Innovative brainstorming problem solving exercises for students
This article gives an overview of a few innovative brainstorming activities to solve a given problem at hand. Students will be able to reach a solution faster with this collective effort. Read the complete article to get an idea about innovative brainstorming problem-solving exercises for students.
A human is the only creature on this earth who has a creative mind to process and think in a useful direction. A human mind has unlimited potential if used in the right direction. One has to tap the mind's creative side by training it by suitable methods. This article gives a few brainstorming exercises which can be taught to school or college students for their future problems and endeavors. 
Before moving to the brainstorming exercise or method for problem-solving, let us know what is problem solving and how to have a systematic approach for the solution. What is problem-solving?
Einstein said that one should take more time to define and explain a problem than solution time. Defining a problem is more important as it helps to reach the solution very faster. One should rephrase the problem or define the problem in another way round. Break the problem into a smaller number of stages or parts or points. Get a small part/stage at a time and define it. This will give an overall idea to understand the problem well. A well-understood problem gives you a solution faster.
Keeping this in mind, the following activities should be performed to reach the solution faster than solving it with the normal state of mind.Methods for problem-solving
Before solving a problem, one can recognize the problem or the opportunity at hand before seeking the solution. Do not waste your time in solving a problem whose solution takes more time and its solution does not add value or it is not a worth opportunity. If the problem or opportunity really helps a person or organization, devote the time and find the solution.
More minds are better than one. So, if the problem arises, form a team and get them to work to find the solution. But rather than giving suggestions, solve the problem by following methods. Problem-solving method-1
In this Nominal Group Technique (NGT) a team leader or teacher will take the help of team members/students to generate and define the ideas or problem well. He or she should be able to convey or address the real problem or issue. Once the problem definition is over, he or she will ask all the team members to write their top ideas which can solve the problem. Rate them in terms of numbers like 1 to 5 etc. Once all the team members complete the task in a given time, the team leader will collect all the ideas. He or she will stick or paste them on board. He or she will now ask all remaining team members to vote on an idea. Once the voting is over, select the top 3 ideas based on the voting process. Now, these filtered ideas will be used to bring about a solution to that problem based on factors like feasibility of the idea, time taken to implement or solution, and cost incurred to get the solution. Problem-solving method-2
A team leader/teacher will float the well-defined problem in front of all the team members/students. Team members will write the problem and its idea or solution in terms of keywords and will pass it on to the next right or left member sitting next to him or her. This member will read, modify or add different keywords to the solution and will pass this sheet to another member sitting next to him or her. Repeat the process till all the team members get a sheet of all members. If there are 10 members, a total of 10 passes will be done. Now, the team leader will select the top 3 ideas based on factors mentioned above i.e. time, feasibility and cost. Conclusion
A well-defined problem is presented before the team members. Team members will share the ideas and vote on the ideas to get the solution. Also, team members can pass their ideas with other members and the top few ideas will be considered for the implementation based on factors like feasibility, time, and cost.
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The brainstorming technique is one of the very popular methods that are employed by many people to find out a solution to the issues the organisation is facing. Different people will participate in these brainstorming sessions and try to use their thinking power, understand the problem properly and come out with a solution.
Not only in brainstorming, but other problem-solving techniques also require a problem to be defined in a very concise and easy way so that all the people participating in the discussion will be on the same understanding level. That is why the first step is to understand the problem. The next stage is to narrow down the area where the problem is lying. For this one should make the problem into as many small units as possible so that we can identify the exact unit where the problem is? That will make us come out with the best possible solution to the problem.