Lateral Thinking

By M. Allen Firester on behalf

of IS68; Mr. Fralin, principal.

Italian Workman Wants a Job

An Italian workman wants a job, but the foreman
won't hire him until he passes a little math test.
'Here's your first question,' the foreman said.
'Without using numbers, represent the number
9.'
'Withouta numbers?' the Italian says, 'Datsa
easy.' and he proceeds to draw three trees.
'What's this?' the boss asks.
'Ave you gota no brain? Tree and tree and tree
makes a nine,' says the Italian.

 'Fair enough,' says the boss. 'Here's your

second question. Use the same rules, but this
time the number is 99.'
The Italian stares into space for a while, then
picks up the picture that he has just drawn and
makes a smudge on each tree . 'Ere you go.'
The boss scratches his head and says, 'How on
earth do you get that to represent 99?'
'Eacha of da trees is a dirty now. So, it's dirty
tree, and dirty tree, and dirty tree. Datsa a 99.'

 The boss is getting worried that he's going

to actually have to hire this Italian, so he
says, 'All right, last question.
Same rules again, but representthe
number 100.'
The Italian stares into space some more,
then he picks up the picture again and
makes a little mark at the base of each
tree and says, 'Ere you go. Onehundred.'

 The boss looks at the attempt. 'You must

be nuts if you think that represents a
hundred!'
(You're going to love this one!!!)
The Italian leans forward and points to
the marks at the base of each tree and
says, 'A little doga come along and shita
by eacha tree. So now you gotadirty tree
and a turd, dirty tree and a turd, and dirty
tree and a turd, datamakea one hundred.
So, whenna I start?

Historical perspective:
Though fictional the following demonstrates
the power of lateral thinking: Witness the
success of the cadet James T. Kirk (Later
Enterprise Captain) in star fleet academy:
Kirk had the distinction of being the only cadet
ever to beat the "no-win" Kobayashi Maru
scenario; he had secretly reprogrammed the
simulation computer, making it possible to win
and earning himself a commendation for
original thinking. When asked how he was
able to win against this no-win situation, he
said, I changed the rules.

 Gauss showed indications of

mathematical genius very early. His
teacher gave the students an
assignment to add up a series of 100
numbers. Instantly, Gauss said that he
had completed the exercise (the story
goes that he had figured that 100
numbers could be determined by the
equation n(a+b)(1/2)=50(a+b) where
n=100, a = the first digit in the
sequence and b = the last digit in the
sequence.)

Let me show you how he did

it.
Suppose you wanted to sum up:
5+6+7+8
Notice that 5 + 8 = 13 Also 5 + 6 =
13. There are 2 pairs of 13. 13 x 2 =
26.
Would this be any different for the
sum of the digits 1 to 10? What is the
sum? How many pairs? What is the
total?

Is this just deductive or

inductive reasoning?

Or was he
thinking outside
the box?

 Years ago everyone wanted to know why

Chemical Bank was able to reconcile
almost all of their accounts at the end of
the day and avoid massive write-offs to
their suspension account (saving millions).
The answer was that at 3:00 pm daily, all
of the people involved brought their coffee
to the conference room for a brainstorming
session. They found matches where there
appeared to be none. This was the first
instance I had seen first-hand of the power
of lateral thinking.

 As Einstein reminds us, Problems

cannot be solved by thinking within the
framework in which they were created.
He was, of course, alluding to problems
that are unusual in nature or plaguing to
society.
There are many instances of scientists or
social scientists who have had
breakthroughs due to creative thinking.

De Bono identifies four

critical factors associated
with lateral thinking:
recognize dominant ideas that polarize
the perception of a problem
Searching for different ways of looking at
things
relaxation of rigid control of thinking and
use of chance to encourage other ideas.

Lateral thinking is our edge

in the global marketplace.
Dr. Charles Prather (Keynote speaker):
http://www.bottomlineinnovation.com/
500inn.htm
http://www.bottomlineinnovation.com/
out_of_the_box_video_hm1.wmv
http://www.bottomlineinnovation.com/
kai_creativity_hm1.wmv
Talks of Agents of change vs agents
of stability.

The rules for lateral thinking

are that there are no rules.

Lateral thinking
Is actually a form of divergent thinking,
which is also known as creative thinking.
Supports higher level cognitive skills like:
predicting, hypothesizing, inferring, or
reconstructing.
In problem solving the use of lateral
thinking is often followed by convergent
thinking that allows us to summarize our
findings.

Lateral thinking supports:

The workshop model

Accountable talk
Critical thinking
Process skills

Quotations

A. A. MILNE:
One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting
discoveries.

ARTHUR KOESTLER:
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the
same individual.

BEATRIX POTTER:
Thank goodness I never went to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.

BUCKMINSTER FULLER:
When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to
solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is
wrong.

EDWARD DE BONO:
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right
by having no ideas at all.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.:

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Lateral thinking can start with

what is already recognizable
Visualizations, and pattern recognition may
at times lead to intuitive inspiration.
At some point, though, you need to step
back to look at alternatives. (Could be a
function of PO)
Lateral thinking involves pattern-breaking,
thinking outside the box and creative ways
of looking at the situation.
Sometimes a new method or new solution
becomes apparent that is more efficient than
the obvious.

 Divergent----> Many possible answers

Here is an exercise in lateral

thinking:
Three switches outside a windowless
room are connected to three light
bulbs inside the room. How can you
determine which switch is connected
to which bulb if you may enter the
room only once?
Ill give you some time to discuss this
with your group.

Possible Solution
Switch one light on for a minute; turn
it off and turn on another one.
Go into the room and feel the offbulbs.
The warm one is connected to the
first switch and the on-bulb is
connected to the second switch.

Another one:
A man is hanging from a rope in a
locked room. Below him is a puddle
of water. How did he hang himself?
Do you need some clues?

Clues:
There is no furniture. When he hung
himself, the puddle was not there...
Think about it with your group.

Possible solution:
The puddle is all that is left of a large
block of ice. The man stood on this in
order to hang himself...

Here is a math problem- How can you divide 11 horses so that

1 person gets , another gets and
the last person gets 1/6?

Possible solution- You can add a horse from your own

stock. Then give the first person 6
horses, the second 3 horses and the
third 2 horses. That makes 11 horses
that are given out.
You can now take your horse back.
Is there anything wrong with this
thinking?
Does it solve the problem, though?

How could you divide a square into 4

equal pieces? Think of all the
possibilities.
Materials supplied: Square paper,
pencils, rulers and scissors.
Use the paper supplied to test your
solutions.

Did you consider any of

these?

Definition: Lateral Thinking

(from: Infinite Innovations Ltd)
Similar to Creative Thinking (also called
divergent thinking). Seeking to solve problems
by unorthodox or apparently illogical methods.
"A set of systematic techniques used for
changing concepts and perceptions and
generating new ones
"Exploring multiple possibilities and
approaches instead of pursuing a single
approach." (Edward de Bono, originator of the
phrase)

Why isnt critical thinking a

form of lateral thinking?
Critical thinking is primarily concerned
with judging the truth value of statements
and seeking errors. Lateral thinking is
more concerned with the movement
value of statements and ideas. A person
would use lateral thinking when they
want to move from one known idea to
creating new ideas. It can also be put as,
critical thinking is like a post-mortem
while lateral thinking is like diagnosis.

When starting a new unit- If you ask many tantalizing and

divergent questions in your classroom,
your students are likely to model after
your behavior for example, "What would
have happened if Lincoln was shot in
the first month of the war? Why did
Lincoln only free the slaves in the rebel
states? How did it feel to be a woman in
the path of Sherman's army?"

Increasing wait time

increases the probability
that students will think
creatively

Research into wait-time for American

classrooms paints a distressing picture.
Many teachers wait less than two seconds
for the answer to each question and ask
hundreds of questions per hour. These
types of questions are generally recall
questions demanding little thought.

Lateral Thinking often

begins with brainstorming
The four rules of brainstorming:
1. all contributions are accepted without
judgment;
2. the goal is a large number of ideas or
questions;
3. building on other people's ideas is
encouraged;
4. Far-out, unusual ideas are
encouraged.

Try visual brainstorming

In the 1500s, Leonardo da Vinci
employed both drawings and words
to describe his incredible ideas and
inventions. By using sketches with
captions, his concepts became clear,
exciting graphic presentations. And
we think Lenny had it right.

Leonardo da Vinci's concept for a helicopter

used both his inventive sketch and descriptive words.

In modern business this has

led to blamestorming
Where a group of people gather to
discuss what went wrong and who is
to blame for a project's failure.
Similar to the brainstorming rules,
blamestorming requires vast flows of
wild and exaggerated ideas with an
initial emphasis on quantity rather
than quality.

It's also legitimate that blame given

by one participant can be built on by
others. However, unlike
brainstorming, blamestorming
requires total criticism and judgment
of ideas, and an idea's worth is
dependent on the management level
of the person giving it.

Other methods for divergent

thinking

Breaking components into sections

for modular analysis

Keeping a journal

Freewriting

Mind and subject mapping

Divergent thinking
questions begin with
these words or phrases:

Imagine...
Suppose...
Predict...
If..., then...
How might...
Can you create...
What are some possible consequences...

Examples of divergent
thinking questions:

Can you imagine ways that soccer typifies Mexican

culture?
Suppose that Caesar never returned to Rome from
Gaul. Would the Empire have existed?
What predictions can you make regarding the
budget deficit if McCain had won?
How might life in the year 2100 differ from today?
The computer corrects spelling. Is it then
unnecessary for third graders to take spelling tests?

Other possible activities:

Students will create a salad to go with
the reading of one of the Walter Dean
Mayers novels. What salad would
be appropriate and why? (does
anyone think of macaroni salad or
potato salad?)
What kind of rock would be best for
construction and why? What makes
concrete so durable?

 If I were an animal that could

possibly survive on Mars, what
animal would I be and why?
Why walls are a great way to allow
students the latitude for exploring
new concepts.
We need to take historical events and
relate them to todays problems
(How can we solve our immigration
problem today?)

Some of these connections

might at first seem silly
but students need to be
freed from the ordinary in
order to examine the
extraordinary.
It is precisely for this reason
that DeBono devised the
use PO

PO is a method by which
you introduce:
Random Entry
Provocation
Challenge

 Random Entry: Choose an object at

random, or a noun from a dictionary,
and associate that with the area you
are thinking about.

 For example imagine you are thinking

about how to improve Wikipedia.
Choosing an object at random from an
office you might see a fax machine. A fax
machine transmits images over the phone
to paper. Fax machines are becoming
rare. People send faxes directly to known
phone numbers. Perhaps this makes you
think of providing ways to embed wiki
articles in emails and other websites, as is
done with youtube videos. Does it
stimulate other Wikipedia ideas for you?

 Provocation: Declare the usual

perception out of bounds, or provide
some provocative alternative to the
usual situation under consideration.
Prefix the provocation with the term
'Po" to signal that the provocation is
not a valid idea put up for judgment
but a stimulus for new perception.

 Consider the statement PO -Cars

should have square wheels." When
considered with critical thinking, this
would be evaluated as a poor
suggestion and dismissed as
impractical.

 The lateral thinking treatment of the

same statement would be to
speculate where it leads.
Humor is taken intentionally with
lateral thinking. A person would
imagine "as if" this were the case,
and describe the effects or qualities.

 Someone might observe: square wheels

would produce very predictable bumps. If
bumps can be predicted, then suspension
can be designed to compensate.
This leads to the idea of active
suspension. A sensor connected to
suspension could examine the road
surface ahead on cars with round wheels
too. A car could have a sensor for
determining when it was going to hit a
bump that feeds back to suspension that
would know to compensate.

 The initial "provocative" statement

has been left behind, but it has also
been used to indirectly generate the
new and potentially more useful idea.

Here is another example:

PO Suppose we could control the way
traffic lights change?
Actually, this is being tested now in
New York with special bus routes that
have sensors to keep the lights green
till the bus passes.
In Charlotte, NC, the lights count down
from 60 seconds to let you know how
long you have before the traffic flows.

 Challenge: Simply challenge the

way things have always been done or
seen, or the way they are.
This is done not to show there is
anything wrong with the existing
situation but simply to direct your
perceptions to exploring outside the
current area.

 For example you could challenge coffee

cups being produced with a handle.
There is nothing wrong with coffee cups
having handles so the challenge is a
direction to explore without defending
the status quo. The reason for the
handle seems to be that the cup is often
too hot to hold directly. Perhaps coffee
cups could be made with insulated finger
grips, or there could be separate coffee
cup holders similar to beer holders.

Can milk containers be

square?
Theyve just begun producing gallon
milk containers that are square.
People dont like it or arent used to it
but..
It saves a great deal of time and
expense in shipping.
It is a more efficient way to package.
Someone was definitely thinking
outside the box.

PO is used to alert people

that you are about to make a
somewhat outrageous
remark.
PO can be used for:
Provocation or Challenge
Random Input
Escape

Po: Provocation
Four basic ways to create a
provocation:
EXAGGERATION
REVERSAL
DISTORTION
WISHFUL THINKING

PO Provocation -examples
PO - The bathtub is only half full
PO - The traffic lights never change
color
PO - The angles of a triangle dont
total 180 degrees

PO: Random Input

Our thinking target is Ambulances. We want new
ideas on Ambulances.
I open the dictionary at random and stop at the first
"noun thing word" that I find.
Firth: Arm of sea; estuary. OK that's it!
Po statement: Ambulances po firth
If a firth is an arm of the sea that suggest
something jutting out. Could there be a couple of
bicycles strapped to the sides of ambulances to get
into difficult spots?

Po: Escape
With ESCAPE we are developing the habit of
asking: "Is it necessary to do things this
way?
Example: Credit cards po benefit.
This is a chosen statement rather than
random one.
"Credit cards po benefit" means "instead of
seeing or designing a credit card around the
concept of 'benefit' how else might we do
things?

Explorative readings
Teachers will read the Rosen Article
and the Analysis Questions at the
end. Which of these questions inspire
critical thinking and which do you
think might lead to creative or lateral
thinking? Can you create another
question that inspires creativity?
Teachers should practice using PO
when discussing this.

Problem solving is not just

for math
In design, a problem is any situation
where you have an opportunity to
make a difference, to make things
better.
Whenever you are thinking creatively
and critically about ways to increase
the quality of life (or to avoid a
decrease in quality), you are actively
involved in problem solving.

How else can we use

problem solving and lateral
thinking?

Teaming
Interdisciplinary projects
Academy themes

Why do we need lateral

thinking in America?
Edison said, Invention is 99%
perspiration and 1% inspiration.
What would happen to our society if we
could increase inspiration to 25% of the
mix?
Could we find a cure for cancer?
Could we create the first engine that
will bring us to space exploration
beyond our solar system?

How can we give more than

100%?
If: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R
S T U V W X Y Z Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
H-A-R-D-W-O- R- K
8+1+18+4+23+ 15+18+11 = 98%

 K-N-O-W-L-E- D-G-E

11+14+15+23+ 12+5+4+7+ 5 = 96%

A-T-T-I-T-U- D-E

1+20+20+9+20+ 21+4+5 = 100%

But Thinking-- T-H-I-N-K-I-N-G

20 + 8 + 9 +14 + 11 + 9 + 14 + 7 =
92% and doing this laterally,
critically, sequentially or even
globally, puts you over 100%