🧭 Play and Invent

Introduction

This is a Contextual Enquiry Course in the Foundation (freshman) year of a Bachelor’s Degree in Art and Design, at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, Bangalore, India.

Course Contents

  • Fundamentals of Flow and Play as defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
  • Cultural Capital as a source of one’s Ideas
  • Genes and Memes
  • The Six Thinking Hats Method and how to apply them in practice
  • Innovative Problems Solving Methods like TRIZ, its philosophy and techniques such as the Contradiction Matrix and 40 Inventive Principles

Abstract

This Unit takes students on a journey of understanding the process of Personal Creativity and Structured Innovation.

We begin by using the idea of Flow, as a pathway between ever-increasing (creative) Complexity and Boredom as defined by Csikszentmihalyi. Childhood Games will be examined to understand the aspects of Play and linked to and the idea of “Infinite Games” by James Carse and how Rule Breaking in Play is an important step in enhancing personal creativity.

Bourdieu’s concept of Cultural Capital will be interpreted as one of the primary sources for an individual’s ideas, along with Csikzentmihalyi’s idea of the Creative Domain, Field and the Creative Individual. Tools for enhancing Cultural Capital will be introduced. The MBTI / Big 5 Tool will be used to understanding ourselves, our abilities, strengths, traits and differences from others.

Structured heuristic techniques based on de Bono’s 6 Hat method will help us see how to perform Situational Analysis and Idea Generation, to help us take ideas from conception to execution. Reference will be made to Alex Osborn’s “Applied Imagination” methods and tied to the Big 5 results.

Aspects of the Russian system of innovation and problem solving, TRIZ (Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskhikh Zadatch) invented by Genrikh Altshuller will be introduced. Alshuller’s idea of Generalized Problem Solving by borrowing ideas/memes from other Domains, his 8 Laws of Evolution of Products, and ( a few of ) the 40 Inventive Principles derived from his analysis of patents, will be covered in gamified fashion. These will be linked to with David Perkin’s (Harvard Project Zero) ideas and Edward de Bono’s methods to interpret, and design for, existing situations and products.

Field visits to product, food preparation, solar energy, and logistics companies will be used to bolster and demonstrate the unity of these concepts acquired in class. Technological assignments, and non-tech making and presenting tasks will also be used in class to create gamefied experiences for all of these.

The students will finally use the methods and ideas they have learnt and apply them in creating a project, artifact or performance of their own.

Daywise Plan

  1. Day 1: Play Childhood games

  • Construction Games

  • “Finding” Games

  • Imagination Games

  • World Building Games

  • Round 1: “Free Play”

    • Wait for boredom to set in, or not.
    • See what modifications to the Games are made, spontaneously, and based on what Values
    • Construction Games

  • “Finding” Games

  • Imagination Games

  • World Building Games

  • Round 1: “Free Play”

    • Wait for boredom to set in, or not.
    • See what modifications to the Games are made, spontaneously, and based on what Values

  • Round 2: “Observed Play”

    • Have an observer record the changes
    • Do this for two rounds, so that each group has played at least two games and modified them

  • Presentation: Have the team present what happened during play and what changes they made and why

  • Discuss Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s diagram of “Flow”

    • Link “Play” to “creating “Flow”
    • Aspects of Play (Alea, Ilinx, Mimicry, Aegon)

  • Discuss Scott Eberle’s 6 Aspects of Play (Anticipation, Surprise, Understanding, Pleasure, Strength, Poise)

  • Discuss James P Carse’s ideas (“Infinite Games” and Rule breaking to continue to Play )

  1. Day 2
  • Introduce Pierre Bourdieu’s idea of Cultural Capital
  • Link the variations created in Games to (aspects of) Cultural Capital
  • Show and Tell on Cultural Capital: How Rich We All are!!
  • Play with Makey+Makey + Make music / Bird calls
  • Design/Modify your own Game and hawk it
  • Discuss: What makes the “Play” acceptable? Values
  • Assignment: on Logo design using a piece of Map
  1. Day 3
  • MBTI / Big+5 Game
  • Discussion on all 4 Aspects
  • Especially on on Information / Decision Making / Planning
  1. Day 4

  • Guildford and Wallas+Kogan Tasks + Brainstorming

  • CC as a source of “Problems” and Propositions ( “ex nihilo")

  • Tie in Mihaly’s idea of the Domain with CC, when it comes to solutions

  • Classroom contemplation of propositions

  • Introduce de Bono and Parallel Thinking

  • Solutions based on 6 Hats / Parallel Thinking

  • PMI / OPV / CAF from de Bono

  1. Day 5
  • Scavenger Hunt
  • Seymour Papert Constructionism Exercise on CC
  • “Feedly” as a CC tool
  1. Day 6
  • Documentation / Presentation on Seymour Papert Construction
  • Guilford Alternative Uses with Tom Hanks in Cast Away
  1. Day 7
  • 5 Everyday Objects: Goods and Bads ( includes 3M Post It Game )
  • Generalized Problem from David Fisher ( “ex Nihilo”)
  • Goods and Bads
  • Turning the Knobs: The Idea of a Contradiction
  • Intro to Problems and Contradictions: The Candle Game
  • Surprise Journal: Find Contradictions
  • Reading Assignment: Joshua Ferris' The Market Value of my Father.Weblink to Story
  1. Day 8

  • Metaphors

  • Administrative, Technical, and Physical Contradictions

  • The Ideal Final Result #1

  • The 39 TRIZ Metaphors #1

  • The Contradiction Matrix #1

  • 40 Inventive Principles #1

  • Separation Principles #1

  • Videos from TETRIS Project

    • Evolution of Products
    • System + SubSystem + SuperSystem
    • Inventive Principle demos

  • Titanic Game:

    • IFR, Resources

  • Reading Assignment: TRIZ in non+Technical Situations.

  1. Day 9
  • TRIZ in the Movies: Home Alone #1
  • The 39 TRIZ Metaphors #2
  • The Contradiction Matrix #2
  • 40 Inventive Principles #2
  • Separation Principles #2
  1. Day 10
  • Field Visit #1: Akshaya Paatre
    • Domain : Logistics, Food
    • System + Subsystem + SuperSystem view
    • Problems and Contradictions
    • Inventive Principles
  1. Day 11
  • Field Visit #2: AVI SOLAR
    • Domain : Energy, Information, Moitoring
    • System + Subsystem + SuperSystem view
    • Problems and Contradictions
    • Inventive Principles
  1. Day 12

  • Field Visit #3: Association for People with Disabilities

    • Domains: Disabilities, Training, Education, Life Support Products
    • System + Subsystem + SuperSystem view
    • Problems and Contradictions
    • Inventive Principles

  • Wrap Up:

    • Flow and Play
    • Cultural Capital
    • MBTI and Big+5
    • Six Thinking Hats
    • TRIZ

  1. Day 13/14/15:

    • Make, Show and Tell

Last updated on Jan 7, 2024