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- What should the students deliver?

Some examples for inspiration:

Health promotion campaign.

Documentary

Podcast

Interprofessional healthcare team simulation

Prototypes

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Write your question here

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Advocate for clarity on product, purpose, and audience.

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Brainstorming was invented in the 1930s as a practical idea-generation technique for regular use by "creatives" within the ad agency BBDO. The skill began to gain a wider audience in 1942, when Alex Osborn - the "O" in BBDO - released a book called How to Think Up and sparked the imaginations of his fellow Mad Men.

Since 1942, the method that began life in a New York creative firm has grown into the madness of Silicon Valley. Somewhere near Stanford, an introvert cringes every time the idea comes up of sitting in a roomful of colleagues, drawing half-baked ideas on Post-it notes, and then pasting them to the wall for all to see. (If this is you, watch David Kelley's TED Talk on creative confidence, followed by Susan Cain's on the power of introverts.)

I've run a lot of brainstorms over the years: with designers at IDEO, with Tom and David Kelley (I co-authored the book Creative Confidence with them), and with innovative educators at TED-Ed. I've come to believe that there's no one right way to run a brainstorm. You have to be willing to modify the format, length and parameters of each session to match the mix of introverts, extroverts and creative confidence levels in the room.

Below, 9 tips on how to run a brainstorm:

1) Circulate the question or topic before you start. For introverts who generate ideas best without the looming presence of others, knowing the topic in advance is key. This allows them to come prepared with several creative options - and not feel stampeded by extroverts who prefer to riff.

2) Keep the following guidelines in a place everyone can see during the brainstorm: 1) One idea at a time, 2) Encourage wild ideas, 3) Build on the ideas of others, 4) Defer judgment (no criticism), 5) Stay on topic. The goal at this stage of the innovation cycle is to remix and add to others' ideas - not filter or critique. Thus the default mode for a successful brainstorm is "Yes, and." As in comedy improv, good brainstormers don't waste time tearing down silly-sounding ideas. Instead, they either improve on the idea by adding something awesome to it, or generate a new idea quickly. Another way to phrase this is "build on the ideas of others." This is one guideline I always mention at the beginning of every brainstorm, and reinforce throughout.

3) Seat the group at a round table (or in a circle). Hey, it worked for King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

4) Start at your left and go around the circle. Each person gives one idea at a time. No one gets skipped over. This will help you hear from all members of the group - and not just the ones with the loudest voices.

5) Aim for a specific quantity of ideas. 25 ideas, say. Let the group know the goal at the start, and don't stop until you get to that number.

6) Number the group list of ideas as it's generated. Skip the Post-its and just use big pieces of paper on the table, or a blackboard if that's what you have. The numbering part helps people feel especially accomplished as they go. A mental pat-on-the-back.

7) Write down every single idea that's mentioned, and take a neutral, respectful stance toward each idea. Consciously or subconsciously, others will cue off your lead. You want everyone in the room to feel heard, to have permission to speak their piece, and to defer judgment during the brainstorm. Pro tip: don't attach people's names to ideas.

8) Keep each session short. 10 minutes at the end of class is fine. If 10 minutes is too hard to find, one successful alternative to an in-person group brainstorm is to tape a large piece of paper to a wall near the door, write your question at the top, and include a pen that people can use to anonymously write in their answers. Leave it up for 5 days, then take a picture and transcribe it.

9) Share back the unfiltered ideas list after the brainstorm ends. You never know which idea might spark something great.

Like other idea-generation tools, brainstorming was invented to make creative success easier - which is why creators are still using this technique 75+ years after its invention. To learn more about how to use design and innovation methods in education, I recommend these three options: take a course at IDEO U, download the Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit, or join the Teachers Guild.
Art credit: iStock To learn something new every week, sign up for the TED-Ed Newsletter here >>
Tags: Brainstorming, Creativity, Design, Engineering & Technology, IDEO, STEAM, Teaching & Education

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Brainstorming was invented in the 1930s as a practical idea-generation technique for regular use by "creatives" within the ad agency BBDO. The skill began to gain a wider audience in 1942, when Ale...

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Podcast to gain insights and tips on presentations: 

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Podcast to gain insights and tips on presentations: 

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Listen to Fearless Presentations on Spotify. Want to eliminate public speaking fear and become a more poised and confident presenter and speaker? Fearless Presentations is the answer. This podcast is based on our famous two-day presentation skills class offered in cities all over the world.

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You can customize it based on the end product.

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One of the most common features of any PBL project is group work. Even if the product is individual, there should always be some form of group work within the project to give students the ability to receive critique and revision, to share resources and think deeper about what they're learning, and to practice and develop the 21st century skill of collaboration. Not only should they be able to work as a group during the project, they should also find time to work as a group but independent and absent any direct instruction by the teacher. This can be a daunting challenge for even experienced classroom practitioners as they may not know how to scaffold a gradual release for their students or may have concerns about specific students in their class being able to work without derailing an entire group.

One of the easiest ways to structure work is to provide roles for students during the project. There are many different ways to construct these roles, so before you launch your project you may want to consider which best describes your project design:

1. Do you want your students to complete tasks based on static, unchanging roles?

2. Do they need the ability to be more dynamic day to day with their roles, or think of roles as task-based?

Whichever way you structure roles in the context of your project, they generally fall in one of these two categories, and each has specific advantages/disadvantages:

Static Roles

In this system, students always have the same job or role, so there is very little chance for misunderstanding or confusion even if the student happens to be absent for a day or two or miss the initial phases of the project. Static roles are particularly useful in longer, more investigative projects or for short group discussions where you want these discussions to be carried on in a certain way. For example, a science teacher I work with always displays the same group roles for every lab on the board and then mixes them up by divvying out cards playing cards where each suit corresponds to a specific role. These roles include an explainer, a recorder, the timekeeper, and the materials manager. This approach provides a strongly defined foundation for lab work. This system forms a foundation for the culture of her classroom and after the first few attempts her students are well aware of what the expectations are for lab and group tasks once the playing cards come out. As a result, there is very little wandering or off task behavior during her projects.

The danger with static roles is they must be well thought out and must have some sort of job during the entire part of the project. For example, if you were doing a project that required video recording, and you had a student whose role was to be the camera person, what do they do after the project has been recorded and moved onto the editing phase? In a situation like this, more dynamic, task-based roles may be more appropriate.

Dynamic Roles

With this model, groups start off each work period by filling out a task list and assigning specific jobs to each person. A teacher can ask for this task list at any time in order to learn exactly who is doing what in each group. At the end of each work period, students sign off that their task has either been completed, or they write down the next step that they need to complete in order to finish the assignment the next time they work on it. In this model students will take on multiple roles in each project depending on what has to be done during a given work period. It also gives students a chance to experience different roles and practice different skills throughout the project.

An added bonus to this approach is the paper trail that is left behind. Task lists are very helpful in providing information for the teacher as to the effectiveness of the group over a long period of time or for students when they reflect on the project process at the end.

The danger with dynamic groups is that it is the responsibility of the students to divide the work up evenly, and sometimes they may need more coaching and guidance for this to happen before it becomes automatic. Also, since each group is free to find their own path to the end product, this form of role-creation can result in a chaotic classroom.

Hybrid Approach

If neither of the above seems like the right fit, don't worry, there is also a third option that combines aspects of the other two. Some students will be given static roles that do not change, while others will be given dynamic roles where their job or responsibilities change throughout the course of the project. This helps support learners who excel or need an additional challenge while scaffolding for learners who need the more consistent checks that are provided by dynamic grouping.

For example, I have my students complete a constitution project where they run their own mock campaign for president, where certain students take on a management role. One student actually takes on the role of party chairperson and essentially keeps the rest of the class on task and working by checking in and providing coaching. This student keeps their role the entire time while other students move between roles based on the goals of the project. This system works well in the context of the project, but it is important to think about the best way of introducing this model to the class so that those with static roles aren't seen as superior.

If you're not sure what approach to roles is best for your project, consider these questions before you launch.

What are the different phases of your project?

In order for your students to complete your project, what kinds of things will they all need to do?

What roles or responsibilities could best encapsulate the steps?

Is one of these roles more key, more crucial to completion of the project than the others? (It may be helpful to give groups a heads-up about this, in case someone is interested in taking more of a leadership role while others would like to just simply be a part of the group work)

What 21st century skills will each role require?

Would a tool for reflection help your students?

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Roles in PBL: 3 Approaches For Organizing Group Tasks

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One of the most common features of any PBL project is group work. Even if the product is individual, there should always be some form of group work within the project to give students the ability to receive critique and revision, to share resources and think deeper about what they're learning, and to practice and develop the 21st century skill of collaboration.

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Tasks to be completed.

Start and end dates of tasks.

Duration of each task.

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Nancy Duarte: The secret structure of great talks

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From the "I have a dream" speech to Steve Jobs' iPhone launch, many great talks have a common structure that helps their message resonate with listeners. In this talk, presentation expert Nancy Duarte shares practical lessons on how to make a powerful call-to-action.

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The three magic ingredients of amazing presentations

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The three magic ingredients of amazing presentations

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The 3 Magic Ingredients of Amazing Presentations | Phil WAKNELL | TEDxSaclay