Creative Thinking: Implementing the Stages in the Creative Process
Assignment Directions
Use the following scenario and refer to pages 103-105 in Chapter 5 and pages 163-167 in Chapter 9 in The Art of Thinking to answer the following questions using creative thinking. Remember to provide details, use complete sentences, and proper academic writing in your responses below.

The answers to all of the questions for each stage come from your imagination. Use your creativity on this assignment.

Assignment Scenario
A community feels threatened by something in a location it has never visited. The community townspeople will use a creative method to select one or more travelers to visit and explore the location. While at the location, a traveler will use a means of communication to send a message home to convince the community that there is nothing to fear.

The First Stage: Searching for Challenges
Answer the following questions in 50- to 75-words total:
What is the name of the community? The community is called the Pro-AND-Active community. What is the significance of this name? This is a retirement community with active elders.
Where is the community located? It is located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Is it remote, urban? It is a remote location. What is the population? The population is 834.
What is the community threatened by? The community is threatened by an enormous alligator. Why is there a perceived threat? Everyone began to pair up and began looking around anxiously.

Can you identify any other challenges? The community is worried that the Department of Wildlife will not catch the alligator in time, before he preys on more victims.

The Second Stage: Expressing the Problem or Issue
Answer the following questions in 100- to 150-words total:
Who is going to the location? Bob is going to go check out the scene. How did you select who is going there? Bob volunteered, because his grandson is the late Steve Irwin.
How many people are going? Bob asked his close friends Jack, Lorenzo, and Michael to join him they agreed. Why that number of people? Bob figured him plus three other men could handle the alligator if they needed too.
How are they going to get to the location? They all decided to go by boat to get to the location since it was in a remote area. What materials are needed to build/create any type of structure? They took their CB radio to communicate back home to their community, they also brought a tarp, thick rope, a knife, two-by-fours, and some nails. Their plan was to catch the enormous alligator by wrapping his with the tarp so he could not see, then wrapping the rope around his feet and legs to control his movement until the Department of Wildlife got there. What is a backup plan if the primary plan fails? Their backup plan was to build a crate to put him in, in case they couldn’t hold him.

The Third Stage: Investigating the Problem or Issue
Answer the following questions in 100- to 150-words total: * What is the location that has never been visited? What does it look like? What did the travelers find when they get there? * Did the reality of the location align with their perceptions and assumptions prior to their arrival? * How did they explore the new location to make judgments about its safety?
The Fourth Stage: Producing Ideas
Answer the following questions in 100- to 150-words: * How did the travelers come to the conclusion that there is no threat? * How are the travelers communicating home? * How will the travelers convince everyone back home that there is nothing to fear?

Note: The assignment scenario an adaptation from Problem #5: Seeing is Believing from Odyssey of the Mind in Division IV

Odyssey of the Mind. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/materials/2014synopsis.pdf