Creativity means digging deeper, seeing better, correcting mistakes, talking to a cat, diving into the depths, walking through walls, setting the sun on fire, building a castle in the sand, welcoming the future.
E. Torrens
The proposed creativity training program is designed for high school and junior students, although it can, with some modifications, be carried out with participants of other ages.
The optimal group size is 8-16 people, possible - from 5 to 25-30. The main focus of the program is on solving the following tasks:
1. The development of intellectual qualities that are part of creativity: fluency, flexibility and originality of thinking, imagination, ability to find unexpected associations.
2. Demonstration of the possibilities of creativity in solving life problems and achieving personal and professional goals.
3. Formation of skills of team creative work. Training exercises are combined into 12 lessons, each of which is approximately 3 academic hours. Thus, the total duration of the program is 36 hours. But we must remember that the specified time is arbitrary, the actual duration of the work depends on a number of factors, in particular on the size of the group. Although most of the exercises provide time guidelines, they are not so much about their duration as a whole, but about the duration of specific stages of work (generating ideas, drawing, making a presentation, etc.). Most likely, the number of exercises for the specified time will be excessive - thus, the facilitator will have the opportunity to choose them.
The description of each lesson begins with a short explanation, followed by detailed descriptions exercises included in it. They are made in the same way: the procedure for conducting the exercise, its psychological meaning, discussion, in some cases - execution examples. The sequence of classes and exercises within each of them is built on the basis of the principle of consistency in the presentation of the material and the rules for organizing socio-psychological training. Of course, such a sequence is by no means the only one allowed; experienced facilitators can use the set of exercises as a "constructor" to create their own programs that meet specific tasks and working conditions.
Acquaintance and bonding
Task of the lesson: to acquaint the participants, to unite them, to create a general idea of creativity and what is the essence of training technologies for its development. It is advisable to start with a short introduction, conduct 2–3 acquaintance techniques, and then, before moving on to the next exercises, spend 15–20 minutes talking about what creativity is, what it consists of and in what situations it is needed. In addition, the rules for working in a group should be discussed and adopted:
♦ Be active.
♦ Listen to each other without interrupting.
♦ Speak for yourself only.
♦ If the information is addressed to someone specifically, then address this person directly, and not talk about him in the third person.
♦ Do not distribute or discuss outside of class personal information about the participants.
♦ Avoid criticism when doing the exercises, if there is a need to criticize something, wait for the discussion.
♦ In case of unwillingness to perform any exercise, the participant has the right to refuse without explaining the reason for this, but he must publicly declare his refusal.
Dating Techniques
♦ "Everything but the name." Participants get to know each other in pairs (2–3 minutes, the form is arbitrary), after which each introduces his neighbor to all other participants. He calls the real name, and invents everything else himself, but in such a way that this name is remembered.
♦ "Three Facts" Each member tells the group their name and three facts about themselves. One of them is real and the other two are fictional. The task of the rest is to determine which of the presented facts is true (participants are invited to vote in turn for the truth of each of the facts). Then the participant who introduced himself reveals the truth: which of the given facts is real.
♦ "I I know…" The participant, holding the ball, says “I (F.I.), and I know (names some celebrity)”, after which he throws the ball to another. He must introduce himself in the same way and name another celebrity, the first letter of whose last name begins with the last letter of the name of the previous participant. The ball is not thrown twice to the same participant. Having been in the hands of each, it is thrown in the reverse order, and the one who throws it calls the name of the one to whom he intends to throw.
Exercise "Carousel"
Description of the exercise. Participants are divided into two equal subgroups (if the number of participants is odd, then a leader joins one of the subgroups). Those who are in the first subgroup sit in the inner circle facing outward, those who are in the second, take their places in the outer circle, facing them. Thus, everyone is divided into pairs. Then the facilitator gives a topic for discussion and distributes roles: for example, those sitting in the inner circle take a passive role (listen, ask clarifying questions), and in the outer circle they take an active role (tell, answer the questions posed). After one and a half to two minutes, at the command of the leader, the outer circle moves relative to the inner one by one person to the right or left (i.e., the composition of pairs changes) and the distribution of roles changes: those who listened now tell, and those who told listen. Then the outer circle shifts again relative to the inner circle, the active and passive roles change, and the new topic for discussion. 2-3 topics are discussed in this way, for example:
♦ my achievements;
♦ my skills;
♦ not everyone knows about me that…
The set of topics may be different, but it is desirable that they provide an opportunity for self-disclosure in a positive way, a story about one's merits and strengths. It is undesirable to discuss weak sides, shortcomings of the participants.
Acquaintance, an opportunity for positive self-disclosure, the search for and awareness of one's strengths. The exercise allows you to show what is not very approved in traditional communication, but is important for creative self-disclosure: talk about your strengths, virtues, brag a little.
Discussion. What new and unexpected things did you learn about those with whom you communicated? And about themselves? In what role did you feel more comfortable - the speaker or the listener, what is the reason for this? In ordinary life, it is not very customary to brag, talk about your achievements and strengths ... Why do you think? When and why is it really not worth talking about your achievements, but when can you brag?
Exercise "Name the number"
Description of the exercise. Each of the participants, in turn acting as a leader, calls any number from 1 to equal to the number of participants in the group. As many people as the number is named must stand up at the same time. If this succeeded, then the next participant becomes the driver, if it failed, the former driver calls new numbers until the task is completed.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. Learning to coordinate joint actions.
Discussion. What were the participants guided by when deciding for themselves when to stand up and when to remain seated?
Exercise "Papers"
Description of the exercise. Participants are divided into subgroups of 5-6 people. Each of them has 4 paper clips in their hands. First task: make a chain of them as quickly as possible (one for each subgroup, using all the paperclips). The facilitator records the minimum and maximum time required for this. The second task: to disassemble the chain as quickly as possible. After that, the participants are given 1 minute to discuss how to complete this task in the fastest way, and the game is repeated. The facilitator again fixes the time and compares it with the one required in the first attempt.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. The exercise convincingly shows that an activity is more productive when the way to perform it is planned in advance, some time is spent on deciding how it is best to perform it. This also applies to creative activity: one that occurs in situations with a high degree of uncertainty, the absence of previously known methods of action.
Discussion. How much faster did you complete the exercise on the second attempt? What is the acceleration due to the fact that the training took place, or that a more efficient way of activity was invented, with a clearer coordination of the actions of the participants, or something else? How realistic is it to plan activities and distribute them, who should do what, if it is not clear how to carry them out?
Exercise "Throw the ball"
Description of the exercise. Participants stand in a close circle, they are given a small ball (for example, a tennis ball) and the task is formulated: toss this ball to each other as quickly as possible so that it is in everyone's hands. The facilitator records the time required for this. The optimal number of participants in the circle is from 6 to 8; with a larger number, it is advisable to perform the exercise in several subgroups. The task is not difficult, usually it takes about two seconds for each participant to complete it for the first time. The exercise is repeated 3-4 times, the leader asks to do it as quickly as possible. When the time has been reduced to about one second per participant, the facilitator asks to invent and demonstrate a way in which the ball can be thrown so that it is in the hands of everyone, spending only one second for the whole group.
Usually, after a while, the participants come up with and demonstrate an appropriate solution. It consists in the fact that they all put their hands folded in a “boat” above each other, and alternately spread their palms to the sides. The ball, falling down, is passed from hand to hand and thus has time to visit each participant. Problem solved!
The psychological meaning of the exercise. Demonstration of how a problem can be solved more effectively with a non-trivial approach to it, and how stereotypes prevent this (“to throw means toss up, and then catch”). Cohesion of the group, learning to coordinate joint actions.
Discussion. What prevented you from immediately seeing a quick way to complete the task, what stereotype was activated in this case? Who first came up with the idea of throwing the ball, not throwing it up, but dropping it, and what prompted this idea? What situations, when a stereotypical vision made it difficult to see a simple and non-trivial way of solving a problem, were encountered in the life experience of the participants, and how did you manage to overcome these limitations?
Exercise "Curious"
Description of the exercise. The leader calls any letter from among those common in speech (not “s” and not “b”), after which he begins to ask other participants various short questions (each one at a time). The answer to them should be words starting with this letter. Quite often, a chain of questions and answers is built into a logically connected story, but this is not at all necessary. The main thing here is not logic, but the speed of reaction, the ability to quickly come up with many questions and answers to them. Whoever delays in answering for more than 2-3 seconds or says a word that begins with another letter, takes the place of the driver himself, names a new letter and the game continues.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. Intellectual warm-up, training the speed of reaction to unexpected questions.
Discussion. What options of questions and answers were remembered, seemed the most interesting?
Example Let's say the letter "K" is named. Then the conversation might look like this:
Who? - Goat.
Where? - In the cafe.
What is he doing? - It flaunts.
With whom? - With a cat.
Who is this cat? - Sorcerer.
Does the goat like him? - It depends.
Freeze Frame Exercise
Description of the exercise. Participants move freely around the audience. At the command of the host, given with a clap of their hands, they stop and demonstrate, thanks to facial expressions and pantomime (posture, gestures, body movements), the word that the host calls. The “freeze frame” lasts 8-10 seconds, after which, after repeated clap of the leader, the participants again begin to move freely around the room until the next clap sounds and the next word is called. It is advisable to take “still pictures” with a digital camera or video camera and show the footage to the participants immediately after the exercise.
You can use, for example, such sets of words:
♦ Time, past, childhood, present, study, future, profession, success.
♦ Meeting, communication, understanding, friendship, love, family, happiness.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. On the one hand, the exercise develops expression skills, on the other hand, it gives the participants an opportunity to look at their attitude to those areas of life that words touch from a new perspective.
Discussion. What conclusions did each of the participants make personally for themselves during this exercise and during the observation of other participants?
Creative Thinking (1)
Creativity is the ability to be surprised and learn, the ability to find solutions in non-standard situations, the focus on discovering something new and the tendency to deeply understand one's experience.
the main task this and subsequent lessons demonstrate the main qualities that characterize creative thinking(fluency, flexibility, originality) and provide a variety of opportunities to train them.
Many exercises designed for this resemble puzzles, logical puzzles in form. However, they need to find not the only correct answer, but to discern as many diverse and original, albeit logically consistent, options as possible. This is best done in a relaxed, game form; classes in no case should resemble an exam or testing.
Here is an excerpt that well illustrates the specifics of creative thinking:
“In Switzerland they make brandy with a whole pear in the bottle. How did she get there? The very first assumption: the neck of the bottle was cast after the pear was in it. Another guess: the bottom of the bottle was welded when the pear was already inside. Everyone believes: since the pear is ripe, it means that they placed its bottle already fully ripe. In fact, if we saw how a branch with a tiny sprout is pushed into a bottle through the neck, which after some time turns into a mature pear, we would not have to puzzle over the question for a long time ”(De Bono, 1997, p. .102).
Exercise "What?", "Where?", "How?"
Description of the exercise. Participants sitting in a circle are shown some unusual object, the purpose of which is not entirely clear (you can even use not the object itself, but its photograph). Each participant, in order, must quickly answer three questions:
1. What is it?
2. Where did it come from?
3. How can it be used?
At the same time, repetition is not allowed, each participant must come up with new answers to each of these questions.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. A light "intellectual warm-up" that activates the fluency of the participants' thinking, stimulating them to put forward unusual ideas and associations.
Discussion. What answers to the questions were remembered by the participants, seem to be the most interesting and original?
Exercise "Original use"
Description of the exercise. This exercise involves coming up with as many different, fundamentally feasible ways to use common objects in an original way, such as:
♦ paper sheets or old newspapers;
♦ empty cardboard boxes;
♦ bricks;
♦ car tires;
♦ bottle caps;
♦ torn tights;
♦ burnt out bulbs;
♦ aluminum cans for drinks;
♦ snow, ice.
Work is performed in teams of 4-5 people, time - 10 minutes. The exercise is most evident when there is an opportunity to give the participants those subjects about which in question, and ask not only to name, but also to show the proposed ways of using them. Presentation of works takes place according to the following scheme: one of the subgroups names or demonstrates one way of using the subject. An idea is worth 1 point, its demonstration - 2 points (if the subject is not provided to the participants and, as a result, the demonstration is impossible, then any idea that can be implemented in principle is worth 1 point). The next subgroup represents another way, and so on, it cannot be repeated. The group with the most points at the end wins.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. It provides visual material for discussing the qualities of creative thinking (fluency, originality, flexibility), allows you to train them, move away from stereotypes in the perception of surrounding objects and their usual functions. In addition, it allows you to focus the attention of participants on the distribution of roles in the group when solving creative problems (generators of ideas - performers, leaders - followers).
Discussion. How were the roles distributed within the groups: who put forward the ideas and who embodied them, who was the leader and who was the follower? With what personality traits of the participants is such a distribution associated? Do the participants behave in the same way in life as in this exercise?
When the mentioned part of the discussion is completed, it is advisable to talk about the criteria adopted in psychology for evaluating the effectiveness of performing such creative tasks:
♦ Fluency: number of ideas put forward by each participant.
♦ Originality: the number of ideas that are not repeated in other microgroups.
♦ Flexibility: the variety of semantic categories to which ideas belong. For example, you can make a toy airplane, a boat, or some other similar figure out of paper; in terms of fluency, that's all different ideas, but in terms of flexibility, they all belong to the same category (origami).
Participants independently evaluate the performance of their subgroups on these parameters, consulting with the facilitator if necessary.
Exercise "Toy Improvement"
Description of the exercise: Participants are shown soft toy and the task is given: to offer as many fundamentally feasible ways to improve it as possible - what can be done to make it more interesting for children to play with it? The exercise is performed in subgroups of 4-5 people, the time of work is 8-10 minutes. Then the representatives of each of the subgroups alternately present their ideas.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. Training the skill of generating ideas in a team environment.
Discussion. What, from the point of view of the participants, contributed to the emergence of new ideas in this exercise, and what hindered it? What ideas seem to be the most creative? How can the expressed ideas be classified, to what semantic categories do they belong? What life situations can be likened to this exercise?
Exercise "Logic puzzles"
Description of the exercise: Participants are invited to solve several logical puzzles, for example:
♦ add four equilateral triangles of six matches;
♦ connect nine dots with four straight lines without lifting the pencil from the paper;
♦ there are four fragments of the chain, each of which consists of three closed rings. Opening one ring costs 10 rubles, closing it costs 20. You need to sequentially connect all four fragments of the chain into one circle, spending 90 rubles on this;
♦ the peasant needs to take the wolf, goat and cabbage across the river by boat. Only one of the above is placed in the boat at the same time as it. You can’t leave a wolf with a goat or a goat with cabbage unattended on the shore (they will eat each other) or send the boat on an “independent voyage” without a peasant on board. How to organize transportation so that everyone stays safe? Participants are invited to solve the first 1-2 problems individually, then work in teams of 3-4 people is organized. Participants are asked not only to solve problems, but also to observe how this happens: firstly, to pay attention to how they themselves come up with ideas, and secondly, to how teamwork develops.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. The commonality between the proposed tasks is that in order to solve them, one needs to go beyond the immediate given, obvious at first glance, situation, to abandon the search for a solution in the direction that comes to mind upon a superficial consideration of the situation. The exercise allows you to train in solving problems of this kind and creates conditions for observation and self-observation of how this happens.
Exercise "Photo Riddles"
Description of the exercise. Participants, united in subgroups of 3–5 people, receive 2–3 “photo riddles” for work - pictures that depict something that at first glance is not entirely clear, allowing for various interpretations. It can be an ordinary object, but taken from an unusual angle (for example, a bottom view of a car), some strange object of unknown purpose, a person engaged in incomprehensible activity, a separate detail of something that is difficult to determine what it refers to, and etc. The facilitator can either take or find such pictures himself, or instruct the participants as homework to find them in color magazines and their own photo archives.
Participants are asked for 6-8 minutes to give as many answers as possible to the following questions regarding each of the pictures:
1. What is shown in the picture?
2. What idea did the photographer want to convey with this shot?
3. How could you title this picture if it was put up for a competition artistic photography?
Then representatives of each of the subgroups show the photographs they have worked with and offer their answers to questions about these photographs.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. Teaching perception in new, unexpected perspectives of materials that leave room for the imagination, allowing for ambiguous interpretation. Training the ability to generate ideas about the ways of this interpretation, to look for unexpected associations.
Discussion. What options for interpreting the pictures are the most memorable, seemed the most interesting and creative? What real life situations can this exercise be likened to? What psychological qualities are most important to act productively in such situations?
Exercise "Improbable situation"
Description of the exercise. Participants are encouraged to think about an imaginary situation that is unlikely or highly unlikely to occur. Their task is to imagine that such a situation did happen, and to offer the maximum consequences for humanity that its onset can lead to. The exercise is performed in subgroups of 3-5 people, the time of work is given at the rate of 5-6 minutes per situation. Here are some examples of improbable situations for this exercise.
♦ The force of gravity on Earth will increase by 5 times.
♦ All three-dimensional geometric shapes will turn into flat ones.
♦ All humans will suddenly grow tails.
♦ The endings in all words of the Russian language will disappear.
♦ The dollar will rise in price 100 times compared to all other currencies.
♦ Cables will begin to hang from the clouds all the way to the Earth.
♦ Sports will immediately and completely disappear from people's lives.
♦ The coefficients of friction for all substances on Earth will decrease by 20 times.
♦ All metals will turn into gold.
There are various options for this exercise. For example, several subgroups may be asked to discuss the same situation. Then the presentation of the results is organized as follows: each of the subgroups in turn gets the floor in order to voice one idea; cannot be repeated. If the original ideas of the subgroup have been exhausted, it leaves the game; the team that stays in the game the longest wins. If different situations are offered to the subgroups for discussion, then such a competition is not held, instead, representatives of each of the subgroups voice 3–5 ideas that seem to be the most original.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. Training the ability to generate unusual ideas in relation to such situations that go beyond the scope of ordinary ideas.
Discussion. Which of the proposed ideas are the most memorable, seem the most creative? Why are these ideas interesting? What contributed to the implementation of this exercise, and what hindered? In what real-life situations is the ability to think about “impossible situations” useful? Can you give examples from your life experience when a seemingly unbelievable situation becomes real?
Exercise "Cheesecake"
Description of the exercise.“You must have seen the cheesecake sled. This is an inflatable tube from the wheel of a truck, on which a durable cover is put on and handles are attached. A person sits on this camera, grabs the handles and slides down the snow slides (see photo below). Imagine that you climbed a hill with such a cheesecake, intending to move out of there, but suddenly, already at the top, you saw that the hill was too steep and covered with bumps. It’s scary to ride from it, you can fall and hurt yourself painfully. What do you think, what decision will you make - to go anyway despite the fear or refuse?
Further instructions vary:
1. For those who refuse: “Well, you are reasonable. And now, please, think of as many ways as possible to roll this cheesecake to a friend left below, so that it does not tip over and fly off the slope to the side.
2. For those who will go: “Well done, you are brave people! Nevertheless, the slide is really steep and dangerous, and no one wants to turn their necks. Come up with as many ways as you can to go down the hill on this cheesecake in such a way that you have the opportunity to slow down, controlling the speed.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. In addition to modeling the situation for generating ideas, the exercise allows you to enter into a discussion of the problem of risk attitude: are participants ready to find themselves in situations of uncertainty, potentially fraught with unpleasant consequences, what is the reason for their readiness or unreadiness.
Exercise "Gulliver"
Description of the exercise. Imagine yourself in the place of Gulliver, who ends up in the country of the Lilliputians (where he is about the size of a three-story house) and in the country of the giants (there he is about the size of a pencil). Come up with as many ideas as you can about what items you could use in each of these countries as:
♦ beds;
♦ bed linen;
♦ machines;
♦ pet;
♦ notebook.
The exercise is performed individually, the work time is 10-12 minutes. Then the participants voice their options, and the leader writes them down.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. The exercise is based on the technique of hyperbolization (representation of familiar objects in an exaggerated form), which contributes to the emergence of new associations, the development of the ability to perceive familiar things in new, unexpected angles, to pay attention to their properties that, in everyday life are not noticed.
Discussion. Where was it easier to imagine yourself in the role of Gulliver - in the country of midgets or giants? What is it connected with? Which of the ideas put forward about the use of items seem most interesting? What unexpected properties of familiar objects are used in them?
Creative Thinking (2)
We have repeatedly asked people how and when they had fresh ideas. The answer most often was: on a walk, driving a car, in the bathroom, while relaxing and listening to music. But we have never heard of new ideas being born while working on a computer ...
B. Cleg, P. Beach
This lesson continues the training of the basic qualities of creative thinking. When discussing the exercises, the emphasis should be on in what particular life situations and for what the corresponding qualities are needed, to give the participants the opportunity to draw as many parallels as possible between the training and ordinary life.
Exercise "Cause and Effect"
Description of the exercise. Participants are given a picture or a brief verbal description of a situation that allows for multiple interpretations, which arises from various causes and leads to various consequences (see figure). Participants, united in subgroups of 3-4 people, are asked to guess more:
1. The reasons that could lead to this situation.
2. Consequences that may arise after it.
It is desirable that all subgroups work on the same situation. 10-12 minutes are allotted for the presentation of ideas. Then their presentation takes place: the participants of each of the subgroups alternately receive the floor in order to voice one of their ideas, then the word is passed to the next subgroup, which voices another idea, etc. It is impossible to repeat. The group that has nothing more to say is eliminated from the game, and the word is passed to the next one. The subgroup that remains last in the game wins and is awarded with applause. Causes are discussed first, then effects.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. inventing possible causes and the consequences of situations that allow ambiguous interpretation is one of the most effective ways practicing the ability to generate ideas, improving the fluency and flexibility of creative thinking.
Discussion. How were the roles of the participants distributed when putting forward ideas: who took an active position, and who preferred to remain passive? What is the reason for this, and how typical are the same positions for the participants in other life situations? To what extent was the flexibility of thinking manifested when putting forward ideas, do they belong to qualitatively different semantic categories, or are the causes and effects put forward fundamentally of the same plan? What life situations can be likened to this game? What skills are developed in it and where are they in demand?
Exercise "Merchandiser"
Description of the exercise.“There is such a job - a merchandiser, the word comes from English merchandise-"products". These workers are responsible for placing goods in the retail space. Students work so often. Sometimes they work in large supermarkets, but more often they have to serve several small outlets at once and see how the products of the manufacturer they work for are placed there. Imagine that you are merchandisers. You need to visit 15 in one day outlets located in different locations. There is no transport between them, you have to walk. Try to plan your route in such a way that, having visited all 15 points, in total, you will cover as little distance as possible and, as a result, get the job done faster.
The layout of outlets is shown in the figure on the right. To simplify the task, we will assume that between any two of them you can go along the shortest path, directly.
The exercise is performed in small subgroups (2-3 people), the time of work is 8-10 minutes. Then each subgroup draws the selected path and uses a ruler to measure its length. The ones with the shortest path win.
The psychological meaning of the exercise. The tasks of finding the shortest path connecting several points have a rigorous mathematical solution, but with 15 points, the participants will not be able to find it in the allotted time, this would require a powerful computer with the appropriate program. Therefore, the task turns for them into a situation with a high degree of uncertainty, forcing them to act by the “estimate” method. The exercise provides an opportunity to practice finding solutions in such conditions, as well as to discuss what people usually follow when looking for them.
Discussion. Did you manage to work out some kind of meaningful strategy for solving this problem, or was the path laid just “by eye”? Surely you have faced similar situations in your life: you need to get to several places at once in one day, choosing the path of movement that will allow you to do it faster ... How did you solve such problems, what were you guided by, which method do you consider the most effective? What other life situations are similar to the one described, are solved in a similar way?
Exercise "Pairs of words"
Description of the exercise. Each participant comes up with two words that do not have a direct logical connection between themselves, and voices them. The neighbor sitting on the right formulates a logically correct sentence linking them. Let's say the words "mug" and "shovel" are named. The sentence might look, for example, like this: "The treasure hunter took a shovel and began to dig out the mound, but found only a broken mug there."
The psychological meaning of the exercise."Intellectual warm-up", training the ability to combine outwardly loosely connected things, look for unexpected analogies.
Discussion. What options do you remember, seemed the most interesting?
Exercise "Associations"
Description of the exercise
♦ Participants are shown two objects and asked to build an associative chain between them - to choose words that would be logically connected in pairs, and would link these objects together (see example).
The concept of "creativity" is closely related to the concept of "creativity".
In most definitions of creativity, an orientation towards its procedural or productive side is clearly manifested. So, S.L. Rubinstein defines creativity as an activity that creates “... something new, original, which, moreover, is included not only in the history of the development of creativity itself, but in the history of the development of science, art, etc.” one . According to M.G. Yaroshevsky, “creativity means the creation of a new one, which can mean both transformations in the consciousness and behavior of the subject, and the products generated by him, but also alienated from him” 2 . In these definitions, creativity is viewed by its results: ideas, behavior, material objects.
The definition of creativity from procedural positions belongs to V.M. Bekhterev. He defines creativity as the creation of something new in a situation where an irritant problem causes the formation of a dominant around which the stock of past experience necessary for solving is concentrated. training creativity psychological creativity
K. Rogers writes: “I understand the creation of a new product through the action of a creative product, growing, on the one hand, from the uniqueness of the individual, and on the other hand, due to the material, events, people and circumstances of life.”
In foreign psychology, two groups of approaches to determining the essence of creativity are distinguished: those focused on searching for sources; process oriented.
The first group can include at least three approaches.
- 1. The psychoanalytic approach claims that creativity is the result of intrapersonal conflicts. The creative process is essentially an externalization of the products of the imagination through the interaction of primitive and more mature types of thinking.
- 2. Humanistic psychology believes that creativity occurs when there are no intrapersonal conflicts. The creative process is the realization of natural creative potential in the event of the removal of internal barriers and external obstacles.
Psychometrists, such as D. Gilford, believe that the natural creative potential of an individual is genetically determined and can be measured by standard tests. The creative process is an interaction of two opposite types of thinking: divergent and convergent.
The group of process-oriented approaches includes the position of "associationists", who believe that human creativity is the result of his ability to find distant associations in the process of finding a solution to a problem. Gestalt psychology proceeds from the fact that creative thinking is not logical, step-by-step actions and not disparate associations, but a more specific restructuring of a holistic situation.
If creativity is understood as a process that has certain specifics and leads to the creation of something new, then creativity is seen as a potential, an internal resource of a person. Creativity is also understood as the ability of a person to discover new ways of solving problems or new ways of expression (K. Rogers).
Creativity is a person's ability to constructive, non-standard thinking and behavior, as well as awareness and development of their experience.
Creativity manifests itself in many ways. These are speed, flexibility, accuracy, originality of thinking, rich imagination, sense of humor, adherence to high aesthetic values, degree of detailing of the image of the problem. An essential condition for the actualization of this ability is self-control and self-confidence.
A significant part of the manifestations of creativity refers to the peculiarities of thinking. One of the first experimentally substantiated lists of thinking features that contribute to creative achievements was proposed by D. Gilford, who considered it necessary for creativity to integrate convergent (logical, sequential, linear) and divergent (holistic, intuitive, regulative) thinking. He singles out the following features as a result of the integration of both dimensions of thinking:
- - fluency as the ability to generate the maximum number of ideas;
- - flexibility as the ability to generate a wide variety of ideas;
- - originality as the ability to generate non-standard ideas;
- - accuracy as the ability to give a complete look to the products of thinking.
Stages, stages and phases of the creative process are considered differently by researchers. The main thing that unites the descriptions of the creative process is the presence in the vast majority of them of conscious and unconscious stages, and the launch is carried out in the conscious sphere, continues in its unconscious structures and again falls into the area of consciousness.
In the modern practice of creativity training, participants are offered the following stages of the creative process: preparation, frustration, incubation, insight and development. Below is a brief description of them.
Training. This stage is due to the emergence of an impulse to change this or that situation that has ceased to satisfy the subject of creativity. The emergence of this impulse can be called the first insight, especially when the problem is not given to the subject from outside, but is formulated by him.
The preparation stage is characterized by conscious efforts to find a way out of a problem situation. The subject logically works out, analyzes the situation, the problem both as a whole and its individual elements, collects additional information. At this stage, solutions arise and are tested, the subject makes repeated attempts to apply schemes and algorithms known to him to solve the problem. The criterion that people most often focus on when choosing a solution or behavior option is the degree of similarity, similarity of the current problem or situation to those that they encountered earlier. In essence, in the process of preparation, there is a deepening, detailing and clarification of the image of the problem, giving it a structure, albeit fuzzy, far from final. In the event that the task or problem is really creative, the inconsistency of the known, previously developed solutions and behaviors is revealed.
Frustration. The transition to this stage occurs at the moment when, after analyzing all the information at his disposal and checking possible solutions, the individual does not find an answer, finds himself in a dead end.
Frustration is experienced in an extremely uncomfortable form, when the individual feels tension, irritation, discouragement, inferiority, fatigue, apathy. There is a feeling that there is no solution in principle, that the conditions of the problem are incorrect, that someone is to blame for the current situation. This experience is the stronger, the more the subject's consciousness is saturated with stereotypes, attitudes with rigid identifications. The situation is aggravated by the fact that negative emotions lead to a decrease in self-control and the level of reflection of what is happening.
A constructive attitude to frustration implies the recognition of its role as a natural stage of the creative process, which serves as a signal for the reorganization of activities. At this moment, it is advisable to realize what barrier or barriers hinder the manifestation of creativity, within what stereotype a person is, in what area he does not have enough information, where it can be obtained, etc. Incubation. The specificity of this stage of the creative process is due to the position on the functional asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres.
Features of the organization of the work of these hemispheres, in particular, are described using the concepts of lateralization and reciprocity. Lateralization (as a specialization of the cerebral hemispheres) increases as a person develops and leads to the fact that the hemispheres of the brain begin to participate in all mental processes in different ways. In addition, the hemispheres act “in turn”: when the right one is active, the activity of the left slows down and vice versa. This feature is called reciprocity.
At present, it is generally accepted that the left hemisphere is responsible for the formation of a discrete, linear model of the world, encoded by signs and concepts, interconnected by cause-and-effect relationships, and the right hemisphere is responsible for the formation of a continuous model in which complex images of real objects play a leading role, closely linked by emotional relationships.
The incubation stage begins at the moment when the individual ceases conscious work on the problem, which is associated with the logical operations of the left hemisphere, and the problem is "transferred" to the right hemisphere. From the continuous right hemispheric model, the missing and, in general, any information relevant to the task is attracted. If there are necessary “key” images in the past experience, then they will eventually take their place in the “voids” of the decision structure.
Insight. Insight is a short-term, but very distinct stage of the creative process, the moment the problem solution enters the sphere of consciousness. It is characterized by violent positive emotions, revival, even euphoria. This is the culminating point of the creative process, in which the results of prolonged preparation are manifested, a timely transition from a state of frustration to nurturing an idea. The entry into the sphere of consciousness of the answer needs to be fixed quickly.
Development. Development, or verification, is the final stage of the creative process, during which the validity of the obtained solution is verified by logical means.
This stage can be represented by two sub-stages:
- - the actual verification of the truth of the insight (verification). The subject of the creative process is looking for an answer to the questions: “Will this work?”, “Does this correspond to the initial conditions?”, “Is this really the answer to the question posed?” Sometimes it happens that what seemed like a brilliant idea fades and is rejected as false. In this case, the subject most often returns to the stages of incubation or frustration, after which it can begin preparation again;
- - implementation. If the truth of the insight is established, then the process continues at the second sub-stage, the duration of which varies from a few seconds (for example, the implementation of a variant of behavior in communication) to several years. At the implementation stage, skills, abilities, techniques and resources play a decisive role.
There are various approaches to the construction of programs that develop creative abilities. The vast majority of these programs are aimed at developing certain components of creativity. Its development is dominated by a component approach, in which the leading role is assigned to the development of the characteristics of divergent thinking.
Thus, socio-psychological training of creativity is a particular form of personal growth training aimed at developing a person's creative thinking. In a subordinate relation to this are the tasks of understanding and overcoming barriers to the manifestation of creativity, understanding the characteristics of the creative environment, the formation of skills and abilities to manage the creative process.
During the training, an environment is created and maintained with the following parameters: problematic, uncertainty, acceptance, non-judgmental.
Games and exercises for trainings on the development of creativity and Creativity (from English create - to create, English creative - creative, creative) - the creative abilities of an individual, characterized by a willingness to create fundamentally new ideas that deviate from traditional or accepted patterns of thinking and are included in the structure of giftedness as an independent factor, as well as the ability solve problems that arise within static systems. According to the authoritative American psychologist Abraham Maslow, this is a creative direction that is innate in everyone, but lost by the majority under the influence of the environment.
Creativity is an activity, the result of which is the creation of new material and spiritual values. Being a cultural and historical phenomenon in its essence, creativity has a psychological aspect: personal and procedural. It assumes that a person has abilities, motives, knowledge and skills, thanks to which a product is created that is distinguished by novelty, originality, and uniqueness. The study of these personality traits revealed the important role of imagination, intuition, unconscious components of mental activity, as well as the personality's need for self-actualization, for revealing and expanding one's creative abilities.
Creativity (from Latin creatio - "creation") is a person's ability to generate unusual ideas, original solutions, deviate from traditional patterns of thinking. Creativity is one of the components of a creative personality and does not depend on erudition. People with a high level of creativity are called creatives.
According to a number of scientists, in the manifestation of creativity, or rather, divergent thinking, which is the basis of creativity, the role of the genetic factor, in contrast to the environmental factor, is small. Among the many facts that confirm the crucial role of family-parent relationships, there are the following:
As a rule, the eldest or the only child in the family has a great chance to show creative abilities.
Children who identify with their parents (father) are less likely to show creativity. On the contrary, if a child identifies himself with the “ideal hero”, then he has more chances to become creative. This fact is explained by the fact that in most children the parents are “average”, uncreative people, identification with them leads to the formation of uncreative behavior in children.
More often, creative children appear in families where the father is much older than the mother.
The early death of parents results in a lack of behavior patterns with behavioral limitations in childhood, which promotes creativity.
Favorable for the development of creativity is increased attention to the abilities of the child, a situation where talent becomes an organizing principle in the family. So, a family environment, where, on the one hand, there is attention to the child, and on the other hand, various uncoordinated requirements are made to him, where there is little external control over behavior, where there are creative family members and non-stereotypical behavior is encouraged, leads to the development of creativity in child.
T.S. Suslova identified the main features characteristic of creative personalities. This is consciousness, responsibility, perseverance, a sense of duty, high control over behavior and emotions, decisiveness, enterprise, risk-taking, social courage, internal locus of control, intellectual lability. V.N. Druzhinin (1999) believes that the development of creativity follows the following mechanism: on the basis of general giftedness, under the influence of the microenvironment and imitation, a system of motives and personal properties (nonconformism, independence, self-actualization motivation) is formed, and general giftedness is transformed into actual creativity, i.e. creativity is a synthesis of giftedness and a certain personality structure.
Low intelligence, neuroticism and anxiety impede the manifestation of creativity.
Target: awareness of creativity in oneself and its development. (Developing the ability of participants to find new non-standard (creative) solutions to problems; establishing communication links within the group.)
Tasks:
Awareness and overcoming barriers for the manifestation and development of creative thinking.
Awareness of the characteristics of the creative environment.
Formation of skills and abilities to manage the creative process.
The effectiveness of psychological training lies in the fact that training methods usually pursue development goals. In the course of classes, the child, gradually getting rid of stress, can reveal his true capabilities. It is necessary to take into account the potential of the child. In this case, the focus is on the "Zone of Proximal Development". It is in the pedagogical, and most of all in socially much more important is not what the child demonstrates in this moment but what to expect from him in the future. The optimal group size is 8 - 16 people, however, it is also possible to work with groups from 5 to 25 or more participants.
Establish group rules. Group rules are being developed:
speak one at a time;
do not interrupt the one who is speaking;
not use physical force against others;
do not insult anyone, do not tease, etc.
The proposed game exercises are aimed at development and activation of creativity - a system of creative abilities.
The purpose of these exercises is to teach a person to act productively in situations of novelty and uncertainty, relying on their creative potential; navigate in rapidly changing circumstances, make adequate decisions when the initial information for this is incomplete.
What, Where, How
Participants sitting in a circle are shown some unusual object, the purpose of which is not entirely clear (you can even use not the object itself, but its photograph). Each participant, in order, must quickly answer three questions:
What's this?
Where did it come from?
How can it be used?
At the same time, repetition is not allowed, each participant must come up with new answers to each of these questions.
The easiest way to get props for this exercise is not to take whole objects (their purpose is usually more or less clear), but fragments of something - such that it is difficult to understand from them where they came from.
The meaning of the exercise
Discussion
What answers to the questions were remembered by the participants, seem to be the most interesting and original?
Unusual activities
Each of the participants is offered to remember some unusual, original action, a strange and not quite explicable from the standpoint of common sense, an act committed over the past one or two months (1-2 minutes are given for reflection). Participants are then asked to briefly describe it and also comment:
In what exactly do they see the unusualness of this action?
What, from their point of view, prompted him?
How do they evaluate this action "in hindsight" - what is it for?
led, was it worth doing?
If there are less than 12 participants in the group, it is advisable to perform the exercise all together; with a larger number of participants, it is better to divide the group into 2-3 subgroups that will work in parallel.
The meaning of the exercise
Discussion
How do unusual actions affect our life - make it brighter, more interesting, more difficult, more dangerous, or change it in some other way? Did the participants have recent times situations when you wanted to do something unusual, but something stopped? If so, what exactly stopped them and how is this assessed "in hindsight" - is it correct that the action was not taken, or would it still be better to do it? Whose unusual actions did the participants want to repeat?
Application of skills
Each of the participants names some sports skill that he owns (for example, snowboarding or rollerblading, pulling himself up on the crossbar, throwing the ball in a precisely given direction, etc.). Then the rest of the participants offer possible options for applying these skills - not only in physical education and sports, but also in others. vital areas. An exercise
performed in a general circle.
The meaning of the exercise
Discussion
Participants share their impressions and thoughts about what new skills and ways of applying they are interested.
Training for the development of creativity and creative abilities
Conceptual introduction:
materials: paper, scissors, pencils, models of objects, ball, newspapers.
Stages of work:
I. Stage - warming up
Exercise "Throw the ball"
Goals: verbal and non-verbal communication, brings group members closer. It is aimed at emancipating the members of the group, establishing contacts with each other and finding a quick solution to the problem.
materials: ball.
Time: 2-5 minutes
Procedure: Participants stand in a close circle, they are given a small ball (approximately the size of a tennis ball) and the task is formulated: throw this ball to each other as quickly as possible so that it is in everyone's hands. The facilitator records the time required for this. The optimal number of participants in the circle is from 6 to 8; with more of them, it is advisable to perform the exercise in several subgroups. The exercise is repeated 3-4 times, the leader asks to do it as quickly as possible. When the time has been reduced to about 1 s per participant, the facilitator asks to invent and demonstrate a way in which the ball can be thrown so that it is in the hands of everyone, spending only 1 s for the whole group. Usually, after a while, the participants come up with and demonstrate an appropriate solution. (It consists in the fact that they all put their hands folded in a “boat” above each other and alternately spread their palms to the sides. The ball, falling down, is passed from hand to hand and thus has time to visit each participant). Problem solved!
The psychological meaning of the exercise. Demonstration of how a problem can be solved more effectively with a non-trivial approach to it and how stereotypes prevent this (“to throw means toss up, and then catch”). Cohesion of the group, learning to coordinate joint actions.
Issues for discussion:
What prevented you from immediately seeing a quick way to complete the task, what stereotype was activated in this case?
Who first came up with the idea of throwing the ball, not throwing it up, but dropping it, and what prompted this idea?
What situations, when a stereotypical vision made it difficult to see a simple and non-trivial way of solving a problem, were encountered in the life experience of the participants, and how did you manage to overcome these limitations?
Exercise "Islands" (5-10 minutes)
Target: all participants will be placed on the newspaper. (on the whole, on half of the newspaper, on a third).
materials: newspapers.
Time: 5-10 minutes
Procedure: Participants are divided into groups of 4-6 people and perform tasks at speed.
The meaning of the exercise: Creation of conditions for the implementation and promotion of ideas about how to act in a non-standard situation, group cohesion, physical warm-up. Participants exchange emotions and feelings and voice all their ideas.
II. Stage - Main activity
Freeze Frame Exercise
Target: the development of expression skills, on the other hand, gives the participants the opportunity to take a fresh look at their attitude to those areas of life that words relate to.
materials: a list of words.
Time: 10 minutes
Procedure: Participants move freely around the audience. At the command of the host, given with a clap of their hands, they stop and demonstrate with the help of facial expressions and pantomime (poses, gestures, body movements) the word that the host calls. The “freeze frame” lasts 8-10 s, after which, after the leader’s repeated clap, the participants again begin to move freely around the room until the next clap sounds and the next word is called. It is advisable to take "freeze frames" with a digital photo or video camera and show the footage to the participants immediately after the exercise.
You can use, for example, such sets of words: time, past, childhood, present, study, future, profession, success; meeting, communication, understanding, friendship, love, family, happiness.
Exercise "Use of objects"
Target: the development of creative intelligence.
materials: paper clip, toothbrush, pencil, match...etc.
Time: 10-15 minutes
Procedure: In two minutes, find as many uses for shoe lace as you can and write them down. This is an exercise that develops creative intelligence for consideration, you can take any other subject.
Issues for discussion:
Was it difficult to come up with a new application for simple and familiar things?
How can your item be used?
What made you think about this exercise?
Exercise "Arch"
Target: the development of creative abilities, the search for a non-standard solution to the problem.
materials: scissors, paper.
Time: 10 minutes
Procedure: Participants unite in teams, receive A4 paper, and they are given the task: to make such an arch so that any of the participants or all in turn can pass through it. Demonstrate as many ways as possible.
Issues for discussion:
Who at first thought it was impossible to complete the exercise?
How often do such situations occur?
Who prompted the solution or is it a collective one?
III. Stage - Completion
Exercise "Creative Life"
Target: to generalize the idea of private traders about their creative abilities and find their creativity.
Time: 7-15 minutes
materials: paper, pens.
Procedure: Participants unite in groups of 5-6 people, receive the task: To form a list of recommendations that will allow them to “make their own lives more creative”, and write them down. The generated recommendations should be realistically implemented by all participants, or at least by the majority of them (that is, they should not imply the presence of any rare abilities, too large material costs, etc.).
Discuss in the group to sort out all the options.
Example:
Exercise regularly;
Master the techniques of meditation and relaxation.
Keep a diary, write stories, poems, songs, write down smart thoughts.
OVERCOMING SPACE
Description of the exercise
Participants are located near one of the walls of the audience and are given the task - everyone to get to the opposite wall in such a way that their feet do not touch the floor (for example, moving by crawling or moving around chairs). Each movement method can only be used once per group. However, those who have already crossed this space can go back and help the remaining participants to cross. They themselves already have the right to move in a normal way,
but those participants whom they help still should not touch the floor with their feet (but they can, for example, be transferred in various ways or “translated” on their hands, holding their legs in weight). Ways of moving, again, should not be repeated.
If the number of participants is less than 13 - 14 people, the exercise is performed immediately by the whole group, with a larger number of them, it is advisable to divide the participants into 2 - 3 subgroups and organize a speed competition between them (the optimal team size is 8 - 10 people; if possible, boys and girls should be evenly distributed among the teams).
The meaning of the exercise
Creation of conditions for the promotion and implementation of ideas about how to act in a non-standard situation, group rallying, physical warm-up.
Discussion
WHAT, WHERE, HOW
Description of the exercise
Participants sitting in a circle are shown some unusual object, the purpose of which is not entirely clear (you can even use not the object itself, but its photograph). Each participant, in order, must quickly answer three questions:
1. What is it?
2. Where did it come from?
3. How can it be used?
At the same time, repetition is not allowed, each participant must come up with new answers to each of these questions. The easiest way to get props for this exercise is not to take whole items (their purpose is usually more or less
clear), and the fragments of something are such that it is difficult to understand from them where they came from.
The meaning of the exercise
A light "intellectual warm-up" that activates the fluency of the participants' thinking, stimulating them to put forward unusual ideas and associations.
Discussion
What answers to the questions were remembered by the participants?
the most interesting and original?
ORIGINAL USE
Description of the exercise
This exercise involves coming up with as many different, fundamentally feasible ways to use common objects in an original way, such as:
- Paper sheets or old newspapers.
- Sports hoops, dumbbells, etc.
- Bricks.
- Automobile tyres.
- bottle caps.
- Torn tights.
- Burnt out light bulbs.
- plastic bottles.
- Aluminum cans for drinks.
Work is performed in teams of 4 - 5 people, time - 10 minutes. The exercise is most evident when it is possible to give the participants the objects in question and ask them not only to name, but also to show the proposed ways of using them. Presentation of works takes place according to the following scheme: one of the subgroups names or demonstrates one way of using the subject. The naming is worth 1 point, the demonstration - 2 (if the subject is not provided to the participants and, as a result, the demonstration is impossible, then any fundamentally implemented idea is worth 1 point). The next subgroup represents another way, and so on until the ideas are exhausted. The group with the most points at the end wins.
The meaning of the exercise
The exercise provides visual material for discussing the qualities of creative thinking (fluency, originality, flexibility), allows you to train these qualities, move away from stereotypes in the perception of surrounding objects and their usual functions. In addition, it allows you to focus the attention of participants on the distribution of roles in the group when solving creative problems (generators of ideas - performers, leaders - followers).
Discussion
How were the roles distributed within the groups: who put forward ideas and who embodied them; who was the leader and who was the follower? With what personality traits of the participants is such a distribution associated? Do the participants behave in the same way in life as in this exercise?
When the above part of the discussion is completed, it is advisable to talk about the criteria adopted in psychology for evaluating the effectiveness of performing such creative tasks:
Fluency: The number of ideas put forward by each participant.
Originality: the number of ideas that are not repeated in other microgroups.
Flexibility: the variety of semantic categories to which ideas belong. For example, you can make a toy airplane, a boat, or some other similar figure out of paper; in terms of fluency, they are all different ideas, but in terms of flexibility, they all belong to the same category (origami). But if it is proposed to use paper as a tablecloth or seat padding, this is a different category (the covering properties of paper are used). Participants independently evaluate the performance of their subgroups on these parameters, consulting with the facilitator if necessary.
GULLIVER
Description of the exercise
Imagine yourself in the place of Gulliver, who ends up in the country of the Lilliputians (where he is about the size of a three-story house) and in the country of the giants (there he is about the size of a pencil). Come up with as many ideas as you can about what items you could use in each of these countries as inventory for various kinds sports (gymnastics, athletics, fencing, skiing, weightlifting, skiing, etc.)?
The exercise is performed individually, the time of work is 10 - 12 minutes. Then the participants voice their options, and the leader writes them down.
The meaning of the exercise
The exercise is based on the technique of hyperbolization (representation of familiar objects in an exaggeratedly reduced or enlarged form), which contributes to the emergence of new associations, the development of the ability to perceive familiar things in new, unexpected angles, to pay attention to their properties that are not noticed in everyday life.
Discussion
Where was it easier to imagine yourself in the role of Gulliver - in the country of midgets or giants? What is it connected with? Which of the ideas put forward about the use of items seem most interesting? What unexpected properties of familiar objects are used in them?
METHODS OF ACTION
Description of the exercise
Participants are invited to come up with as many ways of action as possible to resolve any non-trivial situation, for example, from among these:
It is beautiful and original to pack a gift, having only newsprint and adhesive tape.
Open a tin can without a can opener (a more difficult option: using only those items that are in the audience).
Carry a passenger on a bicycle that is not equipped with special devices for this.
Pour gasoline from a barrel with a narrow neck, without tilting it or making a hole in it.
Get from the stairs to the light bulb, which is not reachable by 20 cm.
Seal a hole in the boat using improvised means (the size of the hole is 2x2 cm, there are no special adhesive materials at hand).
The exercise is more dynamic when performed in subgroups of 3-4 people, although individual work is also possible. As for the choice of situations that will become the subject of work, the exercise is more interesting if the leader first voices 5-6 different options, and then the participants themselves choose 2-3 of them that they would like to work with.
The meaning of the exercise
Training the basic qualities of creative thinking (fluency, flexibility, originality) in situations of finding a way out of unusual situations.
Discussion
First, representatives of each of the subgroups briefly talk about what they propose to do, and then discuss 2 questions:
1. What facilitated the emergence of these ideas, and what made it difficult?
2. Recall similar situations from life, to solve which
did ingenuity help, or ... is it knowledge?
CHEESECAKE
Description of the exercise
You must have seen the sled - cheesecake. This is an inflatable tube from the wheel of a truck, on which a durable cover is put on and handles are attached. A person sits on this camera, grabs the handles and slides down the snow slides. Imagine that you climbed a hill with such a cheesecake, intending to move out of there, but suddenly, already at the top, you saw that the hill was too steep and covered with bumps. It’s scary to ride from it, you can fall and hurt yourself painfully. What decision do you think you will make - to go anyway, despite the fear, or refuse?
Further instructions vary:
1. For those who refuse:
“Well, you are reasonable. And now, please, think of as many ways as possible to roll this cheesecake to a friend left below, so that it does not tip over and fly off the slope to the side.
2. For those who will go: “Well done, you are brave people! Nevertheless, the slide is really steep and dangerous, and no one wants to break their neck. Think of as many ways as possible to go down the hill on this cheesecake in such a way that you have the opportunity to slow down, controlling the speed.
The meaning of the exercise
In addition to modeling the situation for generating ideas, the exercise allows you to enter into a discussion of the problem of risk attitude: are participants ready to find themselves in situations of uncertainty, potentially fraught with unpleasant consequences, what is the reason for their readiness or unreadiness.
Discussion
Example
Here are some descent options:
Sit facing forward, brake with the heels of the feet.
Lie with your stomach on the "cheesecake", slow down with your palms and
feet.
Let the cheesecake go its own way, but group as much as possible to avoid injury in the event of a rollover.
To increase traction with snow, increase the weight: call a friend from below and sit on the "cheesecake" together.
Make a “steering wheel” out of a jacket or scarf by tying them to the handles.
Kneel on the “cheesecake”, put your feet on the back of the snow and use them as a steering wheel and brake.
Take off the jacket and put it under the "cheesecake" - the slip will become worse, the speed will decrease.
Partially deflate the chamber, then the slip will become worse.
Turn the “cheesecake” over: then it will not slide so well and, accordingly, the speed of descent will become less.
Ride on the “fifth point”, putting only your head on the “cheesecake”.
THE EARTH IS ROUND
Description of the exercise
Everyone knows that the earth is round. But what exactly is the meaning of these words? As psychological studies show, many children understand these words in a completely different way than adults expect them to. For example, they believe that the Earth is a flat circle that floats in the sea or floats freely in space. At the same time, when asked what shape the Earth has, they quite reasonably answer “round!”, And this answer does not contradict their ideas about the structure of the world. Think of as many other options as possible, as erroneously as possible, but it is logically consistent to imagine the "roundness" of the Earth. The exercise is performed in subgroups of 3 - 5 people, working time 6 - 8 minutes.
The meaning of the exercise
In addition to working out the ability to generate ideas, the exercise allows you to demonstrate the possibility of ambiguous interpretations and, as a result, the occurrence of errors even when understanding “common truths” that seem obvious.
Discussion
SPORT SUIT
Description of the exercise
Participants, united in subgroups of 3 - 4 people, are invited to make 2 lists:
1. What can be done with a tracksuit.
2. Something that is impossible to do with a tracksuit.
5-7 minutes are allotted for this work, then the lists are announced. After that, it is proposed to come up with ways by which you can turn items from list 2 (“impossible”) into items from list 1 (“possible”). Another 6-8 minutes are allotted for this work.
The meaning of the exercise
Encouraging participants to generate ideas that at first glance go beyond common sense. Demonstration of the relativity of the concepts "possible" and "impossible", their dependence on a number of conditions and assumptions.
Discussion
Representatives from each of the subgroups tell what “impossible” statements they managed to turn into possible ones and in what way. If some statements remained on the list of impossible ones, what is the reason for this, what limitations could not be overcome? Then the participants are invited to give examples of situations from life experience in which at first glance the impossible turned out to be quite possible, and to suggest the rejection of what conventions, assumptions, traditions this was connected with.
SPORTS LETTERS
Description of the exercise
Participants are invited to choose some letter that is often found in the Russian language (approximately from the following set: B, I, K, M, P, R, S, T) and depict it in the form of a little man. After that, they come up with as many words as possible that begin with the chosen letter for sports, different types of exercise, etc., and draw a little man (still in the form of a letter) at each of these activities. The exercise is performed individually, on sheets of A3 format, the work time is 8 - 12 minutes. Then an exhibition of the resulting drawings is held.
The meaning of the exercise
The development of both verbal creativity (search for words about sports that begin with a given letter) and the ability to express one’s ideas in an unusual, emphatically strange context (in this case, through drawings of a letter turned into a person and doing different things).
Discussion
What and what exactly seems to be the most interesting in the created drawings?
ARCH
Description of the exercise
Participants are united in 2 - 3 teams, receive A4 paper, and they are given the task: to make an arch of such a size from one sheet that any of the participants can pass through it. The arch must consist of a continuous strip of paper, but the use of any fasteners is not allowed, only scissors are at the disposal of the participants. The method of performing this exercise is not explained to the participants.
If the group is “advanced”, easily coping with creative tasks, then it makes sense to complicate the exercise: ask the participants not just to build such an arch, but to come up with and demonstrate as many ways as possible for this (10 minutes), and organize a competition between subgroups: who invented more such ways.
The meaning of the exercise
Practicing the skills of generating ideas in teamwork, rallying participants. The exercise is also interesting in that the proposed task usually seems impossible to most of the participants at first, but then they are convinced that it is not difficult to complete it, they just need to put forward ideas on how to do it. This allows us to demonstrate the conventionality of the concepts of "possible - impossible" and show that one should not immediately abandon the task or call it "stupid" if the solution method does not immediately come to mind.
Discussion
To whom at first it seemed that the exercise was impossible to perform?
Then you were convinced that in fact it is simple, you just need to understand how. How often do we have situations in life when we cannot see a way to do something, because we consider it impossible in principle and do not even try?
FREEZE
Description of the exercise
Participants move freely around the audience. At the command of the host, given with a clap of their hands, they stop and demonstrate with the help of facial expressions and pantomime (poses, gestures, body movements) the word that the host calls. The "freeze frame" lasts 8 - 10 seconds, after which, after repeated clap of the host, the participants again begin to move freely around the room until the next clap sounds and the next word is called. It is advisable to take "still pictures" with a digital camera or video camera and show the footage to the participants immediately after the exercise.
You can use, for example, such sets of words:
Sport, training, youth, victory, medal, fame, career, success.
Meeting, communication, understanding, friendship, love, family, happiness.
The meaning of the exercise
On the one hand, the exercise develops expression skills, on the other hand, it gives the participants an opportunity to look at their attitude to those areas of life that words touch from a new perspective.
Discussion
What conclusions did each of the participants make personally for themselves during this exercise and during the observation of other participants?
UNUSUAL NAMES
Description of the exercise
Exercise involves inventing as many unusual, but understandable names for any simple physical exercises as possible. The exercise is best done in subgroups of 3-4 people, although individual work is also possible. The time to discuss the unusual names of one exercise is 4 - 6 minutes, after which the participants voice the proposed options.
The meaning of the exercise
Training in the generation of ideas related to the search for alternatives, the rejection of the most typical options for interpreting objects and phenomena. Demonstration of one of the key principles of creative thinking: any point of view on something is just one of the possible points of view.
Discussion
How great was the variety of proposed names, what features of the exercises formed the basis for them? In what life situations is it useful to abandon the most familiar ways of interpreting known things, and be puzzled by the search for alternative, unusual ways of perceiving them?
Discussion
How the roles of the participants were distributed when putting forward ideas; who took an active position, and who preferred to remain passive?
What is the reason for this, and how typical are the same positions for the participants in other life situations?
To what extent was the flexibility of thinking manifested when putting forward ideas, do they belong to qualitatively different semantic categories, or are the causes and effects put forward fundamentally of the same plan?
What life situations can be likened to this game?
What skills are developed in it and where are they in demand?
INTERPRETATIONS
Description of the exercise
Participants are offered a short, ambiguous description of an interpersonal situation, conflict, or incident, and then asked to describe the situation through the eyes of various characters, such as:
1. Each of the heroes directly involved in it.
2. A casual observer who happened to be nearby.
3. Journalist.
Depending on what kind of situation is given as an example, the list of these characters can be expanded (for example, the roles of a coach, law enforcement officer, etc. can be added).
Example situations for this exercise:
The pole vaulter, overcoming the bar, pushes the pole back. The height was overcome successfully, but the pole falls directly on the gaping judge, hitting him with all his might in the forehead. The judge is speechless from pain for a few seconds, and then, having come to his senses, decides to disqualify this athlete and remove him from the competition for "unsporting behavior." Describe the situation from the point of view of the athlete, his coach, referee, sports
correspondent, spectator on the podium.
A teenager, wanting to impress a classmate, lit a cigarette during recess right in the classroom. She, seeing this, gave him a slap on the back of the head. In surprise, he dropped his unextinguished cigarette and paid no attention to it. As a result, a fire broke out, the classroom burned out. Describe the situation from the position of the student, his parent, classmate, teacher, fire inspector, who happened to be in the class of another student, the school director, at that time.
The meaning of the exercise
The exercise teaches the way to search for an alternative view of events and phenomena by mentally putting oneself in the place of its various participants, promotes the development of empathy skills (intuitive understanding of the state of other people, “feeling” into it). In addition, this exercise usually introduces an extremely common error of interpersonal perception, which consists in the fact that when explaining the reasons for the behavior of another person, we overestimate the importance of his personal qualities, but underestimate the impact of the situation in which he finds himself. It is advisable to draw the attention of the participants to this fact and remind them what is real, as the results show. psychological research, human behavior is predetermined by the qualities of his personality, on average, only 30%, and the remaining 70% - by the characteristics of the situation in which he is.
Discussion
What options for interpreting events seem the most unusual, original? In what life situations is it important to be able to look at events from a new angle, mentally putting yourself in the place of their other participants? What was paid more attention to when interpreting events - the personality traits of the one who got into them, or the influence of the situation in which he found himself? And how do we tend to explain the reasons for the behavior of other people in real life situations?
LIVE NUMBERS
Description of the exercise
The facilitator calls out various numbers, and each participant demonstrates them with his body. After all the numbers have been shown, the participants unite in triplets and begin to show the three-digit numbers called by the leader (5 - 7 attempts). It makes sense to shoot the resulting "numbers" on an electronic photo or video camera, demonstrate to the participants, collectively choose the one who managed to demonstrate them best, and symbolically reward him with applause.
The meaning of the exercise
Warm-up, development of expressiveness, generation of ideas about ways to convey information with a lack of available means for this.
Discussion
It is enough to exchange emotions and feelings that arose during the exercise.
INCREDIBLE SITUATION
Description of the exercise
Participants are asked to reflect on an imaginary situation that is unlikely or highly unlikely to occur. Their task is to imagine that such a situation did happen, and to offer as many consequences for humanity as possible, to which it can lead. The exercise is performed in subgroups of 3 - 5 people, the time of work is given at the rate of 5 - 6 minutes per situation. Here are some examples of sports-related improbable situations for this exercise:
The Olympic Games will be held like in ancient Greece: women will no longer be allowed to participate, and athletes will compete naked.
Doping controls will be waived at all competitions.
The highest sports achievements will not grow, but, on the contrary, will decrease.
All people decide to become professional athletes.
Football banned in Russia
Sports will disappear from people's lives altogether.
There are various options for this exercise. For example, several subgroups may be asked to discuss the same situation. Then the presentation of the results is organized as follows: each of the subgroups in turn gets the floor in order to voice one of the options for the consequences, it is impossible to repeat. If the original ideas of the subgroup have been exhausted, it leaves the game; the team that stays in the game the longest wins. If the subgroups are offered different situations for discussion, then such a competition is not held, instead, representatives of each of the subgroups voice 3-5 ideas that seemed the most original.
The meaning of the exercise
Training the ability to generate unusual ideas in relation to situations that go beyond ordinary ideas.
Discussion
Which of the proposed ideas are most vividly remembered, seem to be the most creative? Why are these ideas interesting? What contributed to the implementation of this exercise, and what hindered? In what real-life situations is the ability to think about “impossible situations” useful? Can you give examples from your life experience when a seemingly impossible situation becomes real?
GUESS THE CELEBRITY
Description of the exercise
The driver thinks of some famous person(for example, an athlete), which is known to all or the vast majority of participants. It does not have to be a living character, it can be a historical figure. The task of the participants is to guess it. To do this, you can ask the host questions about the hidden person that only mean “Yes” or “No” answers (the answer options are also “I don’t know” or, if the question is unclear or not applicable to the hidden character, “Difficult to answer”). Participants in a circle ask the leader such questions, and when one of them has a version of who is hidden, he can voice it. If the answer is correct, he himself becomes the leader and guesses the next celebrity, if incorrect, he is out of the game until the end of the round. The game usually includes 3 - 4 rounds, but may, if the participants wish, continue longer.
The meaning of the exercise
Teaching the ability to understand information with a lack of initial information, purposefully ask questions to obtain the missing information.
Discussion
What questions turned out to be the most effective for determining the hidden characters? Is it possible to identify any general strategies guessing these characters?
OPPOSITES
Description of the exercise
Participants are offered short descriptions several situations, and it is proposed to come up with situations that could be considered as opposite to those proposed. The exercise is performed in subgroups of 3-4 people, the time of work is determined based on the calculation of 2-3 minutes per situation. Then the representatives of each of the subgroups alternately voice the invented options and argue why they can be considered as opposite to the proposed situations.
For work, you can offer, for example, such situations:
Boxer enters the ring.
The girl goes down the hill on roller skates.
The photojournalist sends pictures from the competition to the editorial office.
Of course, other situations can be proposed, but one should avoid too simple options in which the opposite situations are obvious (for example, “Team A won the match” / “Team B lost it”), and choose those where the opposites are not so obvious or, according to at least they can be distinguished on the basis of different features.
The meaning of the exercise
Training of thinking "from the contrary" - a way of finding solutions to problems, in which, for a more complete understanding of their essence, their opposite is presented. Development of flexibility in the perception of life situations.
Discussion
What meaning did we put into the concept of “opposite” by doing this exercise? In what situations was it easier to come up with opposite options, and in what situations it was more difficult, what is the reason for this? Give examples of real-life situations where the opposite approach to problem solving can be useful.
SHOW WITH MOVEMENTS
Description of the exercise
Participants are divided into four subgroups, who receive
one word from each list:
Time of day (morning, afternoon, evening, night).
Season (winter, vesta, summer, autumn).
Elements (water, earth, fire, air).
Emotion (fear, anger, interest, resentment).
Age (child, teenager, adult, senior).
Profession (driver, doctor, cook, teacher).
Sports (field hockey, water polo, trampolining, mountain biking).
The easiest way is to distribute the words between the subgroups by drawing lots: write them on small pieces of paper, turn them over and ask the representatives of each of the subgroups to draw out one piece of paper out of every four. The extended leaflets are not shown to other subgroups and are not read out. When the words are distributed, each of the subgroups receives the task: to prepare small dramatic sketches, depicting each of the words they got with the help of movements. 6 - 8 minutes are given for preparation, then the teams alternately demonstrate their sketches, it is impossible to speak at the same time. Representatives of other subgroups, acting as spectators, guess what kind of words they are talking about.
The meaning of the exercise
The development of expressiveness, the ability to convey information with limited available means and perceive it in conditions of deliberately incomplete data for this, team building.
Discussion
What was easier - demonstrating or guessing the words?
Which sets of words were easier or harder to work with?
What is it connected with? Has there been a distribution of roles in teams in the process of work (generators of ideas, performers, facilitators, etc.); if so, to what extent the choice of roles reflects the overall life position who played them? What real life situations can be likened to such an exercise?
PROFESSION SHOW
Description of the exercise
Participants, united in subgroups of 3 - 4 people, are offered lists of several professions. Their task is to prepare small dramatic sketches that would allow the audience to guess what professions they are. Sketches should not include speech or demonstration of well-known attributes of professional activity (like a white hat with a red cross on the doctor's head); professions are shown through facial expressions, movements, interactions of participants with each other. Time for preparation is 12 - 20 minutes, for performances - 1 - 2 minutes for a profession. Each of the subgroups in turn presents their sketches, and representatives of other subgroups, acting at this time as spectators, guess which professions are represented.
Here are examples of job lists for this exercise:
Subgroup 1 Subgroup 2 Subgroup 3 Subgroup 4
Doctor Teacher Salesman Security Guard
Police officer Military officer Judge Lawyer
Pilot Driver Programmer Train driver
Editor Journalist Accountant Governess
Another option is to demonstrate not professions, but various sports.
The meaning of the exercise
The development of artistry, the ability to express information with a lack of funds for this and understand such an expression from other people, team building. In addition, the exercise gives reason to think about what is the content of the work of representatives of various specialties, to what extent we are guided by real knowledge about their activities, and to what extent - by common stereotypes.
Discussion
What did the etudes reflect in more: the real content of the work of representatives of the respective professions, or some common stereotypes, purely external impressions about them? Give examples of life situations when people confuse one with the other: for example, they themselves choose a profession based on the external impression of it, without thinking about what the representatives of these professions actually spend most of their working time on.
SPORTS TEAM LOGO
Description of the exercise
The participants, united in subgroups of 4 - 5 people, are offered to come up with and depict the logo of the team performing in the sport chosen by the participants. Working time 15 - 20 min. Participants are invited to follow the stages of the creative process: spend the first 5-7 minutes on putting forward ideas and fixing them (in the form of verbal descriptions or sketches) without critical evaluation, then spend time evaluating the ideas put forward and choosing the most interesting of them, and then - detailing the chosen idea and its embodiment in the form of a full-size image (on an A3 sheet). After that, each of the teams gives a presentation of their logo.
The meaning of the exercise
Demonstration of the specifics of work at various stages of the creative process, development of teamwork skills at each of these stages.
Discussion
Did you manage to maintain such a sequence of stages of the creative process in the course of work? If so, how did this contribute to its effectiveness?
What conditions are most important for productive creativity at each stage? If not, what hindered it? Is it expedient to subordinate any team creativity to the rules, or is it sometimes more useful to let this process "take its own course"?
(NOT) ATHLETIC PERSON
Description of the exercise
Participants take a sheet of paper and receive the following instructions:
“Please lay your sheet horizontally, and divide it in half with a vertical line. And now on the left half of the sheet draw a sports person, and on the right - unsportsmanlike: the way you imagine them. The artistic qualities of the drawing do not matter, the main thing is to express with its help how, from your point of view, sports and non-sports people differ.
6 - 8 minutes are given for drawing, then the drawings are laid out one under the other (in such a way that a series of images of a sports person is obtained, and in parallel - a series of images of an unsportsmanlike one) and the participants alternately comment on which qualities of these characters are reflected in their drawings. The facilitator fixes the named qualities and then, summarizing, once again pronounces those of them that were mentioned most often.
The meaning of the exercise
Awareness by the participants of the stereotypes that exist in their minds about which people are inclined and which are not inclined to sports, and how sports change a person. Demonstration that in the public mind, sportiness is usually perceived in a positive way (beauty, physical health, etc.), and unsportsmanship - in a negative way.
Discussion
What new things did each of the participants learn during this exercise? How, in their opinion, is possible in other words, without using
particle "not", to express the meaning of the phrase "unsportsmanlike person"?
MY REFLECTION
Description of the exercise
Each participant leans back against the wall, where a panel of light wallpaper or 2 - 3 glued sheets of whatman paper hangs, as high as his height, and assumes a pose that, in his opinion, reflects his typical emotional condition. The partner draws the outline of his body on the sheet with a pencil, after which the participants change roles. When the contours of the body of each participant are outlined, the resulting drawings are painted and, if desired, supplemented with real jewelry and details of the clothing of the practitioners. Working time 30 - 40 min, when painting contours
body it is advisable to use watercolor or gouache. At the end of the drawing, each participant is asked to come up with a free-form presentation of their "reflection on the wallpaper" and demonstrate it (2 - 3 minutes per person).
The meaning of the exercise
The development of expressiveness, awareness of one's bodily "clamps" - areas of increased muscle tension associated both with the inability to relax, and with insufficiently expressed emotions, unfulfilled desires, etc. In addition, the exercise contributes to the adoption of one's bodily appearance.
Discussion
What emotions and feelings arose during this exercise?
How comfortable and natural is the pose shown in the picture?
What emotional state does she reflect that motivates her to accept?
What areas of the body turned out to be highlighted with brighter colors, what is the reason for this?
What new things did you learn about yourself and about other participants during this exercise?
WANT_CAN_SHOULD
Description of the exercise
Participants build collages - pictorial compositions, including clippings from colored newspapers and magazines, drawings, photographs, any small objects that were at hand from the participants. Collage theme: "My desires, opportunities and responsibilities." This reflects the personality structure according to E. Berne: "Child (desires) - Adult (opportunities) - Parent (should)".
Usually the facilitator first draws this personality diagram and briefly comments on it, and then invites the participants to make collages, either adhering to the traditional scheme (three circles one under the other: in the lower desire, in the middle of the opportunity, in the upper obligation), or by coming up with their own version. A simpler modification of the exercise, appropriate when working with younger teenagers, is to focus on one of these components, for example, make a collage on the theme “my dream”.
Working time 25 - 30 minutes, then a presentation is held - an excursion, during which the authors alternately act as guides, presenting their collages.
The meaning of the exercise
The exercise contributes to a more complete awareness of one's desires and capabilities, setting personal and professional goals, and increasing self-esteem.
Discussion
What conclusions did each participant make personally for himself when doing this exercise, what new things did he learn about himself, his desires and capabilities?
Quote in the subject: as the well-known Russian psychologist and psychotherapist M.E. Litvak says, “A person’s happiness lies in the fact that for him“ I want, I can and I must ”have the same content.” To what extent do you agree with this position? Give arguments for and against it.
UNUSUAL ACTIONS
Description of the exercise
Each of the participants is offered to remember some of their unusual, original action, a strange and not quite explicable from the standpoint of common sense, an act committed over the past one or two months (1 - 2 minutes are given for reflection). Participants are then asked to briefly describe it and also comment:
In what exactly do they see the unusualness of this action?
What, from their point of view, prompted him?
How do they evaluate this action "in hindsight" - what did it lead to, was it worth doing?
If there are less than 12 participants in the group, it is advisable to perform the exercise all together; with a larger number of participants, it is better to divide the group into 2-3 subgroups that will work in parallel.
The meaning of the exercise
The exercise contributes to the transfer of knowledge and skills related to creativity to the consideration of one's own life, increasing the degree of openness to new life experiences.
Discussion
How do unusual actions affect our life - do they make it brighter, more interesting, more difficult, more dangerous, or change it in some other way? Have the participants recently had situations where they wanted to do something unusual, but something stopped them? If so, what exactly stopped them, and how is this assessed "in hindsight" - is it correct that the action was not taken, or would it still be better to do it? Whose unusual actions did the participants want to repeat?
APPLICATION OF SKILLS
Description of the exercise
Each of the participants names some sports skill that he owns (for example, snowboarding or rollerblading, pulling himself up on the crossbar, throwing the ball in a precisely given direction, etc.). Then the rest of the participants offer possible options for applying these skills - not only in physical education and sports, but also in other areas of life. The exercise is performed in a general circle.
The meaning of the exercise
The exercise teaches you how to generate ideas about ways practical application the resources available to the participants, helps to increase self-esteem, and also increases the motivation to develop new skills and improve existing ones.
Discussion
Participants share their impressions of the work and thoughts
about what angles of application of skills interested and aroused a desire to put them into practice, as well as what new skills they wanted to master during the exercise.
MAGIC Binoculars
Description of the exercise
The facilitator asks the participants to relax, take a comfortable position, close their eyes and begins to slowly, measuredly read out the instructions, pausing at the places indicated by dots: “Imagine that magic binoculars fell into your hands. Looking into it, you see what is happening in your future, in a few years. First you look one year ahead... Where are you, what are you doing, who surrounds you?.. Examine this picture in all its details. And now you are looking five years ahead... What do you see? What changes have taken place in your life?.. And now you are looking ten years ahead. What has your life become?.. Where are you, with whom, what are you doing? What changes have occurred during this time with you and around you? ... "
After that, participants are asked to open their eyes, take three sheets of paper, draw two partially overlapping circles on them (like the field of view of binoculars) and depict in them what they imagined in 1, 5 and 10 years (10 - 15 min). The exercise is performed individually.
The meaning of the exercise
This is a meditative plan technique that allows you to take a more meaningful look at your life prospects, dreams and goals, as well as move on to a conversation about what steps you need to take to realize them.
Discussion
Each participant demonstrates their drawings and comments on what is depicted on them. If the drawings are positive, reflect goals and dreams (most often this is the case), then the participant shares his thoughts on what he should do to make this future a reality, but if something negative is depicted, reflections on whether this can be avoided and if so, how.
CREATIVE LIFE
Description of the exercise
Participants, united in subgroups of 5 - 6 people, receive the task: Formulate a list of recommendations that will allow them to “make their own lives more creative” and write them down. The formulated recommendations should be realistically implemented by all participants, or at least by the majority of them (i.e., do not imply the presence of any rare abilities, too large material costs, etc.).
The meaning of the exercise
Transferring the consideration of creativity problems from the plane of specially modeled situations to the area of everyday, everyday life realities.
Discussion
Sheets on which the recommendations formulated by the teams are recorded are laid out or hung out for all participants to see. Representatives from each team take turns taking the floor to present their recommendations and briefly comment on how following each of them will make their own lives more creative. As an example and possible material for discussion in the group, a list of such recommendations compiled by specialists in the psychology of creativity is given (L. King, 2005, p. 12
Get regular exercise.
Make sure your diet is varied and balanced.
Master the technique of relaxation and meditation.
Improve your confidence.
Keep a diary, make sketches, write poems, short
stories and songs.
Read fiction that develops the imagination.
think about alternative ways use of objects that you encounter in everyday life.
Think about the similarities of dissimilar things.
Take up painting or sculpture.
Visit inspiring places.
Get involved in things you wouldn't normally think about.
Try to be more spontaneous and sociable.
Watch comedies and try to develop your own humorous style.
Listen to classical music.
Try to fulfill your daily routine duties in different ways.
Make new friends and expand your social circle.
Think of yourself as a creative person.
Think of creativity as a way of being.
Emulate that famous creative person you admire.
Learn to ask yourself the question: “What if?”
Don't sit in front of the TV.
Let yourself dream.
Don't be afraid to be wrong or make a mistake.
Don't make hasty judgments.
Be interested in absolutely everything.
Expand your horizons of interests, etc. Warm-up exercise
Close your eyes and imagine a cube, try to turn it with another face, twist it. After you have succeeded in this, try turning the cube into a ball. Rotate the ball for a minute, then open your eyes and begin to perform the proposed exercises. This task will help you tune in to a creative wave, contribute to the birth of various ideas.
Exercise #1
Think of 10 ways to use an empty pen refill and write them down. It is advisable to come up with non-standard options (you can even crazy ones), this will increase the effectiveness of the exercise.
Exercise #2
Using only one square, try to draw a picture (or at least a drawing) that depicts some kind of plot.
Exercise #3
Write down the numbers from 0 to 9 in order and draw various elements to them so that in the end it would be impossible to determine what kind of number is written.
Exercise #4
Try to connect two different objects and write down what useful properties this item will possess.
Exercise #5
Take any object, mentally divide it into several parts (3-5) and write down the new properties of each part.
The second set of exercises (imagination development).
To perform these exercises, you just need to close your eyes. If you do not rely on your memory or want to further improve your decisions, also take a piece of paper, a pen to write them down.Warm-up exercise
Close your eyes and imagine a cube, try to turn it with another face, twist it. After you have succeeded in this, try turning the cube into a ball. Rotate the ball for a minute, then open your eyes and begin to perform the proposed exercises. This task will help you tune in to a creative wave, contribute to the birth of various ideas.
Exercise #1
Close your eyes, try to imagine an autumn park. Watch the falling leaves. Do the exercise for 3-5 minutes.
Exercise #2
Close your eyes, try to imagine yourself sunbathing on the beach. Look around, make out the faces of people nearby (if it doesn’t work out, just watch the play of the waves or something else). Do the exercise for 5-10 minutes.
Exercise #3
If people stopped being able to walk and learned to fly. Imagine how life would change.
Exercise #4.1
Write the names of 10 any objects, close your eyes and begin to imagine their images. Hold each image for 5-7 seconds.
Exercise #4.2
Using the images from exercise #4.1, try to manipulate them. First one, then bringing it closer, then moving it away, then try using two, three, and so on all ten together.
to develop the ability to see problems:
≪Look at the world through someone else's eyes.
≪In the morning the sky was covered with black clouds and it began to snow. Large snow
flakes fell on houses, trees, sidewalks, lawns, roads…≫.
After reading the unfinished story, students need to continue
this story, but in several ways: from their own point of view; from the point of view of the pilot going to fly; from the point of view of a hare or a fox in the forest.
≪Make up a story using the given ending.
≪… and the kitten fell asleep peacefully in Masha's arms.
I use exercises aimed at developing the ability to conduct observations in order to identify the problem.
≪One theme, many stories.
It is necessary to come up with and draw as many stories on the same topic as possible. For example: ≪Forest≫, ≪Animals of the native land≫, ≪In the taiga≫, ≪Hunting for animals≫, etc.
≪Story on a given topic.
The theme of the game is announced by the student, going to the board, for example, "Winter". Children
name words related to the topic. The student writes the words on the blackboard and writes a story or fairy tale on an environmental theme.
I successfully apply in the 1st grade the method of constructing fairy tales (according to the method of I.V. Vachkov), which allows to form the communication skills of students for working in a group, which contributes to the development of a creative, extraordinary approach to solving a problem. For example, in a circle lesson "We are explorers" In class 1 I use group work. I explain to the children that at the next stage of work they have to create creative work- compose a tale, but with well-known characters.
Why write and tell fairy tales?
What character traits are most often ridiculed in fairy tales? Why are there
characters punished?
- You need, after consulting with your comrades in the group, to choose one of the named negative character traits and use it in your fairy tale.
It may be easier for you to make your choice after you have drawn lots.
draw out cards with the image of fairy-tale characters.
The group has the right to introduce one of its literary heroes by doing
replacement in the proposed set of cards. When selecting, the following condition should be observed: the characters must be well known to children. Female characters: Baba Yaga, Frog Princess, Malvina, Little Red Riding Hood, Little Mermaid, etc., male characters: Santa Claus, Old Man Hottabych, Pinocchio, Karabas-Barabas, etc.
Work takes place in groups of five people. The cards must be shuffled, each group draws 5 cards at random, after 15-20 minutes they must present the name of the fairy tale and play it. After watching the presented fairy tale, it is discussed whether the actors managed to demonstrate the negative character trait of the character and teach him a lesson.
In the next lesson, to complicate the task, I suggest that students
make up a story about their life in the family or in the classroom. In a fairy tale, the student must imagine himself as the main character, depicted in any form, age, appearance. After the children listen to the fairy tale, they are given the opportunity to express their feelings: did they like this fairy tale or not, if so, then what moments, if not, why?__
Characteristics of the program and exercises of creativity training
The main goal of the program is the awareness of creativity in oneself and its development.
- 1) awareness and overcoming barriers to the manifestation of creativity;
- 2) awareness of the characteristics of the creative environment;
- 3) the formation of skills and abilities to manage the creative process.
Creativity training makes it possible, without creating critical levels of tension, to receive personally colored feedback.
The proposed exercises make it possible to realize the phenomenon of creativity and develop the skills and abilities to control its mechanisms and latent factors that determine their successful functioning. They can be used to develop the flexibility of thinking, decision making, problem solving. In addition, the exercises can be used in practical classes in the psychology of creativity, general and social psychology.
In the course of work, the participants of the training get the opportunity to understand what creativity is, what its manifestations are, as well as the barriers that prevent the actualization of their own creative resources.
In this case, the psychologist focuses on the following sequence of steps:
- · detailing the image of the problem and its cross-modal conjugation with the content of accumulated experience;
- use of heuristic techniques and techniques for managing the creative process;
- Implementation of the found solution or behavior into reality.
Creativity trainings make it possible to realize the phenomenon of creativity and develop the skills and abilities to manage its mechanisms and hidden factors. They can be used to develop the flexibility of thinking, decision making, problem solving. In addition, the exercises can be used in practical classes in the psychology of creativity, general and social psychology.
Psycho-gymnastic exercises are combined into four large groups:
- 1. Exercises that can be used at the stage of acquaintance of the participants of the creativity training group.
- 2. Exercises aimed at understanding what creativity is, what are the stages of the creative process, and what role the experience accumulated by the subject plays in its course. Exercises aimed at understanding the barriers to the manifestation of creativity (internal, formed during a person’s life, and external, the knowledge of which allows a person to be more free in his decisions and actions, to create a creative environment for himself and other people).
- 3. Exercises aimed at developing the creative potential of participants, testing and training the skills to manage hidden factors that optimize the creative process.
- 4. Exercises aimed at personal support of the training participants.
Some of the steps carried out during the training are associated with the use of a number of specific techniques: meditation, guided visualization, guided imagination, free drawing, transformation of a task condition or problem from a sign to a figurative form.
The purpose of the program: awareness of creativity in oneself and its development.
- - awareness and overcoming barriers to the manifestation of creativity;
- - awareness of the characteristics of the creative (creative) environment;
- - formation of skills and abilities to manage the creative process.
During the training, from the first minutes of work, an environment with the following parameters is created and maintained:
- 1. Problematic
- 2. Uncertainty
- 3. Acceptance
- 4. Non-judgmental.
In the course of work, the participants of the training get the opportunity to understand what creativity (creativity) is, what its manifestations are, as well as the barriers that prevent the actualization of their own creative resources.
Specifics of the group discussion method, stages of group discussion
For determining this method There are several names such as "focus group", "focused group interview", "group discussion" and "in-depth group interview". The variety of names is explained by the fact that the understanding and application of focus groups since their introduction has been influenced by various theoretical directions. Modern definition"focus group" differs from the original one proposed by R. Merton.
Consider the term "focus group", namely the two keywords "group" and "focus" in the name of this method. To do this, we turn to various concepts and definitions. The concept of "group" is very broad, it includes both dyads and large groups. In this context, we are interested in the small group. In the definition of small groups, according to R. Baron, N. Kora, N. Miller, there are two main traditions. Within the framework of the first, it is determined by the period of existence, the presence of a structure, the awareness by individuals of group belonging, and so on. Within the framework of the second, it is determined through the existence of any forms of communication between individuals or their mutual social impact. An example of the definition of the second type according to this classification is the formulation of D. Forsyth, where a group is "two or more individuals who influence each other in the course of social interaction." The last definition, in particular, allows us to classify focus groups as small groups. According to M. Shaw's classification, there are six main definitions of a small group. First, definitions given from the point of view of the perception of the members of the group, its participants and the group as a whole; secondly, the motivation of its members; third, group goals; fourthly, its organization; fifth, interdependence; sixth, interactions. M. Shaw defines a small group as a community of people that has existed for some time, having common goals and a primary group structure. In domestic social psychology, the definition of a small group given by G.M. Andreeva has become a classic. So, this is "a group in which social relations appear in the form of direct personal contacts." Summarizing the above, it is obvious that there are a number of classifications according to which focus groups are small groups. Considering them as a specific variety of a small group allows us to interpret the processes taking place in it, taking into account the provisions of psychology, in particular, group dynamics. Another key word in the definition is "focus", which reflects the focus of the respondents and the efforts of the sociologist on a particular topic. Initially, in the interpretation of R. Merton, the focus was understood as a stimulus, and in one of the very first studies, the film acted as it. AT marketing research the focus in the group is usually ads or his storyboard (most often presented in several pictures), product, company image, film, and the like. However, in the social sciences in general, and in sociology in particular, present stage In the development of focus groups, a selected topic, problem or phenomenon of social life can act as a stimulus for discussion.
There are several basic concepts for defining the focus group method. The tradition of determining where the focus group has a stimulus was proposed by M.A. Robert and F. Tilman. In it, according to these authors, several respondents participate simultaneously, it is focused (on an external stimulus), and differs from other types of group interviews in the phased nature of behavior. In this regard, the purpose of the focus group is to study the opinions of its members on a particular subject, while the facilitator is interested in obtaining the sum of individual points of view and getting to know the opinions of the group members in as much detail as possible. The definition through the introduction of the concept of "deep group interview" will be given by I. Goldman, understanding by depth the search for information that does not always appear in the process of everyday communication, but by "interview" special kind interaction between respondents and the leader in the process of obtaining data.
With the help of the following distinctive characteristics, R. Kruger defines a focus group:
- 1) a community of people,
- 2) united in groups,
- 3) according to some criteria,
- 4) resulting in the production of data,
- 5) having a qualitative character,
- 6) during a group discussion.
Individual approach to the participants of the discussion
The main features of the educational discussion is that it is a purposeful and orderly exchange of ideas, judgments, opinions in a group for the sake of finding the truth. Interaction and self-organization of participants - not alternate answers to students' questions to each other, not statements in anticipation of its assessment, but the appeal of students to each other, discussion of the ideas themselves, points of view, problems; organizational efforts, observance of the rules of discussion by the students themselves. The discussion is inferior to the presentation in terms of the efficiency of information transfer, but is highly effective for consolidating information, creative understanding of the studied material and the formation of value orientations.
Among the factors of in-depth assimilation of the material during the discussion, foreign researchers name the following:
- familiarization of each participant during the discussion with the information that other participants have (exchange of information);
- · the admission of different, dissenting opinions and assumptions about the subject under discussion;
- the ability to criticize and reject any of the expressed opinions;
- · encouraging participants to seek a group agreement in the form of a common opinion or decision.
Difficulties in discussion. A real discussion should not turn into a means of formulating a predetermined thesis (although it often happens that a discussion becomes an effective means of persuading one or another point of view). During this discussion, each participant freely thinks and expresses his point of view. The leader of the discussion faces special tasks: he should not so much direct as stimulate, encourage participants to exchange points of view. The exchange of opinions between participants must be free.
It is necessary to build an educational discussion in such a way as to give students the opportunity to make their own decisions, to analyze the various ideas and approaches that arise in them, to build actions in accordance with their decisions. However, the traditional lesson is built in a different spirit. How to make the transition from an ordinary lesson to a lively creative discussion of the topic, a vision of the problems inherent in it?
One of the options for such a transition is an evolving discussion. Such a discussion arises as if by itself, naturally. However, in order for it to arise, appropriate conditions are necessary. In other words, children in the conditions of a regular lesson should have the opportunity to discuss their thoughts, opinions with the teacher and with each other. This means that the teacher himself should be tuned in to the possibility of such a discussion, be interested in the statements of the children. In this case, the interaction of the teacher with the children is aimed at developing, deepening the thoughts of the children, turns into an educational discussion.
The choice of a discussion topic for study in the classroom is always problematic for the teacher. The main criteria are relevance and convenience for the educational process. More:
- - compliance of the topic with didactic tasks;
- - meaning and modernity, significance for all members of society;
- - preparedness of the teacher;
- - sufficient maturity of students for understanding and detailed study;
- - students' lack of excessive emotional tension associated with this issue.
In the experience of conducting educational discussions, a significant place belongs to the creation of an atmosphere of goodwill and attention to everyone. But what about mistakes? One of the rules of discussion is to refrain from any expression of approval or disapproval. At the same time, one should not ignore the illogicality of reasoning, obvious contradictions, unfounded, unreasonable statements. The general approach is usually to use tactful remarks (usually through questions) to clarify the basis of the statements, the factual data supporting the opinion expressed, to encourage reflection on the logical consequences of the ideas expressed.
An important element in leading the discussion is the focus of the entire course of the discussion on its topic, focusing the attention and thoughts of the participants on the issues under discussion. With a long discussion, it makes sense to conduct an intermediate summing up of the discussion. Summing up the current results of the discussion, the teacher usually stops at one of the following points in the discussion:
A summary of what has been said on the main topic, an overview of the data presented, factual information;
brainstorming technology
Brainstorming (from the English brainstorming - brain attack) is a teaching method that stimulates the intellectual, creative and cognitive abilities of students.
MSh (English brainstorming) is one of the most popular methods of stimulating creative activity. Allows you to find a solution to complex problems by applying special discussion rules. It is widely used in many organizations to find non-traditional solutions to a wide variety of problems.
MS - group collective production of new ideas. The method is built on the free statement of associations. The point is to collectively generate ideas that would not occur to an individual person. Word for word, image for image... One expresses, the other picks up, the third completes.
IS provides an opportunity to bring together very different people in the process of finding solutions; if the group manages to find a solution, then its members become staunch adherents of its implementation. Currently, the brainstorming method can be effectively used by organizations to improve the quality of work in teams.
MS is a technique that encourages the presentation of as many ideas as possible, an unbiased attitude to the statements of colleagues, the desire for compromise.
MSH is the most famous, but far from the most successful attempt to create a creative technique (albeit with a very effective name). Various researchers have repeatedly attempted to create more advanced modifications of the MS.
The classic brainstorming technique proposed by Osborne is based on two main principles - "postponing the judgment of the idea" and "out of quantity, quality is born." The goal of brainstorming is to eliminate the evaluative component in the initial stages of ideation, which involves the application of several rules:
- * The free flight of imagination is welcome - people should try to liberate their imagination as much as possible. It is allowed to express any, even the most absurd or fantastic ideas. There are no ideas so absurd or impractical that they cannot be said out loud.
- * There should be many ideas - each session participant is asked to submit as many ideas as possible.
- * Criticism is excluded - at the stage of generating ideas, any criticism of the authors of ideas (both one's own and others') is not allowed. Those working in interactive groups should be free from fear of being judged on the ideas they propose.
- * Combining and refining suggested ideas - participants are asked to develop ideas suggested by others, for example by combining elements of two or three suggested ideas.
- * At the final stage, the best solution is selected based on expert assessments.
The purpose of the "instrumental" brought to your attention will get acquainted with step by step technology MS, consider the features of its implementation, understand what needs to be done to guarantee the result, what may be the reasons for inefficiency, evaluate the applicability of this method within your organization.
Heuristic conversation
Heuristic conversation is a question-answer form of learning, when the teacher, instead of communicating ready-made knowledge to students, makes them come to new concepts and conclusions. This is done through correctly posed questions from the teacher and the use of their experience, existing knowledge and observations by the students.
A characteristic feature of such a conversation is the promotion of a problem that requires a solution. To do this, the teacher asks the students a series of interrelated questions that follow one from the other. Each of the sub-questions represents a small problem, but together they lead to a solution to the main problem posed by the teacher. The question here plays a very important productive-cognitive function.
An example of such a conversation could be the question of the nature of the steppe. The teacher asks the question “What is the winter like in the steppe” and when he receives a short answer, for example, “Winter is short and warm”, the teacher starts asking sub-questions. This is necessary, since such a short answer, firstly, is insufficient, and secondly, does not allow the student to substantiate it. For example, the teacher asks about the location of the steppe on the map in relation to forests and tundra, while specifying which region is warmer and why. Then he expands the “horizon” of the question, asking if winter is the same throughout the steppe, leading to the original question, to which the children will be able to give not only a more detailed answer, but also substantiate it.
As a result of logically interrelated questions, when the conversation takes on a gradually unfolding character, they are accompanied by a chain of answers. The questions are not connected mechanically, they are arranged in such a way that each subsequent one follows from the answer to the previous question. And the answer acts as a separate mental step, which is part of the solution to the problem.
Summing up all this, we can highlight the main characteristics of the heuristic conversation:
- · Each of the questions posed is a logical step of the search;
- · Questions are interconnected;
- · The search for answers and solutions is carried out by the students with the partial guidance of the teacher on their own: the teacher directs - the students solve the steps of a holistic problem;
- Such a search is focused on ways to obtain knowledge or to prove their truth;
- · In the success of the search plays a large role in the stock of existing knowledge.
To better understand the nature of the heuristic conversation, you need to consider its structural and functional features. The main structural elements are questions and answers, the question is the leading element. A chain of questions involves answers to each of them, as a result they lead to a certain general conclusion. Each question and answer form a separate step. In heuristic conversation, moving to the next step is possible only when the previous step is completed, that is, a new question is asked only after the answer to the previous one.
Within each step and between them, the teacher can make corrective comments or clarifications, for example, “show on the map”, “analyze the act”, “find”, “remember”, “read and say” and so on. Remarks play an auxiliary role and are, in fact, questions expressed not in interrogative form.
As you can see, the heuristic conversation does not have a rigid framework of sequential and alternating questions and answers, it includes students' statements, value judgments, chains of questions can be posed in such a way that the answer to them is unifying
Types of group discussion (“round table”, expert meeting, forum, symposium, polemical dialogue, debate, “aquarium” technique, intergroup dialogue)
Round table
The discussion is aimed at discussing some topical topic that requires a comprehensive analysis. As a rule, the participants are not faced with the task of completely solving the problem, they are focused on the opportunity to consider it from different angles, collect as much information as possible, comprehend it, identify the main directions of development and solutions, agree on their points of view, and learn constructive dialogue. Since the discussion is organized in the literal sense of round table, 15 - 25 people can take part in it.
Expert meeting
The role of the expert in the course of the discussion should be discussed in advance with the invitee: he should silently observe and speak only when asked to do so;
if the expert is aware of what is required of him, he will not be surprised or offended when he is not invited to participate in the dialogue;
you should not give the expert the opportunity to dominate the discussion, and you can even ask him to leave if he goes beyond his role.
Try to distinguish between a creative conflict (disagreement of positions) and a personal one (dislike), stop the latter categorically. Thank the participants for the fruitful work; if necessary, express your wishes regarding the further course of the discussion; announce a break, offering to use it for communication During the break, review the notes with the reporter, help him articulate a summary on the topic discussed: from this summary you will start working after the break to start further discussion of the topic. When the discussion as a whole is over, be sure to summarize by constantly referring to the "collective memory" entry. In conclusion, invite all participants to turn to the "Expectations" list, ask those who expressed their thoughts at the beginning of the discussion to answer how their expectations were met.
In modern pedagogical practice, many different options for organizing a group discussion have accumulated, since it is being actively developed not only as a learning technology, but also as a way of organizing extracurricular collective creative activities of students. The variety of types of discussion is determined by its diverse target orientation, the content of the activities organized with its help, and the number of participants. So, in addition to discussions organized in the form of a discussion of a problem by a small group, there are those that ensure effective discussion in a sufficiently large student group by dividing it into small groups and organizing discussions in them, and then coordinating the results of the activities of small groups.
The debate consists of the following steps:
- 1) The facilitator offers the participants (to choose from) two or more possible points of view on the problem. Positions can be role-based and mimic a variety of approaches to solving a given problem. It can be representatives of different professional and social groups, political parties and associations, etc.
- 2) Students choose which point of view they will defend and unite in microgroups (MG), the numerical composition of which may be different.
- 3) The rules of discussion are determined, the duration of the discussion in groups and the rules for the group's speeches in the debate (each group has the right to 3 speeches);
- 4) A discussion of the problem is organized in microgroups of the MG:
- roles are distributed among the members of each group; a system of arguments is built to convince opponents;
- Thinking of answers to possible questions;
- The question of how to manage the time provided is being resolved.
- 5) The leader in turn gives the floor to the groups, determining the time limit for the speech;
- 6) At the end of the debate, a joint analysis of the results of the discussion is carried out.
The discussion is aimed at organizing a consistent discussion of the proposed issues and aspects of one topic in small groups, followed by analysis and coordination of various approaches and the adoption of a collective decision.
The discussion "Aquarium" includes the following steps:
- 1) preparatory - the leader presents the problem and divides the student group into microgroups, which are arranged in a circle. Groups discuss the problem and determine their point of view on it. A representative is selected from each group who will reflect and defend the position of the group in front of other participants;
- 2) "aquarium" discussion of the problem - representatives of the microgroup gather in the center of the audience and discuss the problem, representing and defending the interests of their group. The rest of the participants observe the course of the discussion, taking the position of analysts who evaluate the content and form of speeches, the degree of their persuasiveness, and the features of the communication style of those discussing, but they are forbidden to interfere in the course of the discussion. However, the teacher can allocate special time for questions to the participants of the "aquarium" discussion;
- 3) analysis of the course and results of the discussion can be carried out in one or two stages, depending on the purpose of the discussion. If it is necessary to analyze the nature of the interaction in the "aquarium" group, the teacher asks its participants to assess the degree of their satisfaction with the way the discussion went, and analyze the reasons for satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Then the "analysts" are given the opportunity to evaluate the course and results of the discussion, the nature of the interaction of its participants. And finally, the teacher systematizes the conclusions of the students and sums up the overall result of the joint activity.
The specificity of this discussion lies in the fact that students discuss the problem in groups of shifts, working at different stages of the discussion in different composition and on different aspects Problems. At the same time, at each stage, the participant in the discussion takes a new position: he can be the leader of the discussion, the 1st speaker, the 2nd speaker, etc. Thus, maximum activity and involvement of everyone in the discussion of all aspects of the problem is ensured, communicative and organizational skills are formed.
The teacher conducts a collective analysis of the results of the discussion and sums it up, notes those students whose speeches were the most interesting and meaningful.
Varieties of the case-study method or the method of specific situations (from the English case - case, situation) - a method of active problem-situational analysis based on learning by solving specific problems - situations (case solving)
The method of specific situations (method of case-study) refers to non-game imitation active learning methods.
The immediate goal of the case-study method is to analyze a situation - a case that arises in a specific state of affairs, by the joint efforts of a group of students, and develop a practical solution; the end of the process is the evaluation of the proposed algorithms and the choice of the best in the context of the problem posed.
The case-study method is most widely used in teaching economics and business sciences abroad. It was first used in the educational process at Harvard Law School in 1870; the introduction of this method at Harvard Business School began in 1920. The first collections of cases were published in 1925 in the Harvard University Business Reports.
The problem of introducing the case-study method into the practice of higher education vocational education is currently very relevant, due to two trends:
- - the first follows from the general direction of the development of education, its focus not so much on obtaining specific knowledge, but on the formation of professional competence, skills and abilities of mental activity, the development of personality abilities, among which Special attention is given to the ability to learn, change the paradigm of thinking, the ability to process huge amounts of information;
- - the second follows from the development of requirements for the quality of a specialist, who, in addition to meeting the requirements of the first trend, must also have the ability to optimally behave in various situations, be distinguished by consistency and efficiency of actions in a crisis.
Currently active methods training, including the case-study method, is widely used in the preparation of economic personnel in a number of leading economic universities in Russia. The use of the case-study method in teaching students of economic specialties can increase cognitive interest in the disciplines being studied, improve understanding of economic laws, and contribute to the development of research, communication and creative decision-making skills. A distinctive feature of the case-study method is the creation of a problem situation based on facts from real life. Created as a method of studying economic disciplines, the case-study method is now widely used in the study of medicine, jurisprudence and other sciences.
In order for the educational process based on case-technologies to be effective, two conditions are necessary: a good case and a certain methodology for its use in the educational process.
Case-studies - educational specific situations specially developed on the basis of factual material for the purpose of subsequent analysis in the classroom. During the analysis of situations, students learn to act in a “team”, analyze and make management decisions.
The ideas of the case-study method (case study method) are quite simple:
- 1. The method is intended for obtaining knowledge in disciplines in which the truth is pluralistic, i.e. there is no single answer to the question posed, but there are several answers that can compete in terms of the degree of truth; the task of teaching at the same time immediately deviates from the classical scheme and is focused on obtaining not only, but many truths and orientation in their problematic field.
- 2. The emphasis of training is shifted not to mastering ready-made knowledge, but to its development, to co-creation between the student and the teacher; from here fundamental difference case-study method from traditional methods - democracy in the process of obtaining knowledge, when the student is essentially equal with other students and the teacher in the process of discussing the problem.
- 3. The result of applying the method is not only knowledge, but also professional skills.
- 4. The technology of the method is as follows: according to certain rules, a model of a specific situation that has occurred in real life is developed, and the complex of knowledge and practical skills that students need to acquire is reflected; at the same time, the teacher acts as a leader, generating questions, fixing answers, supporting the discussion, i.e. as a manager of the co-creation process.
- 5. The undoubted advantage of the situational analysis method is not only the acquisition of knowledge and the formation of practical skills, but also the development of a system of students' values, professional positions, attitudes, a kind of professional attitude and world transformation.
- 6. The case-study method overcomes the classic defect of traditional teaching associated with “dryness”, non-emotional presentation of the material - emotions, creative competition and even struggle in this method so much that a well-organized discussion of a case resembles a theatrical performance.
The case-study method is a tool that allows you to apply theoretical knowledge to solving practical problems. The method contributes to the development of students' independent thinking, the ability to listen and take into account an alternative point of view, to express their own reasonedly. With the help of this method, students have the opportunity to demonstrate and improve their analytical and evaluative skills, learn how to work in a team, and find the most rational solution to the problem.
Goals and objectives Training "Development of sensitivity"
training creativity group discussion
Purpose: to better understand people, to capture the hidden feelings of the interlocutor, to reduce the number of conflicts with the social environment.
- § increase sensitivity in the perception of the surrounding world;
- § will develop the ability to understand the uniqueness of each person;
- § improve your ability to establish and maintain contacts in communication, forecasting and activities of people;
- § help in predicting the behavior of people belonging to different social groups.
- § expanding the horizons of personal growth
- § find the true causes of their own feelings and experiences
- § The main goals of sensitivity training:
- § - the development of psychological observation as the ability to record and remember the entire set of signals received from another person or group;
- § - awareness and overcoming of interpretational limitations imposed by theoretical knowledge and fragments of consciousness;
- § - the formation and development of the ability to predict the behavior of another, to anticipate its impact on him.
- § Psychotechnical exercises aimed at developing observational sensitivity.
Technique and exercises for sensitivity training
- § The concept of "sensitivity training" is used very widely and ambiguously. Sensitivity training (or interpersonal sensitivity training) in the practice of foreign social psychology was formed by the end of the 50s. 20th century The roots of the training lie in the practice of T-groups. Many foreign experts use these two concepts as equivalent. K. Rogers, offering one of the well-known classifications of group forms of work, identifies two of their main categories, or two main types: “sensitivity training” groups and “organizational development groups”. The term "sensitivity training" is usually used to refer to both Roger's "encounter groups" and the so-called T-groups, or human relations training groups that arose in line with the school of group dynamics by K. Lewin. T-groups are defined as a collection of heterogeneous individuals who meet to explore interpersonal relationships and the group dynamics they themselves generate through their interactions. A distinctive feature of this method is the desire for maximum independence of participants in the organization and functioning of the T-group. The main means of stimulating group interaction is the lack of structure. Participants, finding themselves in a social vacuum, are forced to organize their own relationships within the group and develop procedures for communicative activity. Learning is more the result of the trial and error of group members than the assimilation of objective principles that explain interpersonal behavior. In addition, T-groups, by developing interpersonal sensitivity, improve their perception of themselves, awareness group processes and the ability to constructively engage in group activities.
- § There are at least two approaches to the definition of “sensitivity”. Many authors consider it as a holistic, general property, as the ability to predict (predict) the feelings, thoughts and behavior of another person. Other authors prefer the multicomponent theory. The American psychologist G. Smith believes that the answer to the question of which point of view should be taken depends on what we want: to select sensitive people or to train them. When selecting, preference should be given to the view of sensitivity as a general ability, multi-component theory is more suitable for training, since it is it that gives the key to where to start training, why to train, how to do it, and, let's add for ourselves - what to train. These exercises develop the ability to capture and remember a wide range of signals that come from other people, which allows you to get a holistic and at the same time detailed image of a person and a group.
- § To train observation in relation to non-verbal aspects of communication, tasks are used, the implementation of which requires fixing the features of appearance, facial expressions, gestures, postures, vegetative changes, micro-expression of the eyes, paralinguistic components of sounding speech, etc.
- § Exercises aimed at fixing the verbal aspects of the behavior of another include tasks related to memorizing the content, changing it, establishing the “authorship” of a thought, idea, originality of the composition of statements and argumentation. To develop sensitivity to the spatio-temporal characteristics of human interaction, tasks are proposed that require fixing the distance of interaction, spatial arrangement, movements, rhythm of movements.
- § Persuasive training.
- § The problem of persuasive influence is vital and relevant. Belief can, at the subject level, cover the belief in something of someone or in something of a whole group of people.
- § Opportunities for social psychological training allow each of its participants to independently seek individual, only for him acceptable ways and methods of convincing influence, taking into account only his originality and uniqueness.
- § In persuasion training, speaking integral part partner communication training are also applied role-playing games(social-role-playing and plot-role-playing) and psychotechnical exercises, however, the role and importance of the former increases significantly in comparison with sensitivity training
Training for the development of creativity. The purpose of the training: awareness of creativity in oneself and its development. Development of teachers' abilities to find new non-standard (creative) ways of solving problems; establishing communication links in the teaching staff.
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Creativity development training.
Target : awareness of creativity in oneself and its development. Development of the ability of participants to find new non-standard (creative) solutions to problems; establishing communication links within the group.
Tasks:
- Awareness and overcoming barriers for the manifestation and development of creative thinking.
- Awareness of the characteristics of the creative environment.
- Formation of skills and abilities to manage the creative process.
Creativity (from English create - to create, English creative - creative, creative) - the creative abilities of an individual, characterized by a willingness to create fundamentally new ideas that deviate from traditional or accepted patterns of thinking and are included in the structure of giftedness as an independent factor, as well as the ability solve problems that arise within static systems. According to the authoritative American psychologist Abraham Maslow, this is a creative direction, innately characteristic of everyone, but lost by the majority under the influence of the established system of upbringing, education and social practice.. Creativity is an activity, the result of which is the creation of new material and spiritual values. Being a cultural and historical phenomenon in its essence, creativity has a psychological aspect: personal and procedural. It assumes that a person has abilities, motives, knowledge and skills, thanks to which a product is created that is distinguished by novelty, originality, and uniqueness. The study of these personality traits revealed the important role of imagination, intuition, unconscious components of mental activity, as well as the personality's need for self-actualization, for revealing and expanding one's creative abilities. * (Brief psychological dictionary / Under the general editorship of A.V. Petrovsky, M.G. Yaroshevsky. - Rostov n / D.: Phoenix, 1999. - C.380)
Discussion and adoption of the rules of work in the group:
be active;
listen to each other without interrupting;
speak only on your own behalf;
if the information is addressed to someone specifically, then contact
directly to this person, do not talk about him in the third person;
Do not distribute or discuss personal information outside of class.
information about participants;
avoid criticism when doing exercises, if there is a need to criticize something, wait for a discussion;
* in case of unwillingness to perform any exercise, the participant
has the right to refuse without explaining the reason for this, but he must declare it publicly
Exercise "Introduction"(5-7 min.)
The group members sit in a circle.
Instruction: "Let's start our work with an introduction: each in turn will name his name and three qualities inherent in him, starting with the same letter as his name."
This version of the presentation requires ingenuity, flexibility of thinking from the participants, offering a somewhat unusual approach to consider their qualities, personality traits. The action to which the group members are prompted by the task is consistent with the characteristics of the creative environment. The task requires considerable effort for its informal completion, since the temptation to name the first qualities that come with the right letter sometimes turns out to be stronger than the readiness to search for more accurate characteristics that correspond to one's own ideas about oneself. In some cases, rather contradictory characteristics are called: for example, stable, collected, fussy. In this case, the facilitator may turn to the one who named these qualities with a request to explain what caused the listed such, at first glance, contradictory qualities. It is possible to address the same question to the group. It happens that one of the participants names one-dimensional qualities: for example, benevolent, kind, friendly. The facilitator may ask this member of the group, which prevents him from giving more diverse characteristics.
In the two cases mentioned, as well as in other cases (for example, someone generally finds it difficult to name three qualities), group members can pay attention to the difficulties they encountered when completing the task, and these effects can be used in further work with the group.
Exercise "Line"(5-10 min.)
Target : team building. The exercise makes you aware non-verbal means establishing contact, testing them in a safe group environment, testing your ability to establish contact in various situations, understanding that when establishing contact there are no universal means and rules, but first of all, you need to focus on the person with whom you interact.
Exercise progress : participants are lined up according to: growth; hair color; alphabet of names; leg size; zodiac sign, etc.
Instruction : “Now you have to line up in a row according to the color of your eyes, from the lightest to the darkest. When building, it is forbidden to talk. So let's get started." You have 2 minutes to build. Then it is proposed to line up according to the color of the hair, from the lightest to the darkest. The conditions are the same. The last task is the most difficult: line up in height with your eyes closed, without talking.
Issues for discussion:
- What do you feel now?
- What did you like the most?
- Was it difficult for you to do the exercise?
Exercise "On the ice"(10 min.)
Description of the exercise.
Participants are divided into teams of 4-6 people (it is desirable that
if the teams had the same number of participants and between them
boys and girls were evenly distributed). Each of the teams
a large sheet of newspaper is given out, which they spread on the floor.
The facilitator reads the instructions: “Imagine that you are on a broken ice floe drifting in the middle of a raging sea. Ice floe is your newspaper. You all need to get on it and hold out for a few minutes to wait for the rescuers. It is forbidden to touch the floor outside the newspaper - whoever does this is considered to have drowned. When the participants are placed on their "floes" and hold out in this position for 15-20 seconds, the leader reports,
that the storm broke off a piece from each of the ice floes, and tears off about IVparts from each of the newspapers, inviting participants to sit on what is left. This is repeated 2-3 times. If one person “sinks” in the team, she receives a warning, if two or more, she is eliminated from the game (“your ice floe turned over”). The winning team is the one that lasts the longest.
The technique involves close bodily contact of the participants
and includes an element of shared risk, therefore not recommended
to carry it out both in insufficiently “warmed up” groups, where participants demonstrate tightness and constraint, and in overly active, difficult to control groups.
Technique, in addition to stimulating participants to a creative solution
the problem posed to them, contributes to unity, the formation of mutual trust. In addition, it clearly demonstrates the basic principle of teamwork: it is impossible to win individually, only everyone can do it together. But you can also lose individually (“fall off the ice floe”), betting this
jeopardize the actions of the entire team.
Discussion. First, the participants share the emotions and feelings that have arisen
during the exercise, then - with your own thoughts
about what allowed the winning team to cope better in such a situation, and what “ruined” the rest. After that, the facilitator asks to give examples of life situations where similar mechanisms are manifested.
Exercise "Improbable situation"(10-15 min)
Description of the exercise.
Participants are invited to think about some imaginary situation that is incredibly or extremely unlikely to occur: Their task is to imagine that such a situation did happen, and to suggest as many consequences for humanity that it can lead to. The exercise is done in
subgroups of 3-5 people, the time of work is given at the rate of 5-6 minutes
for one situation. Here are some examples of incredible situations
for this exercise.
The force of gravity on Earth will increase by 5 times.
All volumetric geometric shapes will turn into flat ones.
All humans will suddenly grow tails.
The endings in all words of the Russian language will disappear.
The dollar will rise in price 100 times compared to all other currencies.
From the clouds, cables will begin to hang down to the Earth itself.
Sports will immediately and completely disappear from people's lives.
The coefficients of friction for all substances on Earth will decrease
20 times.
All metals will turn into gold.
People will learn to accurately read each other's thoughts.
There are various options for this exercise.
For example, several subgroups may be asked to
judgments are the same situation. Then the presentation of the results
organized as follows: each of the subgroups in turn
gets the floor in order to voice one idea, repeat
it is forbidden. If the subgroup has run out of original ideas, they
happens from the game; the team that stays in the game the longest wins. If the subgroups are offered different situations for discussion, then such a competition is not held, instead, representatives of each of the subgroups voice 3-5 ideas that seem to be the most original.
The psychological meaning of the exercise.
Training the ability to generate unusual ideas in relation to situations that go beyond ordinary ideas.
Discussion. Which of the proposed ideas are most vividly remembered, seem to be the most creative? Why are these ideas interesting? What
contributed to the implementation of this exercise, and what prevented? In what real life situations is the skill useful?
to think about "incredible situations"? Can you bring
examples from your life experience when at first glance an improbable situation becomes real?
Exercise "Unusual actions"(10-15 min.)
Description
Each of the participants is offered to remember some unusual, original action, a strange and not quite explicable from the standpoint of common sense, an act committed over the past one or two months (1-2 minutes are given for reflection). Participants are then asked to briefly describe it and also comment:
In what exactly do they see the unusualness of this action?
What, from their point of view, prompted him?
How do they evaluate this action "in hindsight" - what is it for?
led, was it worth doing?
If there are less than 12 participants in the group, it is advisable to perform the exercise all together; with a larger number of participants, it is better to divide the group into 2-3 subgroups that will work in parallel.
The meaning of the exercise.
The exercise contributes to the transfer of knowledge and skills related to creativity to the consideration of one's own life, increasing the degree of openness to new life experiences.
Discussion. How do unusual actions affect our life - make it brighter, more interesting, more difficult, more dangerous, or change it in some other way? Have the participants recently had situations where they wanted to do something unusual, but something stopped them? If so, what exactly stopped them and how is this assessed "in hindsight" - is it correct that the action was not taken, or would it still be better to do it? Whose unusual actions did the participants want to repeat?
An exercise
"Using Items"(10–15 min.)
Purpose: development of creative intelligence.
Materials: paper clip, toothbrush, pencil, match...etc.
Procedure: In two minutes, find as many uses for a shoelace as you can and write them down. This is an exercise that develops creative intelligence for consideration, you can take any other subject.
Issues for discussion:
- Was it difficult to come up with a new application for simple and familiar things?
- How can your item be used?
- What made you think about this exercise?
An exercise
"Non-Existent Animal"(10-15 min.)
Target : rally the team and get to know each member of the group better.
materials : drawing paper, colored pencils
Exercise progress
The group sits at the table, whatman paper, colored pencils are offered. The group must agree on what animal they will draw and make a story about it: what is the name of this animal, what it is (5 characteristics), what it can do and what benefits it will bring to people.
Issues for discussion:
- Why did you choose this animal?
- What is it called, what can it do?
- Were there any difficulties during the exercise?
Relaxation (5min)
Sit comfortably, take a position that seems most comfortable to you. Close your eyes and do not open them until the end of the exercise and do not move.
Your body begins to gradually relax. You feel the tension in your muscles disappear. With each uttered word, every muscle of the body is more and more filled with a feeling of peace and pleasant lethargy. Your breathing is even and calm. Air freely fills the lungs and leaves them easily. The heart beats clearly, rhythmically. Turn your inner gaze to the fingers of your right hand. The fingertips of the right hand seem to be touching the surface of warm water. You feel the pulse in your fingertips. There is a feeling that the hand is gradually immersed in warm water. This magical water washes your right hand, relaxes it and rises up your arm... Up to your elbow... Even higher... Now your entire arm is immersed in pleasant warmth, relaxing... Fresh water runs through the veins and arteries of your right hand. renewed blood, giving it rest and nourishing it with new strength... Breathing is even, calm. The heart beats clearly, rhythmically ... And now your inner gaze turns to the fingers of your left hand.
The text above is completely repeated for the left hand. At the end, be sure to give an installation regarding breathing and the heart..
Pay attention to your feet. The feet are relaxed. They feel a pleasant warmth, reminiscent of the warmth of a fire burning in a fireplace. It feels like your feet are on a fireplace grate. Kind, gentle warmth rises up the legs, giving life-giving relaxation and rest to the muscles... Tension disappears... And now the muscles of the legs relax - from the fingertips to the thigh... The breathing is even, calm. The heart beats clearly, rhythmically ... A pleasant, relaxing warmth spreads throughout the body, which creates a feeling of peace and relaxation ... The tension in the shoulders, in the cervical region, in the lower part of the nape disappears ... You feel how the tension accumulated here dissolves and disappears... Leaves... Breathing even, calm. The heart beats clearly, rhythmically ... Now your inner gaze turns to the face. Facial muscles relax... Tension is removed from the cheekbones... From the jaws... Lips become soft and supple... Wrinkles on the forehead are smoothed out... The eyelids stop trembling... They are simply closed and motionless... All the muscles of the face relaxed... A light, cool breeze washes your face... It is pleasant and kind - this air kiss... The air brings you its healing energy... Breathing is even, calm. The heart beats clearly, rhythmically ...
Your whole body enjoys complete peace... Tension subsides, dissolves, goes away... Fatigue disappears... You are filled with a sweet feeling of rest, relaxation, peace... Peace that fills you with new strength, fresh and pure energy...
Meditation "Mountain Peak» (5-7 minutes)
The task of the given visualization meditation is to help a person enter a dissociated state in order to see and realize their problems as if from the outside. This allows you to significantly mitigate negative experiences, find new, unexpected ways to resolve problems. Thanks to this, the psychotechnics "Mountain Peak" helps to increase self-confidence.
Imagine that you are standing at the foot of a huge mountain. From all sides you are surrounded by stone giants. Maybe it's the Pamirs, Tibet or the Himalayas. Somewhere in the sky, lost in the clouds, the icy peaks of the mountains float. How beautiful it must be up there! You would like to be there. And you don't have to get to the top by climbing difficult and dangerous steepness, because you ... can fly. Look up: a dark moving cross is clearly visible against the sky. This is an eagle soaring over the rocks... A moment - and you yourself become this eagle. Spreading your mighty wings, you easily catch the elastic currents of air and slide freely in them... You see ragged, ragged clouds floating under you... Far below - toy groves, tiny houses in the valleys, miniature men... Your sharp-sighted the eye is able to distinguish the smallest details of the picture unfolding before you. Take a look at her. Take a closer look...
You hear the low whistling of the wind and the sharp cries of the passing small birds. You feel the coolness and gentle resilience of the air that keeps you high. What a wonderful feeling of free flight, independence and strength! Enjoy it...
It is not difficult for you to reach any of the highest peaks that is not accessible to others. Choose a convenient site for yourself and go down to it so that from there, from an inaccessible height, you can look at what is left there, far away, at the foot of the mountains ... How small and insignificant the problems that worried you can be seen from here! Evaluate whether they are worth the effort and experience you have experienced! The tranquility bestowed by heights and layers endows you with impartiality and the ability to delve into the essence of things, understand and notice what was not available there, in the hustle and bustle. From here, from above, it is easy for you to see the ways to solve the issues that have tormented you... With amazing clarity, you realize the necessary steps and the right actions... Pause.
Take off again and experience the amazing feeling of flying again. Let it be remembered for a long time... And now again be transported to yourself, standing at the foot of the mountain... Wave goodbye to the eagle soaring in the sky, which made a new perception of the world available to you... Thank him...
You are here again in this room. You have returned here after your amazing journey...
An exercise " creative life»
(10-15 min.)
Description of the exercise.
Participants, united in subgroups of 5-6 people, receive the task: to formulate a list of recommendations that will allow them to “make their own lives more creative”, and write them down on a sheet of AZ-A2 format. The recommendations formulated should be realistically implemented by all participants, or at least
most of them (i.e. not to imply the presence of any
rare abilities, too large material costs, etc.).
The psychological meaning of the exercise.
Transferring consideration of problems, creativity from the plane of specially modeled situations to the area of everyday, everyday life realities.
Discussion.
Sheets on which the recommendations formulated by the teams are written are laid out or hung out for viewing by all
participants. Representatives of each team in turn receive
a word to give their recommendations and briefly comment on exactly how following each of them will allow you to make your own life more creative.
Example.
Here is a list of such recommendations, compiled by experts in the psychology of creativity, as an example and possible material for group discussion.
Get regular exercise.
Make sure your diet is varied and balanced.
Master the technique of relaxation and meditation.
Improve your confidence.
Keep a diary, make sketches, write poems, short stories
and songs.
Read fiction that develops the imagination.
Think about alternative uses for objects you encounter in your daily life.
Think about the similarities of dissimilar things.
Take up painting or sculpture.
Visit inspiring places.
Get involved in things you wouldn't normally think about.
Try to be more spontaneous and sociable.
Watch comedies and try to develop your own humorous style. Listen to classical music.
Regularly look for ways to break out of your "comfort zone".
Try to fulfill your daily routine duties in different ways.
Make new friends and expand your social circle.
Think of yourself as a creative person.
Think of creativity as a way of being.
Literature:
- Gretsov A.V. The best exercises for developing creativity. / Teaching aid.- SPb., SPbNII physical education, 2006., - 44 p.
- Ilyin E.P. "Psychology of creativity, creativity, giftedness". - St. Petersburg, Peter Series: Masters of Psychology, 2009., - 448 p.
- Yiri Sherer. Creativity techniques: how to find, evaluate and implement an idea in 10 steps / Jiri Sherer: [trans. with him. O. Gleissner].-M.: SmartBook, 2009., - 136 p.: ill. – (Innovative management strategies).
- 4. N.V. Samoukina "Games that are played." Psychological workshop. Dubna. Phoenix. 1996
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