JDM 153 - Creative Thinking Assignment

 
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Penn Email Address

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First Name

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Last Name

INSTRUCTIONS

In this survey, we are going to ask you to come up with a creative solution for an important public policy issue. You should try to think of an idea that no one else has thought of before, and that might actually work. This survey will walk you through the different stages of the search-inference framework as it applies to creative thinking.

This assignment will be graded as "Complete" or "Incomplete" to make sure that everyone does it. It is due by Thursday September 10, at midnight.

Here’s the topic:

As you know, there is a big debate right now about how to reform the US healthcare system. There is little agreement as to what the best solution would be. Maybe what we need is a solution that no one else has thought of before! Imagine that you are part of a think tank whose mission is to come up with novel solutions to the healthcare debate. What would be a creative way to reform the US healthcare system?

Image as described above.
STEP 1: OPTIONS

The first step is to think of options (or possibilities):

Brainstorm some solutions for the problem. At this point, just list anything that goes through your head. Don’t worry too much about whether an idea is a good idea. Be specific so that we can really understand what your idea consists of.

You must enter at least 2 options, but 3-4 would be preferable.

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Option # 1

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Option # 2

Option # 3

Option # 4

STEP 2: GOALS

You must now decide what goals you want to achieve with your solution.

What values are guiding your search? What objectives are you trying to accomplish? Of course, your main goal should be ”to be creative." But what else? Be specific.

Example: One of your goals could be "to design a system that emphasizes prevention.”

You must list at least 2 goals, but 3-4 would be preferable.

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Goal # 1

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Goal # 2

Goal # 3

Goal # 4

STEP 3: JUDGE THE EVIDENCE

How well do your options fit your goals?

Think about how well each option achieves each goal. Use the rating table below to indicate your responses. If you forgot what your options/goal were, scroll up to review your previous responses.

Rating Scale:

0 = not all all

1 = somewhat

2 = completely

If you listed fewer than 4 options and 4 goals, just leave the relevant cases blanks.

Rating Table

 Goal 1Goal 2Goal 3Goal 4
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
STEP 4: MAKE AN INFERENCE

Now you can decide which Option is the best. Simply put, the best Option is the one that fits your goals the best. You can sum up each option's ratings to determine which one is the best. If two answers seem equally good, you can just pick the one you like better.

So what’s your creative way to solve the healthcare debate?

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Option #

Do you have any comments about this assignment?

Thanks, you are done! We will discuss the results of this assignment during our next class.