1. Use hypothetical thinking:
· What if this had happened?
· What if this were not true?
· What if this had not occurred?
· What if I could do something I cannot do?
2. Use reversal.
· What if I turn the picture upside down or sideways?
· What could have happened to cause this?
· How does this change if I go backwards?
· What if _______ had happened first?
3. Apply different symbol systems.
· Apply verbal symbol system to numerical symbol system problem.
· Graph or chart relationships in social situations or literary works.
· Write an equation to show how human interactions are related.
· Can I make this into a word problem?
· Can I make this into a number problem?
· Can I draw a picture of this?
· Can I represent this in musical terms?
· Can I act it out?
· Can I make a dance to represent this?
4. Use analogies.
· Look for correspondences.
· How is this like ______________?
· “How is Pythagorean theorem like a cooking recipe?”
5. Analyze points of view.
· Why does someone hold a particular opinion or belief?
· What else could account for this?
· Who would benefit if I thought this?
· What harm might occur if __________?
· How many other ways could someone look at this?
· What would ______ say/think about this?
6. Use “completion” activities.
· Remove the conclusion from a short story and ask the students to create their own ending: How would you end the story?
· Tell the students that chapter one is about the Revolutionary War and Chapter three is about the Civil War. What might be in Chapter 2?
· Give the students the steps in a process or solution (to math problem, for example) with one or two steps missing. What’s missing?
· What goes in the blank space?
· What is the missing piece or step?
· Write the beginning of ____________.
· What if ____________ did not happen?
· Guide students toward reasonable answers; encourage a variety of answers.
7. Use web analysis.
· Web analysis is concerned with what actually happened, not with possibilities.
· Goal is to uncover the complex multitude of effects that may flow from a single source.
· How extensive were the effects of _______?
· How many effects can you imagine from ___?
· Track the relationship of events following from _________________.
· How is ________ connected to ________?
Summarized from “Seven Strategies that Encourage Neural Branching,” Thomas Cardellichio and Wendy Field, Educational Leadership Volume 54, No. 6, March 1997.
Draw it.
Sing it.
Write it.
Say it.
Act it/do it.
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