Solutions & Decisions
Once students have come up with all of the possible solutions to the driving question that they can (or that time allows) they will have the daunting task of deciding which of their solutions will work best and which specific ones they will proceed with. These stages are referred to as the solution(s) (deciding which solution(s) will work best) and decision (deciding which solutions to choose and present) stages of the Creative Sequence. Within these stages students should:
Initial Narrowing
Take all of the ideas that they generated and narrow them down to the top ones that most effectively address the driving question.
Deciding
After deciding which are the top ideas that most effectively address the driving
question, decide which idea(s) they will go forward with.
Critique and Revision
Give and receive critique and feedback on their work and in turn use this
information to make their projects and products better.
PROTOCOLS/TECHNIQUES/STRATEGIES
Dot Voting
This is a simple and quick technique to use with students when there are lots and lots of good ideas and solutions to the driving question. Students receive a limited amount of sticky dots and then get to place their dots on whichever solution they think is the best. This results in a quick visual of which ideas or solutions students feel best address the driving question.
Overview on Dot Voting
Poster Session
Within this technique, each student creates a "poster" of what their proposed solution to the driving question would be. Afterward, the posters are displayed around the room and the educator leads a discussion with the students of what similarities and differences there are between the different solutions the students proposed.
Overview on Poster Session
Design the Box
Within this strategy students create the physical "box" that sells their idea or solution to the driving question. By imagining the package for their idea, students are forced to make decisions about important features and other aspects of their solution or idea.
Overview on Design the Box
Five Fingered Consensus
While discussing ideas or solutions to the driving question, students show you how much consensus or agreement there is on something from no consensus (no Overview on Five Fingered Consensus
Product Pinocchio
Within this technique, students imagine their idea or solution to the driving question as a living thing and as a result develop something that will be more useful and effective at addressing the driving question overall.
Overview of Product Pinocchio
Start, Stop, Continue
In this protocol, students discuss what they should start, stop and continue doing related to the driving question.
Overview on Start, Stop, Continue
Speedboat
This is a quick and easy way for students to think about what would stop or get in the way of a particular idea or solution to the driving question.
Overview on Speedboat
Filters
Within this technique, students brainstorm all of the potential solutions or ideas related to the driving question and then run those ideas or solutions against a set of filters.
For example, if students were working to evaluate which idea would be the next best selling toy, they could evaluate each of their ideas based upon filters such as is the toy fun to play with, is the toy affordable, does the toy appeal to both boys and girls, etc. After going through each filter, there should only be a couple of ideas or solutions left (if many of the ideas/solutions made it through each of the filters, then you may want to think about adding a new filter). At that point, the educator can guide the students through the process of deciding which solutions/ideas will work the best to address the driving question.
$100 Test
Within this technique students are given a $100 to "spend" on different ideas or solutions to the driving question. How much money each solution/idea gets indicates how much students believe they effectively address the driving question.
Overview of $100 Test
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