
EXERCISE
As students acquire confidence in their thinking skill and especially in the
use of some of the creative techniques, they will want to get their teeth
into something. The material provided here can offer an opportunity to do
just that. Short exercise periods of 5 to 10 minutes can be slipped in at the
beginning or end of a lesson. Items may also be used for homework in those
schools which have a tradition of homework.
PROGRESS
Development of skill is very gradual. In a knowledge subject a sense of
achievement is much easier since students can see that they have covered
a certain section of the material: day-to-day progress is easy to follow. But
with the CoRT lessons, changes in skill are gradual, and from one day to the
next, students may be quite unable to detect a change in their skill. Indeed,
experience has shown that students are unable to detect a change in their
thinking skill that is quite obvious to the teacher. So a short progress test
from time to time gives students the opportunity to see how their skill is
developing.
The speed and confidence with which they tackle the items provide some
feedback. In addition, teachers can collect the students work and then treat
it in the same way they might treat an essay except that the emphasis is on
the thinking, not the language element.
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PROCEDURE
There should be a written output. This can be in essay form, note form or
paragraph form. Note form or paragraph form makes it easier for students
to organise their thinking and for the teacher to assess that thinking. Timing
is flexible. It may vary from 5 minutes to 20 minutes. In the longer periods
there may be one item, a choice of items, or three items all of which have
to be tackled. Too wide a choice of item should be avoided, since that
makes thinking too easy. One of the purposes of the CoRT lessons is to get
students to think about things they feel that they cannot think about.
INVENTIONS
For this section of the material, students would be asked to invent a device
which could carry out the following functions:
1.
Paint ceilings without the use of a ladder.
2. Harvest a field of corn completely automatically.

3. Provide an instant voting system so that everyone could
vote simultaneously on some issue (this should not cost
too much).
4. Something to replace profits as a measure of efficiency in
an organisation.
5. Something to replace the zipper.
6. A way of building houses quickly and cheaply.
7.
A tunnelling machine.
8. A way of getting on and off trains without their having to

stop.
9. A new type of wall decoration.
10. A method of crowd control in riots.
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DESIGN
For this section students would be asked to improve or redesign existing
items to show some advantage.
1.
A blackboard.
2. A desk.
3. Glasses.
4. A supermarket.
5. TV panel games.
6. Books.
7.
Cars.
8. City streets.
9. A cow.
10. Teachers.
PROBLEM-SOLVING
For this section students would be asked to offer solutions to the following
problems.
1.
As the cost of medicines, treatment, wages, etc. continue to

raise, the cost of hospitals and health care is going to get
very high. What suggestions can you make to reduce costs?
2. It is often very difficult in an interview to tell if someone is

going to be suitable for a job. For instance, the personality of
the person may play too great a part and ability may not be
recognised. What solution can you offer for this problem?
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3. Packaging and other materials create a great amount of

trash. For instance, the trash per capita in New York is four
times as high as it is in London. What can be done about this
problem?
4. Airports have to be put somewhere. But they take up a lot of

land and the noise of the planes is always going to disturb
people. Is there a solution to this problem?
5. The time will come when no one wants to do the jobs that are
hard and dirty (trash collection, sewer inspection, mining,
chemical work, etc.). What will happen to them? How can this
problem be solved?
6. There is a great deal of rowdiness, violence and vandalism

at some football games. How would you approach this
problem?
7.
Lots of used paper is wasted because it is not worth anyones

while to collect it in small amounts. How can you solve this
problem?
8. A boy moves up into a class where he is the smallest and

youngest. A bully in this class makes life miserable for the
boy. How can you solve this problem?
9. A group of students is not interested in anything to do with

school and they set out to wreck the lessons. How would
you solve this problem?
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10. Some people believe that their thinking is so good that they
do not need to learn anything about thinking. Yet it is obvious
that their thinking is not as good as they imagine. How could
you convince them of this?
FICTION
1.
Creativity is concerned with ideas, not just machines and

problem solving. Below are some items which require the
use of creativity in the fiction area.
2. Make up a story which includes the following things in a

meaningful way (i.e., each thing must really play a part in the
story): a soldier, a mouse, a can of beer, a bomb.
3. A spy has to communicate with a man inside prison. No letters

can be written and nothing can be passed by hand. What
different methods of communication might be used here?
4. A cartoon character is always doing good things by mistake.

He sets out to do something selfish but by mistake it turns out
to be good. Invent an episode which ends up with everyone
on the street having a free box of chocolates.
5. Invent a detective character that has a new approach to

crime detection.
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6. A dog is the hero of the story. Somehow he is responsible

for stopping a bad car crash. Make up a story which explains
how.
7.
Make up a story in which each of the following things plays

an important part: tennis net, six football players, a newly
opened pedestrian bridge over the main street, a diamond.
8. Make up a story which shows how an individual woman

prevented the building of a new road through a densely
populated part of the town.
9. A hijacker threatens to blow up a plane unless he is given a

huge amount of money. Make up a story in which the hijacker
is outwitted and captured.
10. A man invents a high-pitched whistle which makes it

impossible for people to concentrate on what they are doing.
Invent a story in which he uses this whistle.
11. A window-cleaner, a gardener and a plumber get together to

decide how they might pool their talents in order to create
a successful business. Make up a story describing one of
their attempts.
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Teachers Guide

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FOREWORD AND AUTHORS NOTES

MODEL LESSON FORMAT

PRACTICE AND PROJECT ITEMS

STANDARD LESSON SEQUENCE

THE TEN LESSONS

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It is unfortunate that in ordinary language the word creativity is often

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Experience builds up patterns of perception and patterns of action. For the

There is an unfortunate mystique about creativity. It is regarded as a special

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As an additional aid to teaching the lessons, teachers are referred to the

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MODEL LESSON FORMAT

The reason CoRT thinking can be used by so wide an audience is because

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The practice items have been carefully designed to be usable across a

A MODEL LESSON SEQUENCE

Introduce the TOOL or SUBJECT of the lesson and explain

2. Carry out an open class example by setting a task and asking

3. Divide the class into groups of 4, 5 or 6. Select a practice

4. Get feedback from the groups, for example by getting one

5. Alternate teaching points and practice items. Allow time at

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6: DEFINE THE PROBLEM

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But outside of humour and obvious fantasy we do not have a way of

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An understanding of po and silent, internal acceptance is not enough.

Say yes, no or po to the following:

Five plus six equals twelve.

The Second World War started in 1943.

Ice floats in water.

Girls are usually smarter than boys.

Holidays are more fun than school.

The cow jumped over the moon.

The bug-eyed monsters from Mars have landed.

A discussion on judgement and non-judgement. Teachers must make a

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Supermarkets lose thousands of dollars through shoplifting.

More people would shop at night if shops stayed open later.

Shops are there to make money for their owners

Shop assistants are always very polite.

For many people, shopping is a sort of hobby - they really enjoy

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NOTE: it does not really matter to which statements po is applied. The

Do I want to judge this?

Do I want to treat it creatively?

These are the questions students should ask themselves.

No one wants to work hard any more.

Most intelligent people go to college.

Politicians are just people who are good at getting elected.

Every other week should be a vacation.

Working in a factory can be made more interesting.

One day people will be able to eat leaves and grass.

A rock singer does more for society than ten miners.

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6. Make up a deliberate po statement about: cars, school food,

Po: cars should fly.

Po: cars should last a lifetime.

Po: all cars should be painted yellow.