Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Problem Solving Report Template

Dear students

the Problem Solving Module report template has been uploaded onto the student I & E google site under the folder "Creative Problem Solving". Please access the site and retrieve the template.

Please print out the report and submit to our I & E representative by 30 September 2011 (Friday).

Thank you.

Ms Lim


Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Groupings for Performance Task... :)

The Results for the Term 4 I&E Performance Task :)
22  12  13  14  16
 9  17   23  19  21
18  15  20  11  10
6   8     2    1    3
5   4     7   
Group 1: Wang Ruoyu, Abhimanyu Arora, Owen Ong Chau Siong, Toby Gail Lim, Lee Qian Hui
Group 2: Jonathan Foo, Ng Ying Liang, Liew Wei Siew, Sandy Khoo, Ishani Saha
Group 3: Lam Jiajun, Wang Yi Chieh, Ryan Tzn, Ding Nina Lin, Lovy Lim
Group 4: Lee Kai En, Poon Jia Qi, Chung Yi De, Mavis Cheng
Group 5: Matthew Yap, Mark Tay, Chan Shawn Kit, Gladys Foo

Exploring Entrepreneurship Camp @ NP 2011 (Benefits)

How has the camp benefited you in terms of being a student or your personal growth?

Exploring Entrepreneurship Camp @ NP 2011 (3 Most Important Learnings)

What are the 3 most important things you had learnt that you could apply in your life?

What is Entrepreneurship?

Click on the link:



Explain in your own words what is entrepreneurship. Key in your understanding under "comments".

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Problem Solving Module

Dear students,


Please also note that the Sec 1 Entrepreneurship Camp with Ngee Ann Polytechnic will take place on 8 September and 9 September 2011. More details will be released at a later date.

Ms Lim


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Creative Problem Solving - Six Key Principles

How can you be more effective at creative problem solving? Use these six key principles of creative problem solving. Avoid the common mistakes that are made when attempting to solve problems. Instead understand these six principles and you can find more productive and innovative solutions to the problems that challenge you.

You Know Nothing

You might find this hard to believe. But this is where you need to start. The reality is that we don't "know" anything. We only "believe" that we know things. Remember when everybody "knew" that the world was flat? Things changed and what we though we knew changed. If you think you already know the answer, you will not be creative. To be more creative in your approach to problem solving you need to start with the words of Sergeant Schultz from the old TV show, Hogan's Heroes, "I know nothing."

Problems Are Treasures

Problems are the source of new products, markets and opportunities. Naturally that is not the first reaction that most of us have when we face a new problem. We are usually annoyed and troubled by the problem because it presents difficulty and uncertainty for us. However, almost every new product (and service) was the answer to a problem. Every product is an aspirin to a headache. If you are experiencing a headache, there is a product for that – that might be waiting to be created. Want more treasure? Search for problems.

Deferred Judgment

The principle of deferred judgment states that while exploring the possible solutions to a problem, first you diverge with your thinking and then you converge. Two separate stages. You can only do one at a time. To diverge ask "Why?" and "What if?" After you have finished diverging – then you converge. To converge you ask "How?" and "What is needed?" Zoom out then zoom in.

Fools and Experts

Creative problem solving demands both fools and experts on your team. Fools are the ones who ask the divergent questions. They look at the big picture. They often ask foolish questions that spawn new ideas. Many of those ideas might be silly or impractical – but be patient. Listen to the questions and explore the ideas. Fools will help you be effective.

Experts are the convergent thinkers. You need them to examine the wild ideas and focus on the best ideas. Experts will tell you how to implement. Experts will help you be efficient.

Questioning

Creative problem solving is a process of asking advancing questions. It's a matter of asking the right questions at the right time to move the process forward. If you want to be more creative in your problem solving, learn the questions to ask and the proper sequence. When you ask questions – listen without judgment.

Rules are Tools

Rules are tools. They should not become barriers. All rules were created to make life easier for someone at some point in time All rules should be questioned because conditions change and the rule might no longer apply. Ask "Why?" to discover the root of the rule. Maybe it's time to change, amend or remove that outdated rule.

Transform your problems into opportunities, new products and treasure. Follow these six key principles of creative problem solving.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Problem Solving Module: Identifying the Challenge

Dear students,


as part of the Problem Solving Module that you are going through, you are required to identify and work on a real life problem in a group.


Last week, we have talked about Understanding the Challenge, the first step in Problem Solving. The trolley challenge was the practice problem used to guide you through the process of Problem Solving. Hence, during my absence, you will need to come up with the challenge that you and your team members have identified by the end of the lesson.


Task 1: Generating Scenarios/Situations (Individual) - 10 minutes

  • Generate at least 3 real life scenarios/situations that are of concern. Write down your ideas on a piece of paper.
  • For example, shoppers in the supermarket complained that trolleys cannot be found when they need them.
  • During generation of ideas, you may consider scenarios/situations that are of concern in all these categories:
    • Arts & Aesthetics
    • Basic Needs
    • Business & Commerce
    • Communication
    • Defence
    • Economics
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Ethics & Religion
    • Government & Politics
    • Law & Justice
    • Miscellaneous
    • Physical Health
    • Psychological Health
    • Recreation
    • Social Relationships
    • Technology
    • Transportation



Task 2: Focusing of ideas (Group work) - 20 minutes

  • Work in the group that you have formed for this Problem Solving Module.
  • Discuss and run through all the different scenarios/situations that your group has come up with.
  • Using Hit and Hot Spots, identify 1 scenario/situation that your group wishes to work on.
  • Refer to your notes on CI4P when considering.
  • Record all your discussions on a google spreadsheet and share with me. Please save your google spreadsheet as “I & E_Groupname”.



Thereafter, please carry on to generate possible challenges (the problems, issues or concerns) that can be found in the scenario/situation that your group has identified to work on.



Task 3: Generating Challenges found in the scenario/situation (Individual)- 10 minutes

  • Generate at least 8 challenges based on the scenario/situation identified. Write down your ideas on a piece of paper.
  • When writing the challenge statement, explain what the challenge is and why is it a problem.
  • For example, since shoppers are complaining about the shortage of trolleys, they may go to other supermarkets to do their shopping, resulting in loss of customers.



Task 4: Focusing of ideas (Group Work) - 40 minutes

  • In your group, discuss and run through all the different challenges that your group has come up with.
  • Using Hit and Hot spots, select 8 challenges that your group finds promising to work on.


  • After which, using Evaluation Matrix, examine your selected 8 challenges carefully, considering the details that may help you to see where the greatest potential might be.
  • Examine each of the options using the criteria. (You may refer to the notes on some considerations to be taken into account when selecting a challenge)
  • You may decide on how to apply the criteria, eg, ratings, ticks etc.
  • Please record all discussions (including the Evaluation Matrix) in the google spreadsheet, under a different tab, name it “Challenges”.



Challenge

Criterion 1

Cost

Criterion 2

Time


Criterion 8

1





2















8






Sample Evaluation Matrix



I hope that by the end of the lesson, you and your team members would have come up with the challenge that you intend to work on.


Best wishes,

Ms Lim

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

I&E Skit Grouping

Dear S101 and Miss Lim,

                                        Our final decision for the I&E skit grouping is to let everyone form their own group. Please form or find your own group as soon as possible. The post below is the information about the skit. As stated, your group must have 4 to 5 people. Please comment on this post of your group members and please do not repeat the same group or have the same person in two different groups. Miss Lim, you can view the comments to see the groupings.

Thank you!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

I & E Performance Task: Skit

Dear students,


in groups of 4/5, your group has to produce a skit (at least 3 minutes and not more than 8 mins) to show at least one of the sources of innovative opportunity in detail. There should be innovative use of materials (at least 5 different items) as props integrated into your skit.


The group will be assessed on the following:

- Content

- Use of materials

- Creativity

The skit will take place in Week 2 of Term 2. Please get ready by then.


Thank you.

Ms Lim

Understanding Sources of Innovation

Dear students,

following up on yesterday's I & E lesson on Perception and Knowledge-based Innovation, please answer the following questions and key in your views under comments.


Perception
1. Why are people's perception difficult to understand?
2. What are the ricks of perception-based innovation?
3. How can we overcome these risks?


Knowledge-Based Innovation

1. why do you think companies are willing to spend millions on research and development (R & D)?

2. How can knowledge-based innovations help companies?


Deadline: 18 March 2011 (Friday)

Thanks!

Ms Lim



Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Balloon Challenge

1. What are the strengths of your group?

2. What are some of the challenges that you faced during your discussion?

3. How did you manage to overcome the above challenges that you have mentioned?

Thursday, March 3, 2011

For Reading Pleasure

Source: Drucker, Peter F. (1985). Innovative and Entrepreneurship, Practice and Principles. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.

Peter Drucker and Innovation

Innovation involves finding a new and better way of doing something. Much of our modern society is based on innovations that have occurred in the past that provide us with the standard of living we enjoy today.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are companion terms. Entrepreneurship involves looking for a new innovation and taking advantage of it.

Drucker's Seven Sources for Innovative Opportunities

Drucker outlines seven sources for innovative opportunities that should be monitored by those interested in starting an entrepreneurial venture. The first four are sources of innovation that lie within the industry. The last three arise in the societal environment.

1. The Unexpected - An unexpected success, an unexpected failure or an unexpected outside event can be a symptom of a unique opportunity.

2. The Incongruity - A discrepancy between reality and what everyone assumes it to be, or between what is and what ought to be, can create an innovative opportunity.

3. Innovation based on process need - When a weak link is evident in a particular process, but people work around it instead of doing something about it, an opportunity is available to the person or company willing to supply the "missing link".

4. Changes in industry or market structure - The opportunity for an innovative product, service or business approach occurs when the underlying foundation of the industry or market shifts.

5. Demographics - Changes in the population's size, age structure, composition, employment, level of education and income can create innovative opportunities.

6. Changes in perception, mood and meaning - Innovative opportunities can develop when a society's general assumptions, attitudes and beliefs change.

7. New Knowledge - Advances in scientific and nonscientific knowledge can create new products and new markets. So, if you are looking for a new business opportunity, monitoring these seven sources may provide you with an innovation opportunity.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I & E Innovation Opportunities

https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/s2011.sst.edu.sg/ccc?key=0AnfYYSW-QFaLdHpZLWNOdUh3dVFxRWQ2ek50TWMyOEE&hl=en

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Innovative Opportunities?

Dear S101,

having understand what is innovation, have you ever wondered where and how can we look for innovative opportunities? According to Peter Drucker, there are seven sources of innovative opportunity. Do you know what are they?

Make use of this period to research and read up on the different sources of innovative opportunity. Using Pages, organise and write down the different sources of innovative opportunity, their characteristics and examples to illustrate each source.

You do not need to submit your research work, however, please be reminded that you will need these information for discussion during next lesson.

In addition, you would need to prepare a skit to show your understanding on innovation and the sources of innovative opportunity. More details will be announced next week.


Ms Lim




Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Innovate! - The Steve Jobs way

Source: Beckford, Avil. (2011). 'Innovate the Steve Jobs way'. Retrieved from http://www.refresher.com/aavbinnovate.html

----------

In the recent webinar, "Innovate the Steve Jobs Way: 7 Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success," Carmine Gallo shared seven principles for innovation which he learned from studying Steve Jobs for many years. The webinar was a prelude to his book The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success. I found it extremely useful to attend the webinar before reading the book and I combined what I learned in the webinar with what I learned from the book. The book provides concrete examples of how Steve Jobs innovates and the author conducted several interviews with former Apple employees.

To support what he says in the book, Carmine Gallo also looked at what other innovators were successfully doing.  He defines innovation as, "A new way of doing things that result in positive change." How can you innovate the way you do your job? What innovations are occurring in other industries that you can transfer to yours?

Carmine Gallo has identified seven principles to guide innovation based on what he has learned from studying Steve Jobs, the Co-founder and CEO of Apple. The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs has 15 chapters, an introductory one and two chapters devoted to each principle. Though the book presents a lot of information on the way Steve Jobs approaches innovation, there are many examples of others who are innovating in similar ways and achieving success.

Principle One: Do What You Love

Passion is everything, and it keeps you going when you face inevitable setbacks. Be obsessed and improve the areas that you love. To achieve success, passion is not enough – follow your obsessions, tailor them to your skills, and focus on what you can make money from. What is your calling and your destiny? How can you change the world?

A simple formula is Success = Passion + Skills + Market Demand

Principle Two: Put a Dent in the Universe

Innovation doesn't take place in a vacuum. Have a vision, because innovation cannot occur without one. What's the bigger picture and how can you share your vision with enthusiasts who will make your vision a reality. How is your product or service going to change the world? How can you leave the world a better place than you found it?  How can you make your customers' lives better?

Margaret Mead's quote, "A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has," encapsulates this principle.

Principle Three: Kick Start Your Brain

Seek our new and novel experiences, and bombard your brain with them. Who is doing something remarkable that you can learn from? Steve Jobs studied the Four Seasons Hotel and Mercedes Benz because they are aces when it comes to remarkable customer experiences. Jobs introduced a Concierge Service in the Apple Store based on what he learned from observing the Four Seasons Hotel.

A critical part of this principle is to make connections among disparate things and force yourself outside of your physical and mental comfort zone. To live a vision requires creative thinking which requires immersion in novel experiences.

New experiences expand the way you think. Surround yourself with people from different cultures. Experiment, and try new things. What are two things that you can do differently to improve the way in which you deliver your product or service?

Principle Four: Sell Dreams Not Products

Understand your customers, and help them to fulfill their dreams. Get to know them better than they know themselves. How can you change your customers' worlds? Create remarkable customer experiences and market that.

Your customers often do not know what they want, so be a linchpin as marketing guru Seth Godin says and anticipate what they need before they do. It's a twist to the concept of build it and they will come, to build it and convince them that they should come.

Principle Five: Say No to 1,000 Things

Take the road less traveled. Remove distractions so you can focus on the core product. Eliminate distractions from the customer experience. Don't spread yourself too thin, and go for simplicity. Steve Job told Nike's CEO  Mark Parker, "Get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff." Go for simplicity and elegance.

Simplify and focus on your product and service offerings. What are you best at? What is one thing that you do extremely well? Focus on it and simplify.

Principle Six: Create Insanely Great Experiences

Create emotional connections with your customers. What are five ways you can enrich the lives of your customers? What relationships are you forming with your customers? Look outside your industry for examples. Create memorable experiences so you have rabid fans. Before you innovate, hold your customer in your mind's eye, and proceed from there.

Principle Seven: Master the Message

Effectively communicate your vision. Innovate around the way you communicate the vision. What are master presenters and communicators doing? Emulate them. Be a great storyteller, and be consistent in your messaging.

I enjoyed reading The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success because I had to stop several times and think about what I was reading. The many examples demonstrated how others were using these seven principles with great success, and I understood how I could use them as well. I also learned about innovative products that others were delivering.

For instance, DNA 11 creates art with their customer's DNA and became a multi-million dollar business in five years. The owners Adrian Salamunovic and Nazim Ahmed didn't conduct focus group interviews to decide if there was a need for their product, they created the product then created the demand for it. They also noticed that some of their customers were asking for art with their pets' DNA, so they offered that to other customers who might not have thought of that.


What Carmine Gallo has shown in his book is that innovation does not necessarily mean creating something radically new. Sometimes it is simply doing something in an entirely new way. This is a practical book written in a clear manner. I recommend The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Reflections

All S1-01 pupils,

                          Please write out a reflection of what you have learnt from the two lessons about innovation. The deadline is next Tuesday.

I&E Homework

1)Creativity is related to invention and innovation in the sense that it is needed for people to think of ways to improve, improvise and invent.

2)It is to think out of the box.

3)It helps me to think of new ideas, build on those which has been suggested by my group members and think sensibly.

Creativity, innovation and invention

1)How is creativity related to invention and innovation?

Only with creativity, invention and innovation can be achieved. Creativity sparks off invention and innovation.


2)What is the purpose of creative thinking?
Creative thinking helps us to not restrict ourself to thinking inside the box. It helps us to think of new ideas and methods.


3)How does understanding of convergence and divergence thinking help you in your group discussion?
Helps us to stay on track and stick to the point. It also helps us to solve problems easier.

How is creativity related to invention and innovation?
We need creativity and to think out of the box in order to invent something innovative.

What is the purpose of creative thinking?
The purpose of creative thinking is to let us to be creative in things we do in our daily life. This way, our life would be more interesting and different from the way other people live.

How does understanding of convergence and divergence thinking help you in your group discussion?
In group discussion, we should focus on the main point and not be off track. From an small idea, we improve it into a  big and useful one.

GLADYS :D

Sunday, February 6, 2011

1)How is creativity related to invention and innovation?
Ans: Creativity is needed for innovation and both added together will become an invention . Without creativity , there would be no new and creative inventions.
2)What is the purpose of creative thinking?
Ans: Creative thinking is like thinking out of the box which we use in everyday lives. Creative thinking , together with innovation , can be used to strengthen our new invention .
3)How does understanding of convergence and divergence thinking help you in your group discussion?
Ans: We can use divergence to come out with many new ideas and use convergence to see if they are really appropriate for using. The ideas then can become creative and correct .

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Creativity, Innovation and Invention...

How are these three perspectives related to each other?


Well, these three are somewhat related. Creativity leads to invention, however you need innovation to make the invention realistic or original. So, this is like an equation 
: Invention = Innovation + Creativity


What is the purpose of creative thinking?


Well, there is actually no purpose for creative thinking, you are thinking creatively everyday. However thinking creatively can help you spice up your life,  helps you uncover a whole different world that you may have never known of. Anything you do, you actually think it over you - This will cause you to find out different ways you can look at a problem. So in actual fact- Creative Thinking , Happens Everyday!

How does understanding of convergence and divergence thinking help you in your group discussion about the idea?

It helps us to generate many resourceful ideas that are that of a wider aspect but in the main focus of the idea or other questions. This also enabled our group members to tackle the ideas or problems efficiently by taking the ideas bit by bit and sorting them out.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Creativity,innovation and invention.

How is creativity related to invention and innovation?


Ans : Creativity is applied in the process of thinking to create a invention . It is also essential in innovation as creativeness is revises the idea to make it better.


What is the purpose of creative thinking


Ans: Creative thinking help us to add a special, unique or interesting feature to a product and improves our lives. This will aid in the include of values in the product or solutions to problems in our daily lives.We can produce more efficient methods in working on different things everyday. 


How does understanding of convergence and divergence thinking help you in your group discussion about the idea?


Ans :It helps us to generate more ideas of a wider range and focus in to the main ideas .Solve problems easily by breaking the big problem apart and solving them bit by bit with my group.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Creativity,innovation and invention

1.First, through creativity we can lead to innovation which most likely will lead to an invention one way or another. 
2. I think that creative thinking combined with innovation allows us to create new usable ideas and therefore able to invent something realistic and pratical. Which will help mankind. 
3. It adds many new ideas i would never had thought of and it also corrects some of the flaws which my ideas might have. Most of the groups ideas eventually combine to formed a finished product.

Creativity and Innovation-Wang Yi Chieh

1)How is creativity related to invention and innovation?
Without a creative brain, there would not be invention and innovation. You would not have an idea of the end product of things so you would not be able to work towards it.
2)What is the purpose of creative thinking?
Creativity will allow you to improve your lives or make a poster more attractive and one of a kind.
3)How does understanding of convergence and divergence thinking help you in your group discussion?
We can combine different ideas into one to become one best idea. Also we can separate different ideas and extract the best part of the idea to use it in our project or work.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Creativity

Both Invention and Innovation needs Creativity.Creativity is important in the process of Innovation and Invention as they require you to think out of the box and be creative.The purpose of creative thinking is to improve the lives of humans and provide them with unlimited imaginations.Divergent thinking will collect ideas from everyone in the group, and then we will use convergent thinking to put all the good parts of each of our ideas together as one Big Idea.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Creativity, Invention and Innovation

Creativity is the father of invention.This means that to produce an invention, we need to use creativity to let the juices in our brain flow. Creativity helps to improvise something to make it better, which is innovating. Creativity is the producer of innovation, thus without creativity, there will be no innovation, when there is no innovation, things will never get better.

The purpose of creative thinking is to generate and add new, better and improvised ideas to add the list of ways to solve a problem, improve a solution and so on.

Through convergence and divergence thinking, it can help us get more ideas and ways of doing something during our group discussion. That way, the ideas generated will be better and wider- ranged. 


-Ding Nina Lin

Creativity and Innovation

How is creativity related to invention and innovation?
Answer, both of them require a certain amount of thinking and creativity to be able to succeed, and if there is no creativity in the process of the invention or innovation, it will not likely succeed.

What is the purpose of creative thinking?
Answer: It helps us generate new ideas, so that when we invent or innovate, we can brainstorm good ideas, and improve our invention/innovation.

How is divergent and convergent thinking helpful to you when you are doing group work?
Answer: Divergent thinking is useful when we have just started the group work and are brainstorming for ideas. This will allow us to generate lots of ideas, even though they might not make sense. Convergent thinking is useful when we want to extract all the good ideas from our brainstorming, so that we can start on our work.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

I&E Homework

1.Creativity is needed both for invention and innovation. we need to be creative in order to invent and innovate things.

2.It is to help us think creatively so we can invent and innovate things.

3. It helps me to classify ideas and generate more interesting ideas.

-Sandy Khoo

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I&E Homework

Relationship: An invention is a product of substance that meets some set of societal needs and would be the product of creativity. Innovation would be adding better things and adding value to an invention 
What is the purpose of creative thinking: It is to think in a new, unique, novel, unusual ways to generate possible to potential ideas that may lead to successful solutions or resolutions of problems and challenges.
How is divergent and convergent thinking helpful when you are doing group work: Generate more ideas.

Homework(Questions)

1)How is creativity related to invention and innovation?
2)What is the purpose of creative thinking?
3)How does understanding of convergence and divergence thinking help you in your group discussion?

Please post your comments on the I & E blog.

Increase your understanding: What is innovation?

Invention and creativity

Similarities:they both need alot of thinking to be done and is very useful to people.
difference: invention is inventing a new item ,food,ETC.creativity is just thinking out of the box and can be used on anything.
relationship:creativy usually lead to a invention 

Invention and Creativity

Similarities: Both are used to create new things to help mankind.


Differences: Creativity is used to think out of the box to create new ideas. Invention is to create something that has not been made before using new ideas.


Relationship: The ideas created using creativity is generally used in invention to create something new.


PS.Sorry for late post

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Invention VS Innovation

Differences:

Invention involves the discovery of new processes, ideas or tools.

Innovation, on the other hand, involves the use or development of an invention for some useful purpose.


Similarities:

Innovation is typically less risky than invention.

Creativity, knowledge, skills and experience is needed for both inventions and innovations which both contribute to new technology.

Creativity and Invention


Similarities: Creativity and invention are for the purpose of creating something useful to mankind.
Differences: Is when you think of a creative new idea and an invention is when you create something after study and experiment.
Relationship: Creativity often produces a new interesting idea which eventually becomes the foundation for the invention.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Creativity and Invention

Relationship: Creativity is need to make a invention.

Similarities:Both needs brains to think and have imagination.

Differences:One is a product while the another is a process.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Creativity and Invention

Creativity refers more of an idea, and creativity hence does not necessarily need to be realistic, it can even be out-of-this-world! Invention, however, refers to the creation of an object.  Invention also requires much planning and problem solving, whereas in creativity, just let it wildly FLOW!

However, both are similar in a way that both require lots of imagination! 

Their relationship is that creativity starts off invention, without creativity, invention cannot/very hard to be achieved.
DOMOOOOO. <3 rarrrrh!
Tobyyy