Teaching the Foundational Tools [Level I]

This chapter helps us to design instructional activities aimed at teaching these tools to our students and enable them to gain competency and confidence in appropriately applying these tools in real problem-solving situations. Students need basic instruction as to how to use both the generating and focusing tools to expand and then focus their thinking. They also need to gain some basic understanding as to how these, tools can be applied to research and inquiry, as well as their ability to expand their productivity and the effectiveness of their communications. The chapter looks at knowledge and skills at the foundations level, especially as it pertains to 10 basic tools for generating and focusing ideas. Generating tools enable us to increase the fluency of our ideas, expand our thinking, look at the situation from many different perspectives, and open our thinking to novelty and originality.