Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People, Robert and Michele RootBernstein

Thirteen Thinking Tools of Creative People

In their book, Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of
the World’s Most Creative People, Robert and Michele RootBernstein
explore the following “thinking tools” essential to all
learning:
1. Observing: All knowledge begins in observation. Observation goes
beyond the visual; it involves all the
senses. The mind must be trained to observe, and the skill of
observation must be practiced.
2. Imaging: Through visualization we create mental images that can
be translated into other mediums –
words, music, movements, models, paintings, diagrams, films,
sculptures or mathematical treatises.
3. Abstracting: The process of revealing the critical essence of
something, be it an object, a person, a gesture, a sound, etc. It
begins with what is, and – using some kind of tool – pares away the
excess to reveal its
essence.
4. Recognizing Patterns: Requires observation and analysis.
Patterns can be perceived in different
ways. This is an imaginative skill. Watch could formations, invent
your own puzzles. Find patterns among
patterns.
5. Forming Patterns: The principle that complexity results from
combinations of simple elements characterizes pattern forming
universally. The striking thing about pattern forming is the
cleverness and unexpectedness with which the combinations are made.
It is the key to innovation in every discipline.
6. Analogizing: Finding an association between things that are
otherwise unlike. It is the bridge between
the known thing and the unknown one that needs to be understood. We
teach and learn by analogy and
metaphor.
7. Body Thinking: The body has an “intelligence” all its own; it is
an instrument of thought. Re-enact a story,
think “out loud” with your body, listen to your gut, “monkey
around,” and you may find yourself solving problems only your body
knows how to answer.
8. Empathizing: See the world through other people’s eyes.
Play-act. Familiarize yourself with your subject. Understanding is
most complete when you are not you, but the thing you wish to
understand.
9. Dimensional Thinking: Involves moving from 2-D to 3-D or visa
versa, mapping, altering the proportions
of an object, or thinking beyond space and time as we know them.
Make a paper airplane, draw a map with
directions to your house, or play with a 3-D puzzle. Dimensional
thinking pervades our lives.
10. Modeling: Models can only be made after a real system or
situation has been observed, simplified, rescaled and given a form
whether it is physical, verbal, mathematical or artistic.
11. Playing: Strengthens mental skills whether it is practice,
symbolic or game play. It provides a fun and
risk-free means of seeing from a fresh perspective, learning
without constraint, exploring without fear. Play
transforms knowledge and builds understanding as new worlds,
personas, games, rules, toys, and puzzles
are created – and through them new sciences and arts.
12. Transforming: Involves transforming ideas from one language of
communication into another. Creative
work in the real world requires the ability to define a problem
using one set of tools, to investigate it using others, and to
express the solution using yet a third set. Mnemonic devices are a
type of transformational thinking; so is taking a script and
turning it into a play with costumes, sets and lighting.
13. Synthesizing: Sensory impressions, feeling, knowledge and
memories come together in a multimodal,
unified way that allows us to see the “whole” – to make sense of
the world. The ability to synthesize is not an
ideal or a dream it is a necessity.