Picture Boost

Picture Boost

The aim is to stimulate innovation from picture cards to develop new ideas.

1. The teacher demonstrates how to create an idea for solving the challenge by means of a picture card.  
2. The students are given a stack of picture cards each. The cards should be laid face down on the table so that the picture cannot be seen.
3. The students draw a card from their individual stacks and write down the idea(s) the picture evokes in them. They should focus on one picture card at a time. They should be allowed to spend some time considering how the picture may be related to the challenge. 
4. A new card is drawn when the students cannot get more ideas from their current cards.
5. The class should come together and discuss their ideas.

Dialoogle picture cards or some pictures from the computer could be printed and laminated and used as stimuli. Alternatively, post-cards, children’s memory game cards or a picture lottery could also be used. If working online, click the link to find random pictures to ideate from: https://randomwordgenerator.com/picture.php
The goal is to challenge the students to develop new ideas using immediate motivation and inspiration from pictures. The pictures should surprise the students as this will hopefully challenge their tendency to think in their usual patterns. They will then impulsively accept the first thought(s) that come to mind and develop a link between this/these thought(s) and the challenge. The activity could be done using online tools such as Padlet, virtual whiteboard and breakout rooms in Teams/Zoom.