Week 5 : Lateral Thinking

So today in class we learnt about Lateral Thinking? So what is that?

So basically Lateral Thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step by step logic. It's like more thinking out of the box.

Who created Lateral Thinking? Edward Debono in 1967. It was first written up in a book called 'The Use of Lateral Thinking'. He has written over 40 books translated into 25 languages and has also made two television series aired around the world. He is the author of the famous thinking program used internationally to directly teach thinking in schools.

Lateral thinking is concerned not with playing with the existing pieces but with seeking to change those very pieces. Lateral thinking is concerned with the perception part of thinking. This is where we organise the external world into the pieces we can then process. The techniques of lateral thinking, such as provocation, are designed to help that change. This is another technical definition. It is important because it also defines the mathematical need for creativity.

Anyway I kind of take some of the texts from http://www.slideshare.net/akhanna78/lateral-thinking-by-edward-de-bono because i think it is useful to put it here for my Creative thinking class.