Build-Up
Create multiple "How might we. . . ? " inquiries on large index cards. Students should arrange themselves in a circle consisting of 7 to 10 individuals, with each one receiving a card. Underneath the posed question, each participant notes an idea to tackle it before passing the card to the right. The subsequent person reads the new card and must enhance, modify, or elaborate on the previously noted idea, which they then record on the following line. As the cards circulate halfway around the circle, encourage creative and unconventional suggestions for the remaining entries. A variant of this activity is called "The Worst Idea Ever," where each learner in a smaller circle gets a card that describes a truly awful product concept (like taxis filled with bees, ice shoes, fish-flavored toothpaste, monkey-given haircuts, etc.), with the aim of somehow making each idea even worse. Once the cards complete their journey, the students gather together to uncover and pinpoint any potential good ideas buried within the terrible ones.
Elderlympics
This activity aims to foster empathy toward senior citizens. Provide students with foggy eyewear, oversized gloves, and old coats to wear. Next, assign them simple tasks such as selecting the correct medication from a variety, measuring liquids, buttoning their jacket, opening battery packaging, peeling a banana, tossing a frisbee to a mannequin, and unscrewing a pickle jar. During the debriefing, students are prompted to discuss which activities were the most difficult and brainstorm products or improvements to existing ones that could assist the elderly in their daily lives.
Back to empathy again
After that unexpected introduction to empathy while listening to my guest speaker, I’ve developed a routine. A few days before each semester starts, I visit my designated classrooms, sit in the back, and envision how I want my future classes to unfold so that my students retain all their hair.
