Lateral Thinking
(Kelli Schlueter)
Family Tree
Lateral thinking is a theory that was
developed by Edward De Bono. Lateral Thinking belongs to the theoretical school
of cognitivism. Cognitivism focuses on how the brain stores and accesses
information. “Cognitive learning theory was concerned with the mental processes…”
(Harasim, 2012, p.47).
What is Lateral Thinking?
Most simply put, Lateral Thinking is
thinking outside the box. De Bono encourages people to think of new and
different solutions to problems. He claims that the brain organizes information
into patterns. “Our brains are highly developed
pattern-recognition machines, and thus process this information into a handful
of recognizable patterns. Over time, these patterns form into dominant
neural pathways that we tend to resort to automatically. If left
unchecked, the brain’s pattern forming tendency discourages creativity because
thinking is instead channeled down dominant pathway” (Turner, 2012). De
Bono says that to encourage creative thinking, people should challenge these
dominant pathways. What might seem like the most logical answer is not always
the best or most creative answer. Even
though a problem may seem like it has an obvious solution, that doesn’t mean
that there are not many different possible solutions.
De Bono also states that creative thinking is something that can be
learned. It is a skill that people can practice and improve upon. De Bono provides
seven tools to help people become more creative lateral thinkers.
1. Alternatives: Use concepts to breed new ideas.
2.
Focus: Sharpen or change your focus to improve your creative efforts.
3.
Challenge: Break free from the limits of accepted ways of operating.
4.
Random Entry: Use unconnected input to open new lines of
thinking.
5.
Provocation: Move from a provocative statement to useful ideas.
6.
Harvesting: Select the best of early ideas and shape them into useable
approaches.
7.
Treatment of Ideas: Develop ideas and shape them to fit an
organization or situation.
(Image From: http://www.personalconsultancysolutions.co.uk/Creativity-And-Innovation/Lateral-Thinking-Training.html)
Listen to Edward De Bono
Edward De Bono speaks on Lateral Thinking
in the following video:
Example
“The following anecdote is provided by De Bono
(1967). A merchant who owes money to a money lender agrees to settle the debt
based upon the choice of two stones (one black, one white) from a money bag. If
his daughter chooses the white stone, the debt is canceled; if she picks the
black stone, the moneylender gets the merchant's daughter. However, the
moneylender "fixes" the outcome by putting two black stones in the
bag. The daughter sees this and when she picks a stone out of the bag,
immediately drops it onto the path full of other stones. She then points out
that the stone she picked must have been the opposite color of the one
remaining in the bag. Unwilling to be unveiled as dishonest, the moneylender
must agree and cancel the debt. The daughter has solved an intractable problem
through the use of lateral thinking.” (Instructionaldesign.org )
As an educator, you can apply the idea of lateral thinking in the classroom. Lateral thinking gives students the freedom to create answers and solutions that are unique and not obvious. It is the teacher’s role to encourage his/her students to break away from the easiest solution and to look for the more obscure. Lateral thinking can be encouraged by giving students problems to solve and having them come up with an idea of an invention to solve that problem. Giving students open ended questions, or problem based learning lessons will help students to challenge their thinking.
Citation:
Edward De Bono Lateral
Thinking Training. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from http://www.personalconsultancysolutions.co.uk/Creativity-And-Innovation/Lateral-Thinking-Training.html
Harasim, L. (2012).
Cognitivist Learning Theory. In Learning
Theory and Online Technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.
Lateral Thinking. (n.d.).
Retrieved October 12, 2015 From http://www.ideaconnection.com/thinking-methods/lateral-thinking-00012.html
Lateral Thinking (DeBono).
(n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/lateral-thinking.html
Turner, T. (2012, June
15). Lateral Thinking by Edward De Bono- Creative Leader. Retrieved October 12,
2015. From http://www.creativeleader.com/lateral-thinking/
No comments:
Post a Comment