I-Think: A Creative Approach to Problem Solving

Gr. 12 I-Think Workshop: evaluating two opposing models.
Gr. 12 I-Think Workshop: evaluating two opposing models.

For three days at the end of January we had the pleasure of hosting the Rotman School of Management’s I-Think Initiative. Through a series of workshops, faculty were introduced to integrative thinking and learned how to apply it to the classroom. Integrative thinking is an approach to creative problem solving that helps you move from a pro/con mindset to a “pro/pro” one. Problems are reframed so that you take the best aspects of multiple solutions to create a new one.

Gr. 7 I-Think Workshop
Gr. 7 I-Think Workshop

On Friday, January 30th, the Grade 12s and the Grade 7s were led through this new model by our trained faculty. Grade 12s explored decision making around life choices, and the Grade 7s went through an exercise about a small business and their challenges. The questions and ideas that came out of these discussions were thoughtful and engaging.

Faculty I-Think Workshop
Faculty I-Think Workshop

This approach to creative problem solving was developed by Roger Martin, former Dean of the Rotman School of Management. Through researching and interviewing hundreds of business leaders, he determined that successful business leaders had the capacity to take opposing models and integrate ideas in order to find solutions that were creative and innovative. The Rotman School has continued Roger Martin’s work through the I-Think Initiative, where students learn to seek and create new ideas or ways of doing things by rethinking and combining divergent choices.

Learn more about integrative thinking and the I-Think Initiative in this introductory letter, and in this article, “Cultivating an Opposable Mind”, written by I-Think Director, Ellie Avishi.

From L-R: Josie Fung, Acting Director at I-Think; Chantal Gionet, Head of School; Noga Kornberg, Research Associate at I-Think, and Ellie Avishi, Director at I-Think.
From L-R: Josie Fung, Acting Director at I-Think; Chantal Gionet, Head of School; Noga Kornberg, Research Associate at I-Think, and Ellie Avishi, Director at I-Think.

Full Photo Galleries:

Gr. 7 I-Think Workshop
Gr. 12 I-Think Workshop
Faculty I-Think Workshop

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