Blocks to Creativity,
Introduction and Exercises
Bonnie Cramond
University of Georgia
Adams, J. L. (2001). Conceptual blockbusting: A guide to
better ideas. Cambridge: Perseus.
Creativity Helps Us Solve Problems
• For example, one problem is to kill cancer cells
in a hard-to-reach place without killing
surrounding tissue.
• Cutting a tumor out destroys nearby tissue.
• Using a laser beam that is strong enough to
destroy the cancer cells will also destroy
adjacent healthy tissue.
Problem: How to kill hard-to-reach
cancer cells in the brain without
damaging surrounding tissue.
Solution: Gamma Knife: Painless,
Noninvasive, Low-Risk
Explanation: By focusing hundreds of
weak Gamma rays on a tumor in the
brain, the concentrated radiation can
kill cancer cells. However, the individual
rays are too weak to damage adjacent
tissues.
Becoming Aware of Blocks
• The next few slides have eight activities that
can help you become aware of some typical
blocks to thinking creatively and problem
solving.
• Please try each activity with your group,
record your responses, then we will view the
solution slide show.
• If you already know the solution, or think you
know the solution, don’t spoil it for others.
Try to think of an alternative solution.
Warmup--Activity 1
Read this aloud and fill
in the blank
Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater had a
wife and couldn’t keep her, he
put her in a pumpkin shell and and
there he kept her very_____.
Activity 2
• Draw no more than 4 straight lines
• without lifting your pencil from the paper
• cross through every dot just once
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Activity 3: Use 6 Pencils to Make 4
Equilateral Triangles
• Use the 6 pencils to create 4
equilateral triangles (equal sides,
equal angles)
• The ends of the pencils create the
angles
• Don’t break the pencils
Activity 4
A general wants to send his army in a surprise attack
on the enemy camp. However, if he sends the whole
army in, they will be noisy and lose the element of
surprise. If he only sends part of the army in, they
may be quiet, but they will be outnumbered. What
could he do?
Activity 5 Can you pick the right
penny without looking at one?
1
4
2
5
3
6
How about now? Can you pick the right penny without
looking at a real one?
Activity 6
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Imagine that you are one of a group
of six people in a bare room. A steel
pipe is stuck vertically in the
concrete floor with a ping-pong ball
lying at the bottom of the pipe. The
inside diameter of the pipe is just
slightly larger than the diameter of
the ping-pong ball. 100 feet of
clothesline, a wire coat hanger, a
carpenter’s hammer, a monkey
wrench, a chisel, a box of cereal, a
file, and a light bulb
Your task is to get the ball out of the
pipe without damaging the ball, tube,
or floor. How many ways can you
think of to do this?
Act. 7: Paper Folding
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Imagine a sheet of notebook paper, 8.5” X 11”
Now, imagine folding it in half,
Again
Again
Again
Again
Again
Again
Again
Now, how many sheets thick is the paper?
Act. 8 Buddhist Monk
• A monk leaves to climb
a mountain at 6:00 am
one morning along the
only path to the top.
• Along the way, he
stops to rest, pray, or
take refreshments
from time to time.
• He gets to the top at
6:00 p,m
Act. 8 Buddhist Monk (cont’d)
• When he reaches the top of
the mountain, her sups, then
prays and sleeps.
• The next day, he leaves the
top of the mountain at 6:00
am to walk down the same
path. Again, along the way, he
stops to rest, pray, or take
refreshments from time to
time.
• He gets to the bottom at 6:00
pm
Act. 8 Buddhist Monk (cont’d)
• Must there be a spot that he
passes at the same time on both
days?
• You need not tell where or when,
just if.
• Can you prove your answer?