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https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/37d992e534ae16d4d9770ac4f49a73bc.pdf
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Combinatory Play
Albert Einstein referred to his thinking process as "combinatory play." Like
the highly intelligent child with a pail of Legos, Einstein constantly combined
and recombined ideas, images, and other various thoughts into millions of
different combinations. This combinatory play was the essential feature in
his creative thinking process. Consider Einstein's equation, E=mc2. Einstein
did not invent the concepts of energy, mass, or speed of light. Rather, he
combined these concepts in a novel way which restructured the way he
looked at the universe.
Think for a moment about hydrogen and oxygen. Blend them together and
you create water, a product with properties quite different from either of the
component gases that make it up. Who could have predicted the emergence
of water from two simple gases? Alone, they have known and obvious
properties. Put them together, and seemingly magical transformations occur.
But, it is not magic; synthesis is the very essence of creativity.
Combinatory play is an extraordinarily easy way to generate ideas. Suppose
you want to invent something new. Select 20 objects at random. You can
select any objects, objects at home, objects at work, or objects you might
find walking down the street. Or you can imagine you are in a
technologically-oriented science museum, walking on a beach, browsing in a
store, or just walking down a street, and then you can make a list of 20
objects that you would likely see.
Make two lists of 10 objects each on the left and right sides of the paper.
Pick one from the left and combine it with one on the right. Play with the
combinations until you find a promising new combination, then refine and
elaborate it into a new invention. Following is an example from a recent
workshop. Two participants went to the front of the room. One listed the
first ten objects that came to her mind for Column A, while the other did the
same for Column B.
Column A
Column B
�The group then randomly combined objects from Column A with objects
from Column B to see how many new products they could invent. The
illustrated combinations yielded the following ideas:
•
Combining bagel with slicer yields a bagel slicer with plastic sides
designed to hold the bagel and prevent rotation when slicing.
•
Bathtub and hammock combines into a baby tub with a simple
hammock in the tub with a headrest to hold the baby's head securely,
leaving the parent's hands free to do the washing.
•
Suntan lotion and insect repellent combines to form a new product —
one lotion that protects against both the sun and insects.
•
Coffee maker and sculpture combines to form a coffee maker with a
top that resembles a sculpture of the top of the volcano Mount
Vesuvius. When the coffee is done, the top glows red.
•
Doormat and vacuum cleaner combines to form a doormat with a built
in suction. When you step on the doormat, the doormat sucks the dirt
and debris from the bottom of your shoes.
•
Cell phone and soda can inspired the idea of utilizing cell phones as
devices that, with sensors, would enable users to dispense soda and
other products from vending machines with the expense charged back
to the vendor via the carrier.
You can also try the inverse heuristic to generate ideas, which states that if
an object performs one function, a new product might be realized by
combining it with an object that performs the opposite function. The claw
hammer is a good example. So is a pencil with an eraser.
Can you create new objects from the list of random objects by combining the
object with something that performs the opposite function? How about a
small cap for tightly sealing a soda can that could be attached to the lever of
the pop-top device?
Adapted from: http://creativethinking.net/DT10_CombinatoryPlay.htm
�
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Toolkit - Projects
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Collection of projects and assignments used by GBC faculty that address key humanities skills.
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Collection of projects and assignments used by GBC faculty that address key humanities skills.
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GBC Faculty
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GBC VHC
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August 2014
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Scott A. Gavorsky
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Combinatory Play
Subject
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A class project for developing creativity through a synthesis of ideas.
Description
An account of the resource
Kathy Schwandt's basic description: "Combinatory play is an extraordinarily easy way to generate ideas. Suppose you want to invent something new. Select 20 objects at random. You can select any objects, objects at home, objects at work, or objects you might find walking down the street. Or you can imagine you are in a technologically-oriented science museum, walking on a beach, browsing in a store, or just walking down a street, and then you can make a list of 20 objects that you would likely see.
"Make two lists of 10 objects each on the left and right sides of the paper. Pick one from the left and combine it with one on the right. Play with the combinations until you find a promising new combination, then refine and elaborate it into a new invention."
Creator
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Kathy Schwandt
Publisher
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GBC VHC
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
August 2014
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Scott A. Gavorsky
Format
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PDF file
Language
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English
creativity
Critical Thinking
Faculty
Play
project
synthesis
Toolkit