CREATIVE THINKING EXERCISES (30mins)

Exercise 1: Are you seeing or is your brain deciding what you should see? (1.5 marks) Read the following paragraph.

"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabridge Uinvervtisy, it deosnt mttaer in waht oredr the litteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a ttoal mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is besauae ocne we laren how to raed we bgien to aargnre the lteerts in our mnid to see waht we epxcet to see. The huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but preecsievs the wrod as a wlohe. We do tihs ucnsoniuscoly wuithot tuhoght."
Write down your answer here.

Amazing, isnt it? Youre finding meaning in a mass of jumbled letters. How is this possible? Think of your mind as a dish of jelly which has settled so that its surface is perfectly flat. When information enters the mind, it self-organizes. It is like pouring warm water on the dish of jelly with a teaspoon. Imagine the warm water being poured on the jelly dish and then gently tipped so that it runs off. After many repetitions of this process, the surface of the jelly would be full of ruts, indentations, and grooves. New water (information) would start to automatically flow into the preformed grooves. After a while, it would take only a bit of information (water) to activate an entire channel. This is the pattern recognition and pattern completion process. Even if much of the information is out of the channel, the pattern will be activated. The mind automatically corrects and completes the information to select and activate a pattern. In our paragraph, your brain takes a bit of information (the first and last letters) and activates the "word" channel and you see and understand the word. This is why when we sit down and try to will new ideas or solutions, we tend to keep coming up with the sameold, same-old ideas. Information is flowing down the same ruts and grooves making the same-old connections producing the same old ideas over and over again.

Creativity occurs when we tilt the jelly dish and force the water (information) to flow into new channels and make new connections. These new connections give you different ways to focus you attention and different ways to interpret whatever you are focusing on. These different ways of focusing your attention and different ways of interpreting what you are focusing on lead to new insights, original ideas and solutions.

Exercise 2: Unconventional Problem Solving (total 3 marks)

Creative thinkers look for a range of different ways to conceptualize patterns of multidimensional possibilities that lead to breakthrough concepts and values. Following are three pattern problems that can only be solved by thinking in unconventional ways.

PROBLEM #1: Where does the "Z" go, in the top row or the bottom row? (1 marks) A E F H I KL MN T VWX Y BCD G J O P QR S U PROBLEM #2: This equation is incorrect. Your challenge is to make it correct but without touching it with pen or pencil. Other than that, you can do anything you want with it. (1 marks)

PROBLEM #3: There is a definite pattern to this arrangement of designs. What is it? What is the next figure in the pattern? (1 marks)

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Exercise 3: Creative Management Challenge (total 2 marks)
Below are four simple questions. Try to answer all of them before looking at the answers. #1: How do you put a giraffe into a fridge? (0.5 marks) #2: How do you put an elephant into a fridge? (0.5 marks) #3: The King of the Jungle is holding a meeting for all of the animals. One of them is not there. Which one? (0.5 marks) #4: You are standing on the bank of an alligator infested river and have to get to the other side. What do you do? (0.5 marks)

Exercise 4: Nine Faces (total 2.5 marks)

The mind, through prolonged inspection of a subject, becomes bored with it and will explore alternative ways of perceiving it by decomposing the whole into parts and looking for the interesting parts. In the early steps of this process, the effects of these changes remain below the level of awareness. After a while, you become aware of them. There are nine people in this picture. Inspect the picture and see how many can you find. Circle the position of the head.

If you find 6, you have an ordinary power of observation. (1 mark) Find 7, you have an above average power of observation. (1.5 marks) Find 8, you are very observant. Congratulate yourself. (2 marks) Find 9, you are extremely observant. You are very intuitive and creative. (2.5 marks)

Exercise 5: Bean Head (1 mark)

Here is a picture of coffee beans, and a mans head is hidden somewhere in the beans. Your challenge is to find the head as quickly as you can. Circle the position of the head.

According to cognitive scientists:

If you can find the mans head within 3 seconds, then your right brain is more developed than normal people. If you can find the mans head within 1 minute, then your right brain is developing normally. If it takes you longer than 1 minute, then your left brain is more developed than normal. If you still cant find it, then I suggest you make an appointment with your optometrist.