No Prep Plans: Creativity & Innovation Skills – How to Solve Problems Creatively

No Prep Plans: Creativity & Innovation Skills – How to Solve Problems Creatively

Help students discover that the best solutions often begin with asking better questions! In this engaging, hands-on lesson, students learn that many difficult problems become easier to solve when they are reframed. They explore powerful creative problem-solving strategies such as Reframing, The Five Whys, Inversion, Abstraction Laddering, Analogical Thinking, and Incubation, then apply these techniques to solve a real-world challenge from multiple perspectives.

Students finish by designing a Problem-Solving Infographic that teaches others how to think more creatively and develop stronger solutions.
Designed for Grades 6–8, this no-prep lesson combines research, critical thinking, creativity, and communication into an authentic learning experience that students can apply across every subject.

What's Included
- Teacher Directions (1–2 class periods)
- Creative Problem-Solving Research Notebook
- Creative Problem-Solving Lab activity
- Problem-Solving Infographic final project
- Black-and-white versions of all student pages
- Online research resources

Students Will Learn How To
- Explain why the way a problem is framed affects the solutions that are possible
- Use the Five Whys to identify root causes
- Apply reframing to generate multiple solutions to the same problem
- Use analogical thinking to borrow ideas from other fields
- Compare and evaluate different creative approaches
- Design an infographic that clearly communicates a creative problem-solving process

Perfect For
- Back-to-School activities
- Creativity and innovation units
- Critical thinking lessons
- Research skills units
- STEM and STEAM classrooms
- Design thinking activities
- Project-Based Learning (PBL)
- Makerspaces
- Gifted and enrichment programs
- Advisory and homeroom

Why Teachers Love It
- No-prep, print-and-go lesson
- Introduces proven creative problem-solving strategies used by innovators and designers
- Builds critical thinking, creativity, and analytical skills
- Encourages students to explore multiple perspectives before choosing a solution
- Includes engaging graphic organizers with generous space for writing and sketching
- Culminates in an authentic infographic project that demonstrates understanding
- Bright, comic-style layouts designed to keep middle school students engaged

Part of the Creativity & Innovation Skills Series
Build future-ready learners with this growing collection of engaging, project-based lessons that develop creativity, research skills, communication, collaboration, innovation, and confident problem-solving through authentic, real-world challenges.