Last Monday
Last Monday, I did something that I don’t recall doing ever before: I played hooky from work. Because of an overly full weekend and getting little homework done, I decided to stay home from work and do homework instead. I thought I had a dental cleaning appointment too but when I got there, I found out it was scheduled for later in the week. So I just rescheduled it for April so I wouldn’t have to take another morning off in the same week. It was a good way to get me out of bed.
Since I was out and about anyway, I went to Wal-Mart to get some groceries and be sure that I was well-supplied with munchies for the day. Then I went home and did some reading and writing. I was amazed that I didn’t have to take a nap at some point.
I left the house at 2:00 to go to the Kentucky Library on campus to read some old newspapers. What a drag!! I have to write a two to three page paper for my Western Civ class on what I learned from old newspapers. So I read up on the execution of Louis XVI in the Kentucky Gazette from 1793. The Gazette puts it this way “and at twenty-two minutes past ten, his head was severed from his body.”
On Monday evening in Sociology class, Dr. K did an interesting experiment. It was to show the difference in group dynamics and productivity.
First, she numbered everyone off into six groups. She sent groups one, two, & three out into the hall with one sheet of paper, a pen/pencil, and five minutes to follow the instructions on the paper. Then she had groups four, five, and six gather together in their individual groups in the classroom. Each person in the group had their own paper, pen/pencil, and five minutes to follow the instructions on the paper.
The instructions was to think of as many ways you could use one million “pipe cleaners” or those twisty wires with the fuzz on them. The groups out in the hall were to brainstorm collectively and the groups in the classroom were to put down their individual ideas and then compile them, eliminating duplicate ideas to come up with a number of ideas.
After everyone was gather back into the room, she asked each group for their number of ideas and wrote them down on the board. She then averaged the number for the two styles of brainstorming. Which style do you think was the most productive?
It was the group in the classroom that did their own thoughts and then compiled them. The Hallway group had an average of 36 ideas (I think) and the Classroom group had an average of 42 ideas.
Now if you had asked my opinion on which group would be more productive, I would have firmly said the Hallway group, as would have many others. Dr. K said that she has done this many times and nearly every time the results are the same.
So the next time you need a committee to come up with some fabulous ideas, it might be better for everyone to do some preliminary brainstorming before gathering together to do some collective brainstorming.
Since I was out and about anyway, I went to Wal-Mart to get some groceries and be sure that I was well-supplied with munchies for the day. Then I went home and did some reading and writing. I was amazed that I didn’t have to take a nap at some point.
I left the house at 2:00 to go to the Kentucky Library on campus to read some old newspapers. What a drag!! I have to write a two to three page paper for my Western Civ class on what I learned from old newspapers. So I read up on the execution of Louis XVI in the Kentucky Gazette from 1793. The Gazette puts it this way “and at twenty-two minutes past ten, his head was severed from his body.”
On Monday evening in Sociology class, Dr. K did an interesting experiment. It was to show the difference in group dynamics and productivity.
First, she numbered everyone off into six groups. She sent groups one, two, & three out into the hall with one sheet of paper, a pen/pencil, and five minutes to follow the instructions on the paper. Then she had groups four, five, and six gather together in their individual groups in the classroom. Each person in the group had their own paper, pen/pencil, and five minutes to follow the instructions on the paper.
The instructions was to think of as many ways you could use one million “pipe cleaners” or those twisty wires with the fuzz on them. The groups out in the hall were to brainstorm collectively and the groups in the classroom were to put down their individual ideas and then compile them, eliminating duplicate ideas to come up with a number of ideas.
After everyone was gather back into the room, she asked each group for their number of ideas and wrote them down on the board. She then averaged the number for the two styles of brainstorming. Which style do you think was the most productive?
It was the group in the classroom that did their own thoughts and then compiled them. The Hallway group had an average of 36 ideas (I think) and the Classroom group had an average of 42 ideas.
Now if you had asked my opinion on which group would be more productive, I would have firmly said the Hallway group, as would have many others. Dr. K said that she has done this many times and nearly every time the results are the same.
So the next time you need a committee to come up with some fabulous ideas, it might be better for everyone to do some preliminary brainstorming before gathering together to do some collective brainstorming.
By the way, my best idea was to tie the pipe cleaners together, end to end, to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the “Worlds Longest Pipe Cleaner Chain” title.
posted by Sharon @ 8:07 PM
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