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AAs educators look for strategies andlearning models to ensure students areequipped to fully participate and suc-ceed in society in this rapidly changingcentury, I can recommend the CreativeProblem Solving (CPS) model devel-oped by Treffinger and colleagues (Tr-effinger, Isaksen, & Dorval, 2000),which provides a framework to applycreative-thinking processes to solveproblems. Embedded in the model aretools and strategies that, when placedin the hands of students, allow them tobe engaged in a process for thinkingboth creatively and critically. When CPSis tied to curriculum, students arelearning to think and thinking to learn,rather than being spoon fed informa-tion.My colleagues and I have

found opportunities in ourcurriculum for students in anacademically gifted second-grade classroom to tacklereal-world economic prob-lems using the CPS model.Creative Problem Solving

(CPS) is a framework for prac-tical application in problem solving.Groups or individuals define the natureof a problem, generate creative andunique ideas to solve the problem, anduse specific tools to focus on solutions.The CPS model is a framework that con-sists of three process components, sixstages, and 10 tools. The actual problemwill determine which components ofthe model will be essential to solve theproblem. It is not necessary to do allcomponents, stages, or use all of thetools. The three process componentsare Understanding the Challenge, Gen-erating Ideas, and Preparing for Action.Within each component are stages forproblem solving and an assortment of

tools that may be used throughout themodel.

Component One:Understandingthe Challenge

I began to organize this unit by fo-cusing on economic and class systems,and rather than present prescribed eco-nomics lessons, I chose to have the stu-dents deal with a problem in theircommunity. When planning for a CPSunit, you must first consider whetherthe task is complex, important, open-ended, and in need of novelty. If itmeets these criteria, CPS may be theright model.

Constructing Opportunities. In theConstructing Opportunities stage I

posed the headline: Community NeedsAre All Around Us. The students thenbrainstormed various WIBAI (Wouldn’tIt Be Awful If…) statements. Examplesof my students’ work include:Wouldn’tit be awful if people were left to fendfor themselves?OrWouldn’t it be awfulif no one helped others in need? Withguidance, they reformed these state-ments into WIBNI (Wouldn’t It Be NiceIf…) statements. Examples frommy stu-dents include: Wouldn’t it be nice ifpeople helped others in need? andWouldn’t it be nice if everyone hadtheir needs met?Next, I had the students use the Hits

and Hot Spots strategy to help us de-

termine the problem we wanted to ex-plore. To teach Hits and Hot Spots Igave each of my students two stickers toplace on the statements that jumpedout at them. They could put both stick-ers on one idea or spread them out; thestatements with stickers were the“Hits.” After the students voted we clus-tered the ideas that were similar into“Hot Spots” to determine the actualproblem statement we needed to fur-ther explore the data.

Exploring Data. During the secondstage, Exploring Data, the studentsidentified the key data within the prob-lem, looked at the task from many dif-ferent angles, and began to frame thechallenge on which to work. The stu-

dents explored data using5W+H (Who, What, Where,When, Why, and How). Thesequestions helped the stu-dents to draw out importantinformation and gain clarityon how to proceed. Then,the students consideredmany sources of data (news-paper clippings, on-line arti-

cles, periodicals, and television newsclippings) that depicted families/com-munity members in need.At that point in the economics unit it

was apparent that many students wereusing the language of an economist, buthad some difficulty fully understandingthe terms. I used the Attribute Listingtool to help redefine the language ofeconomics. The students were pro-vided with a graphic organizer display-ing economic terms and asked toprovide a brief definition and list someattributes of the term. Then they wereto read the story Tight Times by BarbaraShook Hazen and identified items orideas that fit under each category.

Creative Problem Solving Embeddedinto CurriculumBY ANNA CASSALIA,OLD DONATION CENTER SCHOOL,VA

Anna Cassalia is an elementaryschool teacher at Old Donation Cen-ter, a school in the Virginia BeachCity, (VA) public school department.

Framing Problems. After reviewingthe language and identifying the termsin the story, students had a better un-derstanding of economic needs andwere ready for the Framing Problemsstage. In this stage the students formu-lated their problem statement. The stu-dents were to identify some targetedquestions that could be used to stimu-late the search for many, varied, andoriginal ideas to solve the problem. I re-minded the students to begin theirstatements with IWWM… (In What WaysMight…), How Might…, or H2 (Howto…). Some examples of the students’thinking include: How might we as stu-dents help those in need? In what waysmight the local government improve itsmethods of helping those in need? It isimportant to remind the students thatthey will be focusing on looking for theproblem/question that they want to ask.This is not the time to look for answers.After the students generated theirproblem statements they needed tofocus their attention to one state-ment. The students were able to de-cide on a problem statement byusing the Head and Shoulders test,which simply asks, “Is one of my op-tions head and shoulders above therest?” They chose to focus on: Inwhat ways might we help those inneed? After the students Framed theProblem they set out to generateideas for possible solutions.

Component Two: GeneratingIdeas

The Generating Ideas componenthas just one stage in which the stu-dents generate multiple and variedideas then focus their ideas to createa solution. Creative thinking is oftenreferred to as the divergent processin which we begin with a singlethought or questions and expandour thinking to create new possibili-ties. CPS idea generating tools include:Brainstorming, SCAMPER, Morphologi-cal Matrix, Attribute Listing, and Force-Fitting. It is important to stress that

during “generating” those involved arenot to pass judgment whether positiveor negative. Let the ideas just flow andpush for novelty.Brainstorming is a way to generate

multiple and varied options for anopen-ended problem. I like to give mystudents Post-it notes to record theirideas first, within a silent work envi-ronment, and then the students are en-couraged to share their ideas andpiggy-back off of others. My studentsbegan to brainstorm solutions for theproblem statement:In what ways might we help those in

need? After the students generated all oftheir suggestions we put them on alarge sheet of chart paper and used theHits and Hot Spots tool. [See Figure 1]The Hot Spots included: take moneydonations, sell things and donate theprofits, donate gently used items, andhave a school fundraiser.

Component Three: Preparing forAction

After generating many and variedideas, the students had to think criti-

cally about those ideas to focus theminto plausible answers. During thisthird component the students were en-couraged to put those ideas into action.

Developing Solutions. In this stagethe students worked on promising op-tions and refined them to fit our prob-lem statement. At this time, I introducedanother focusing tool, ALoU, whichstands for: Advantages, Limitations,How to Overcome the Limitations andUniqueness. Through this process theydetermined that making a product andselling it was a good idea and maybesomething worth considering.Based on this new insight, the stu-

dents needed to further investigatewhich idea they wanted to pursue. I in-troduced Force-Fitting, a focusing toolthat requires forcing two seemingly dis-similar objects together to create a newor innovative idea. This is a strategy forstudents to see common objects orideas in unusual ways. Through theuse of the tool, which asked the stu-dents to come up with new ideas,the class decided to make Christmasornaments and sell them to the en-tire school community, the proceedsgoing to charity.Next, the students had to decide

which ornaments they were going tosell. The students decided to use theevaluation matrix to determine theirproduct. An Evaluation Matrix is a fo-cusing tool used to rank the optionsbased on predetermined criteria.For our problem, the students cameup with the criteria; (a) most popu-lar, (b) most profitable, (c) leastlabor intensive, and (d) most novel.There are many ways to use the eval-uation matrix; for simplicity, wechose to rank the choices (1=low;5=high) based on each criterion.

Building Acceptance. The stu-dents had a plan in mind, but theyneeded to further prepare how to

carry out their solution. At this time wefocused on anticipating factors thatwould possibly hinder successful actionand identifying ways to overcome these

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“ A focus on creativity, critical thinking,communication and collaboration isessential to prepare students for thefuture” (Partnership for 21st Century

Skills, 2009).

FIGURE 1

hindrances. The students consideredpossible assisters and resisters using the5W+H. For example, who will be will-ing to hear our suggestions and help uswith implementation? When can wepresent this information? Where willwe meet obstacles?

Component Four: Planning YourApproach

Appraising Tasks. As we thoughtthrough the possible obstacles, we de-cided our next course of action wouldbe to create a plan that included actionsteps. At this time, I introduced the fo-cusing tool, Short, Medium, and Longterm goals (or S-M-L), a tool that helpsto organize one’s options in a logicalmanner. Students were to decide theirtime frame and decide what needed tobe done at each interval. We deter-mined that in this case, Short termwould be things that needed to be donethe same day, Medium term were things

that needed to be done in thenext week, and that Long termwould be things that needed tobe done in the month before oursale. Under short term the stu-dents decided they needed toorder the ornaments and create aname for the business. In the twoweeks that followed they neededto make the ornaments, create ad-vertisements, write a jingle, anddivide up into jobs for the actualsale days. Then, in the followingmonth, they would hang postersto advertise, sing jingles on theannouncements, set up theirstore front, and sell the orna-ments. S-M-L is a great focusingtool to use when planning a long-term project.

Designing Process. As we pro-ceeded with our solution it be-came apparent that the studentsneeded a mini-lesson on product devel-

opment (in order to make unique orna-ments) and creative advertising. I choseto use the tool, SCAMPER for this lesson.SCAMPER is an acronym for Substitute,Combine, Adapt, Modify, Minify, Magnify,Put to other uses, Eliminate, Reverse, orRearrange. SCAMPER is used to generatenew ideas by asking questions such as:What could I substitute in this item/prob-lem?, or How could I adapt my idea tomake a new idea? We concluded this les-son with the students using the SCAM-PER process to determine how to use a$100 donation and to create their adver-tisements. [See Figure 2.]Finally, we had to decide to which

charity the students would donate theprofits from our sale. The kids had fourpossibilities in mind. To make this deci-sion, we used PCA, Paired ComparisonAnalysis, a tool for ranking and priori-tizing a small number of options.Through this process they decided thatthey would donate the money to Oper-ation Smile, a charity that raises moneyfor children with facial deformities,namely cleft lips and palates, from allaround the globe.This student-centered unit was based

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on our city-wide curriculum goals: to develop an under-standing for systems of knowledge, themes, issues, and prob-lems that frame the external world, to develop metacognitiveskills that foster independent and self-directed learning, andto develop creative and critical-thinking skills along withproblem-solving skills. Through the CPS model the studentsgained a deep understanding of basic economic principleswhile solving a real-world problem. This model allowed thestudents to grapple with difficult subject matter in a friendlyand challenging manner.The Creative Problem Solving model presents a unique and

differentiated framework with which to deliver any curricu-

lar materials. If you are an educator searching for the tools tocreate a classroom full of 21st century learners equipped withtools and strategies to embark upon solving the problems oftoday’s world, look no further. �

ReferencesHazen, B. S.. (1983).Tight times. NewYork,NY: Puffin.Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). Learning and innovation skills.Retrieved from: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=120

Treffinger, D., Isaksen, S., & Dorval, B. (2000).Creative problem solving: Anintroduction (3rd ed.). Waco,TX: Prufrock Press.

Williams,V. B. (1982).A chair for my mother. NewYork,NY:Greenwillow.

SMART COOKIES BY BESS WILSON

deeper context. Students can wrestlewith questions like:• How do the concepts and proce-

dures we’re learning apply in differ-ent settings/professions?• These kinds of problems are re-

ally interesting, what kind of careersshare my interest?•Why is it important that I know this?

How does this idea/concept/processapply to the “real” world?The new NAGC programming

standards address the need to focuson students’ conceptual, social, andintellectual growth in addition tothe chronological checklists of aca-demic achievement independent ofthe discipline. If you teach multiplesubjects consider how to integratethem across the disciplines. If you’rea single subject expert, look forways to work across disciplines toincrease learning opportunities anddevelop self-awareness in your stu-dents. �

ReferenceGubbins,E.J.,Westberg,K.L.,Reis,S.M.,Dinno-centi,S.,Tieso,C.L.,Muller,L.M.,…Burns,D.E. (2002). Implementing a professionaldevelopment model using gifted educationstrategies with all students (RM02172).Storrs:University of Connecticut,NationalResearchCenteron theGiftedandTalented.

iMathinationcontinued from page 5

FIGURE 2

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