"Zoe" means Life, in Greek

Zoe, was the title of an eTwinning project that I run 2 years ago. It was about sustainability, an issue that inspires me in my teaching and moves me in my life.

Today, I proudly discovered that Zoe is featured in the annual eTwinning book "Classrooms in Action" , in the VET schools category . I'm more than happy about it! 

six thinking hats

The six hats technique provides a framework to help people think clearly and thoroughly by adopting and directing different modes of thinking in one direction at a time. These different modes of thinking are characterized by six different coloured hats. This is to enable more expansive, increased creativity and decision-making. 

Each hat is symbolic of a particular approach and way of thinking. 

The white hat is mutual and objective, it is concerned with facts and figures. 

When adopting white hat thinking, we have to be disciplined to stay neutral and objective. White hat thinking means concerning ourselves with the facts and figures of a given topic or subject area.

We restrain ourselves from asking why something has occurred, and only look at quantifiable information which can often invalidate an opinion. 

The green hat indicates creativity, under the green hat, you can come up with lots of ideas. 

The red hat gives the emotional point of view. Do we love an idea? Do we hate it? Does it make us feel anxious? Do we disapprove? Or are we disgusted by an idea? 

The black hat is cautious and careful. It is critical and identifies the weaknesses in an idea, with a view to making that idea stronger. 

The yellow hat it's sunny and positive. It helps us identify the value and benefits in an idea. 

The blue hat represents control and organization of the other hats.

One of the strengths of using the six hats technique is that it separates ego from performance.

Everyone involved in the meeting has to adopt a particular mode of thinking, so although an individual may be prone to think in a particular way, when using the six hats technique, they will have to appreciate each idea and look at it through a different lens, which may result in a previous opposing thinker of an idea, championing it.

Some of the key benefits of six thinking hats include that 

• the technique works and users see results immediately. 
• It's simple to learn and use. 
• It can be used by an individual or in a group, it modifies behaviors without undermining particular personalities, 
• It encourages cooperation, 
• It is extremely valuable for decision-making, and a suitable complement to the use of an evaluation matrix to ensure that a broad basis for a decision has been considered.

creativity 2 - brainstorming

On initial thought, brainstorming can be simply seen as a dedicated time for you to come up with ideas to solve a problem. Yet there are different methods of brainstorming, defined by a few rules and tools. Giving structure and guidance to a brainstorming session will, in turn, create an environment to develop many more ideas.

Methods of thinking have evolved and have been taught throughout history. These methods have been demonstrated by Ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, through to serial entrepreneurs changing our world today, such as Elon Musk and Richard Branson.

Let's start with Brainstorming. The aim of this tool is not to produce inventions for fully developed products, instead, it is used to assist with the generation of ideas. This can be done at any stage of the problem-solving process but tends to focus on problem exploration, idea generation, and concept evaluation.

Brainstorming is normally a group activity undertaken by an interdisciplinary team.
There are a series of well-established rules that can help a brainstorming session run smoothly. These include
having no more than 10 people present to aid effective group dynamics.
Don't criticize or mock-up any ideas, statements, or individuals during the session.
Have lots of flip charts, marker pens, pencils,and paper available.
Make sure you introduce and state the brief clearly, and define a set period of time for the session. The participants in brainstorming generally includes an interdisciplinary team, colleagues, external collaborators.
What about the boss? Whether or not you include your boss will depend upon the aims
of the session, and the willingness of people to open up in front of a manager.
How about intimidating personalities? Again, you may choose not to include people who have
an intimidating personality, as this can inhibit the free flowing nature of
a brainstorming session.
How about skeptics? Having people who are skeptical can be both a hindrance and positive. But can be handled by perhaps a private word beforehand, asking an individual to moderate their critical approach for the duration of a brainstorming session.
What about non-participants? If an individual is not willing to engage, then it may be better not
to have them present.
There are various types of brainstorming.

Brainstorming tools

The Flip Chart approach serves as a great entry activity to a brainstorming session. For example, it can be used to determine the important areas of a problem. The group can "Flip Chart" brainstorm these for several minutes.

Post-its were born for brainstorming. They are a great size to focus and record a single idea. As Post-its can be peeled off a surface and re-applied several times, the ideas can then be rearranged and ordered into groups of similar ideas. The approach encourages a group to come together and generate ideas simultaneously.

As the name suggests, in an Alphabet brainstorming session, participants are invited to work through the alphabet letter by letter. With one set parameter, the letter itself, it inspires a wide range of ideas. It also encourages the creative use of the letter to form a sentence or phrase, rather than an idea that is one or two words.

The session should always be concluded by reviewing the ideas generated. If necessary, this can be immediately followed by exploring opportunities to combine ideas and seeing whether any of the suggestions provoke additional avenues for exploration.

Brainwriting is a series of techniques developed by Horst Geschka at the Batelle Institute in Frankfurt (Geschka, 1993). Most of the session is done in silence as it encourages a group of participants to develop ideas in parallel.

During Grid brainstorming, a 3 by 3 grid is recommended. The number of columns dictates the number of ideas needed to initiate the process. The number of rows dictates how many times the idea is passed on and developed. By the end of a session, many ideas have been generated and developed by using the inspiration of previously generated ideas.

creativity 1

If necessity is the mother of invention, then opportunity is the father.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

What is creativity? 

There have been many definitions of creativity in literature and academia. For example, creativity is the forming of associative elements into new combinations which either meet requirements or

are in some way useful. Creativity denotes a person's capacity to produce new or original ideas, insights, inventions or artistic products which are accepted by experts as being of scientific, aesthetic, social or technical value, and one I particularly like with a modern twist on values that creativity is imagination with responsibility. 

Creativity is often thought to exist on at least two levels, big C versus little c, eminent versus every day. 

Creativity is the ability to imagine or invent something new or value where the value may be personal, societal, financial or some combination of these. Creativity is not the ability to create something out of nothing, but the ability to generate new ideas by combining, changing or reapplying

existing ideas. Some creative ideas are astonishing and brilliant while others are just simple good practical ideas that no one seems to have thought of yet.

In the consideration of creativity, it's important to think about both body and mind. Attention and stress are intertwined. While stress arousal is useful for real emergency, as an ongoing state, it can be a disaster. If you want people to be able to consider novel ideas, you need to take care of the potential stress response. A stress response can, through the release of endorphins, prevent people from being able to think about new ideas. So we need to create a low stress environment, to encourage creative thinking. Physical and mental environments need to be considered. This can be achieved by protecting participants from the consequences of considering new ideas. Reassurance should be given

that if a new idea is followed, then the whole group will provide support. And will try and solve any problems that arise. Generating high trust is essential.

When do we get ideas? The common feature of the situations when we get ideas is that we are relaxed. And our subconscious is highly active. This aides communication between our consciousness and subconscious. And hence the production and realizations of ideas.

from Coursera MOOC: Creative Thinking: Techniques and Tools for Success - Imperial College London

hands on Entrepreneurial Education

My personal way to Entrepreneurial Education was long. From my father's business, to the position of General Manager in KYRVAS S.A. (an agricultural supplies company in Iearpetra) some 27 years ago and then, as a teacher,  consciously choosing to teach agricultural economy related subjects, in my vocational school. Now, as a life-long learner, I find myself proudly collaborating with Ioannis Stagias on ICT supported learning scenarios for entrepreneurial education.
I'm also proudly sharing with you to read, his latest article on "Secondary school students build multiple skills in evaluating business opportunities via technology‑enhanced learning activities".