Brainstorm

Brainstorm is a technique used to generate lots of ideas or solutions for a question or problem. For example, students want to create a blog to share school news and they need to give it a name. So they get the team together to brainstorm. Everyone present should suggest names indiscriminately until they come up with ideas or a combination of them that can be used.

The aim of the brainstorm is to stimulate creativity and free expression, encouraging the sharing of ideas without judgment or censorship. At this point, there are no bad or ridiculous ideas, all are welcome, even if they seem unconventional or out of the ordinary.

In education, the brainstorming process is combined with the concept of collective learning or crowdlearning, proposing a group construction for the final idea or solution. Participants can and should expand on each other’s suggestions, creating better and more creative answers.

There are various techniques for brainstorming, such as starting the process with questions or writing down your thoughts rather than speaking them out loud. However, the focus is generally the same: to prioritize the maximum production of ideas, which can then be analyzed and improved.

The technique can be part of the teacher’s pedagogical proposal and encourages communication and cooperation between students. In addition, it can be applied during all stages of the development of STEM projects or whenever there is a creative block.