An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity - always yours

EXERCISES 221
more the better. You can also try to think of ideas that no one else might think of.
Here are some exercises to try out. You have three minutes for each question.
a) Think of as many uses as you can for a pencil.
b) Consider the typical Barbie doll, a plastic doll with clothes and movable
limbs. Think of ways to improve it so that it is more fun to play with.
c) Imagine that people do not need to sleep anymore. Think of as many
consequences as you can.
d) Imagine that people could transport themselves from one place to another
just by twitching their fingers. What might happen as a result?
23.2 Imagining new possibilities is an essential part of creative thinking. Think
about ways to deal with these problems.
a) Jack and Jill have been dating but now they quarrel all the time when
they meet up. Still, they do not want to break up completely yet.
b) We need more prisons, but no additional money should be spent on the
prison system.
23.3 A hiker started walking up a mountain at 1:00 p.m. along a path. He reached
the top at 6:00 p.m. and camped there for the night. The next day at exactly 1:00
p.m., he walked down along the same path, and reached the starting point at 6:00
p.m.. It is not known whether he stopped along the way, or how fast he was walking.
Is there enough information to determine whether there was a point on the
path where he passed by at the same time on both days?
23.4 IE1 Try to gain better insight into your own creative thinking. Here are some
questions to think about:
a) Recall a situation in which you had to try very hard to solve a difficult
problem. What did you do? Was your method similar to the creativity
formula? How could you have done it better?
b) What kind of environment is most conducive to your creativity?
c) Is there any specific area where you want to become more creative? Who
are the successful people in this area? Can you read more about them
and see what you can learn from them? Have you put in about 10,000
hours of training or study in this area? If not, roughly how many more
hours do you need?