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F/S: Lateral Think

INTRODUCTION

In the various readings and discussions in this module, you’ll learn about concepts such as lateral thinking, creative thinking, divergent thinking, convergent thinking, and more. A lot of these terms are more or less interchangeable. Lateral thinking, for example, is what many people refer to as “thinking outside the box.” And that’s very similar to creative thinking. One of your goals in this module should be to understand these terms and use them in our discussions and in thinking about your own creative process (and if you don’t understand a term or concept, use our discussion activities to ask questions!) At the same time, I don’t want you to get bogged down or overwhelmed with vocabulary terms and the differences among them–there are more shades of gray among them than there are clear-cut lines of difference. At this point, just do your best to understand and use them whenever and however you can.

Lateral thinking (or creative thinking, or divergent thinking) is an ability that’s crucial to innovating solutions to a problem or task, in any situation, in any academic major or any career field. Lateral means side-to-side, as opposed to up-and-down. Most of us are accustomed to moving from a question/problem directly to the correct answer–that’s what you might call vertical thinking, or convergent thinking. Lateral thinking means moving side to side and all around a question/problem, developing multiple possible solutions, and then selecting the solution that works best.

The following activity will invite you to engage in lateral thinking puzzles, and to test the strength and flexibility of your creative muscles. For some of you, your creative muscles might have atrophied with years of neglect. Don’t worry about that, and don’t worry about getting the correct answer to the puzzles below. The point of this exercise is NOT to find the correct answers to these puzzles. The goal is to dive into a problem (in this case, a puzzle) that requires creative thinking, and then to reflect on the process of engaging with the puzzle, not necessarily finding the right answer.

WHAT TO DO

FIRST, watch the videos at the bottom of this page–start at the top and move downward. Their purpose is to show you a little about how our brains typically work in everyday situations, and how lateral (creative) thinking looks and works. You might notice that there’s a big difference between the two!

SECOND,  after you’ve worked through all of the videos, visit the Lateral Thinking discussion thread (find it the same way you located the “Intros” discussion thread).  Write a thoughtful, well-composed message that addresses the following points:

• How easy or difficult were the puzzles for you? Were you able to complete any of them? How long did it take? How did you try solving them?
• What, exactly, do the puzzles require of you that makes them challenging to complete? Why might lateral thinking be so challenging for so many people?
• What practical use might lateral thinking offer for people in your own academic major and/or career field?