On November 5th, 2016, I attended the I-Program Innovation. The experience was very rewarding. Through multiple lectures from the program coordinators and different group activities that encouraged students to come up with ideas to solve given problems, I was able to learn the philosophy of innovation and its applications in real life.

 

What impressed me the most of the program was its focus on the diversity of ideas in problem solving.  It suggests that people have their unique problem-solving styles, some tend to break the conventional rules with their creativity, while some have more structures and do their planning by adapting the given rules. It is important to point out that there is no better or worse in the styles, because each one has its pros and cons and suits differently to different jobs. While in real life, often times we are assigned to teams where there are different levels of diversity towards problem solving, and therefore, it is critical that we recognize the difference and respect each other’s ideas to work comfortably and effectively together.

 

I was able to gain the experience of diversity of ideas in problem solving through a group activity. I was put into a group of five students, each one had a different level KAI score, meaning the group had varying degrees of adaption and innovation towards problem solving, from having the most structures and obeying the conventional rules to being the most innovative and ignoring the rules. We were given a task of making a water filter using materials given, including a paper cone, a balloon, some foam and a small snack box. We immediately started the discussion and came up with different ideas. The process was pleasant and efficient because we were aware of the diversity in ideas and we respected and listened to each other. By discussing each method’s advantages and disadvantages, we soon came to agreement with an approach. We decided to use the bigger opening of the paper cone as the entrance where the water could go in. We then poked some tiny holes on the balloon and attached it to the smaller opening of the paper cone, therefore, the balloon could help us filter out bigger solid dirt in the water, like stones and branches. We taped the paper cone at the opening of the snack box, and put the foam in the snack box. What’s more, we kept the bottom of the snack box open. In this way, after the water went through the paper cone, it would go through the foam and therefore more thoroughly filter away smaller dirt. As we kept the bottom of the box open, the filtered water could be collected into a water holder.

 

Each one of us took on different tasks and we put them together in the end. Our process was efficient because each one of us in the team had assigned tasks and knew the group’s plan. Through the activity, I was amazed by how well a group of people could work together, even though we barely knew each other. Therefore, I think it is very important that we listen to each other in group work, respect each other’s ideas, and be aware that each one of us contributes to the group work, but just in different ways.