Category: Ideas

Prizes: Incentivize Brainstorming with Prizes

Mini Football?
Nerf Basketball?

Question: Is there such a thing as Collective Intelligence?

Or is intelligence purely an individual trait? Compare with sugar dissolved in water vs sand in water. When sugar dissolves, sweetness increases. When sand is put in water, it’s just sand in water (water gets displaced even).

How about Collective Wisdom?

Lesson: How to Save on Electricity Usage at Home

CFL and other fluorescent lighting, LED lighting, timers, motion sensors, windows, (sun-side) shaded windows – trees, smart window blinds, winter sun-facing windows, window glazing, sun tunnels, attic fans (less air-conditioning), ceiling fans, gas cookers, smart power bars/strips, better insulation, disconnect phantom power hogs, energy efficient appliances, air-dry clothes (wind energy), solar water heating, renewable energy, lighter wall paint

Resources:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4824103_save-electricity-home.html

Lesson: Brainstorming – The Experience

Conduct a 30 minute brainstorming session. Then prioritize ideas and discuss how to create and who would use it.

Planning: What To Provide Each Student

Workmat (to define work area). Wipes (for cleanup). Whiteboard and whiteboard markers. Art paper for drawing exercises. Crayons. Notepad. Pens (not pencils), toolbox, scissors, string, tape, paper, cardstock, tissue, dental floss, glue, ice cream sticks, paper clips

Exercise: Looking at Things Upside Down

One of the easiest perspective changes is to look at pyramids upside down. As an example of a pyramid, one could start by looking at a food pyramid.

A more relatable pyramid maybe a school structure or something where responsibility is involved. Another real world example is a company where ideas come from. Do they come from the tip or the widest end? Or can they can from throughout?

Exercise: Solar Car Kits

Possibly an individual or team exercise. Here is an example of a web site selling kits:
http://sunwindsolar.com/solar_sales_us/products.php?m=a8567ec888

Repeating the exercises.

Encourage the students to repeat the exercises such as the 30 Circles periodically to see how their creativity is growing. See if they can come up with new and innovative designs that show that they are thinking more broadly.

Talk: Toxicants Basics

What are the kind of typical chemicals they may encounter and how dangerous are they?

Food (PAH vs toxins)

School science classes

Fossil Fuel Combustion Pollution

Water Pollution

Wastewater (eg, sewage)

Salt water (eg, sea water(

Rain water (eg, acid rain)

Plastics

Animal Toxins

Pictionary – Redesigned

I am considering using Pictionary or Pictionary Junior as a platform for students to explore their creativity by adapting the game to teach environmental knowledge, and perhaps even in their own language. The main idea is to develop a new set of cards that streamline thought and actions related to the environment. Examples of words include “air”, “water”, “dirty”, “pollution”, “waste”, “recycle”, “plastic”, etc.