Brainstorming:

Photo by Author 

Brainstorming is a method/technique people used to pen down thoughts and ways to solve a problem or to branch out various different ways to accomplish one outcome. It can be done in a Group or as an individual, I think that doing it as a Group has many advantages of it's own. Likewise to doing it alone by yourself. As a Group, you have the best of all minds, not just your own. You wouldn't be as stuck when you can't think up of any more ideas as you have the brains of your other group members to help contribute ideas. However it also has it's disadvantages like how sometimes people's suggestions clash, this is where individual work is better. But either way, both have their pros and cons. 

http://840522c725ec06c9bcae-579dd03d0fb3a2b1194b8151f14e6c89.r65.cf3.rackcdn.com/content/uploads/2015/01/23215243_L.jpg

In Week 2, during class, we had a group work activity to experiment on ways to drop an Egg without breaking it. It was a really nerve-wrecking activity, to think up of ways to protect that tiny life you have in your hands from breaking.

Photo by Author

Out of 6 eggs we had only one that didn't break after being dropped. We had to make sure that the Egg was as well protected as it possibly could be by wrapping it in tissues, straws, etc. 

We tried many different methods and using different materials in attempt to protect the Egg but only one Egg survived, I didn't think that it would be such a difficult task to accomplish.

Photo by Author 

                 

----------------------------------------------------------------

Photo by Author

In Week 3, we did the direct opposite of the previous Week. We were tasked to come up with 101 ways to break a Glass. In a group we sat down and wrecked our brains to come up with ways as innovative as possible to " break a glass ". 

The first 40 were easy and quite obvious ways people would use but reaching 50, we started to struggle even with 5 heads working together it wasn't easy. As hard as we tried, we did end up with much more mundane ideas as compared to interesting ones. 

Examples of "brainstorming":

http://www.neglectedpotential.com/wp-content/uploads/iOS-Mind-Map-1.1.png

https://33.media.tumblr.com/3ad881b346c8ea93717038e7ed317f79/tumblr_inline_mzgqg9ODlh1sxagu2.jpg

https://writingcenterunderground.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/brainstorming_with_graphic_organizers_04.gif

http://38.media.tumblr.com/47a0bf42e7611107b871e377a92eb29c/tumblr_inline_mt0jemz3RP1qz4rgp.jpg

http://new-age-spirituality.com/images/Guru_Mindmap.jpg

http://www.mindmapart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/personal-mission-mind-map-masahiko-hirama.jpg

I've learnt that the term " Brainstorming " comes in many different forms and types. Be it in a group or as an individual, there will be times when you get stuck and also the many different pros and cons. However it is a technique that can help you to come up with a variety of ideas for your project. From all those different ideas you will then be able to come up with the final one which is the going to be the best.