TRIZ Textbooks:  CID Course for Children, 1-1G0
Introduction (at the Class):
   (Learning about the Subject)
Fairy Tales School:
Course of Creative Imagination Development (CID), 
1st Grade, 1st Semester, Methodical Guide-Book
Natalia V. Rubina, 1999 [published in Russian]
English translation by Irina Dolina, May 23, 2000
Technical Editing by Toru Nakagawa, July 12, 2000
Posted in this "TRIZ Home Page in Japan" in English on Jan.30, 2001 under the permission of the Author.
(C) N.V. Rubina, I. Dolina, and T. Nakagawa 2001

 
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INTRODUCTION.

LEARNING ABOUT THE SUBJECT

Hello!
 

    The first lesson in a new class always means excitement, expectations, hopes to achieve good results, to perform good work.  Not only a teacher is excited, the kids also are looking forward to a new lesson, to learning a new subject.  It is necessary that from the first lesson kids could realize that CID class is a wonder world, a fairy tale.  In this respect, music, pictures, magic tricks, unusual problems, fairy tale's characters which during the current year the kids will invent might be helpful. So...


Let's introduce yourselves!  What would you like to tell about yourselves?
 

     For the first grade students it would be difficult to say the most important things about themselves and introduce themselves briefly.  That is why it would be better if a teacher starts. The first grade students often do not know each other well, therefore it is possible to play a following game: a student introducing himself, name three students, who have spoken before him.*1

*1 (Translation Note:)  Important:  In the Methodological Guide-Books, the paragraphs written in oblique letters are the explanations to teachers for their preparatory study, while the paragraphs written in straight letters are the speeches and actions for the teacher to perform in the class.

Guess, what is it?
They fly without wings,
They run without  legs,
They sail without sails
     You are right, those are clouds.  Usually we don't pay attention to the clouds in the sky, only if it rains we are waiting when the clouds go away and the sun appears again.  And what would you say if a white cloud addresses you with the following words:
- Hello, my name is Colabo!
     As you understand, clouds can talk only in fairy tales. No wonder that Colabo*1 is a fairy cloud.
 
     A fairy cloud is the first character that the children are going to meet.  From now on the appearance of Colabo will introduce activities on developing speech skills - composing riddles, proverbs, tales, etc.  We shall return rather often to the picture, that the kids will draw at the first lesson.  That's why it is necessary to discuss in detail how to depict in a picture all the main properties of this amazing character.

*1 (Translation Note):  In Russian, the word cloud is 'oblako' (spelled in English alpahbets).  So the Author named the fairy cloud 'Colabo'.


      It may be: 

small as a white fluffy kitten or big as a boundless snow plain,
black as a smoke and white as the snow flakes,
soft as a down mattress or hard as an ice hill,
noisy as a mighty ocean or quiet as a forest brook,
warm as the sun beams and cold as the drops from a fountain.
   All these contradictory properties are hard to include in a single picture, and it is not necessary. As a rule every student offers his own ideas by combining any pair of these opposite properties.  A kid's picture may reveal his own idea.  If kids want to reveal all the properties of a new character they can draw several pictures.


     Colabo travels much and visits different countries.  In one of the countries it heard a story of Losharic.  The cloud wanted very much to see this remarkable creature but it had to water a flower bed, therefore it was late for the meeting.

     Now draw Losharic so that Colabo could find out what this creature looks like.
 

     This simple task might be a good testing of kids' imagination.  To activate the associative images in connection with the word "Losharic", you may ask kids to find some hotchpotch words that sounds similar to the pronunciation of Losharic*2.  It's essential that kids get an image of a fantastic creature.

*2 (Translation note:)  In Russian, the word horse is 'loshad' (as spelled in English alphabets) and the word for small ball is 'sharik'.  Thus the name 'Losharic' sounds like 'loshad - sharik', meaning as a fairy horse made of small balls.


     Which picture in your opinion was easier to draw: of Colabo or Losharic?  What is the difference between them?
 
  

     Imagination is a human ability to imagine things that do not exist.  It is possible to imagine what you have already seen somewhere, to reconstruct a familiar image.  It is more difficult to devise something that nobody has ever seen.


      At CID classes we will be all, to some extent, dreamers and story-tellers, because CID is a Developing of Creative Imagination.  We'll learn to devise fairy tales, make up proverbs and riddles, find out a lot of interesting information about the simplest things and learn how to make mysterious the most common things, learn to solve complicated and interesting problems.

     Imagine the following situation. 

     Once Emil got into a scary cave of a Giant.  The Giant was delighted to have such an easy prey because Emil was just a little boy.  But the Giant decided to play with the boy in the following way.  If Emil can turn the Giant out of the cave, the boy will be set free; but if not, the Giant will cook and eat him.  How to help Emil? 1

Footnote 1:  One of the possible ways of solving the problem:  Emil suggests the Giant playing a different game: He, the Giant, is not allowed to enter his cave.  The rules of such a game is unlikely to appeal to the Giant.  So he will run out of his cave... and, will lose the game.
 

     Emil knows a lot of riddles like this, but what is more important, he can teach how to solve them, using certain rules.
 

This is the first meeting with a very important character.  At one of the next lessons the kids will be able to draw a picture of this cute boy.  In the future he will help them to master the methods of solving creative problems.
     And now magic!

     Look! I have three simple match boxes in my hands, but it is not so simple... Two of the boxes I hold in my right hand and shake them.
The boxes are empty and don't clatter.  The third match box I hold in my left hand.  By the sound of clattering we realize that it contains matches.  Now  I shift one of the boxes from my right hand into my left hand.  Will the matches clatter in this box or not?
     -  Certainly, not, because it is empty.
     -  Let's check. I shake the match gently...  Look!  The matches clatter!

     The secret of this magic trick is very simple.  Do you want to solve it?  In this case try to ask me about this riddle, but take into consideration that I will reply to your questions  only "yes" or "no".

-  Are the boxes alive?
-  No.
-  Have you replaced them?
-  No.
-  How many boxes have you got?
-  Only "yes" or "no".
-  Your hands are magic!
-  Yes.  And what does it mean?
(In the left sleeve I have a box of matches)
     In order  to understand the game "Yes"-"No", you may use any suitable situation.  You may, for example, think of any object, a word  and suggest that the kids should guess what it is, asking questions, answered by the teachers with "yes" or "no".  It is important  that the kids should  step by step, asking  few questions, find the correct answer.  The game "yes"-"no" has many methodological possibilities; with its help it is possible to develop many components of the creative process: logic, dialectics, skills of analysis, of synthesis, of comparison, of defining and solving contradictions and utilization of the resources, memory and attention.  It is an excellent preparation for understanding the main topic of the course "methods of solving creative problems".


     -  The game that we played with you is called "Yes-No game".  Emil likes it very much and often plays it.  Because he knows the rules, which help to solve such problems.  Did you like it? Let's play some more?

In the "Card Index to the CID classes for the 1st grade" you will find a list of  "Yes-No problems".
-  Well, let's sum up the results.
-  Tell me, please, what is CID?
-  Why do you think a human being should develop his imagination?
-  To be more cheerful.
-  To compose fairy tales.
-  What kind of people need the imagination more than others ?
-  An artist.
-  A composer.
-  A poet.
-  A photographer.
-  Everybody...
-  It means that we'll all enjoy dreaming together, learning and devising something new and wonderful.


     You are going to meet with the magicians and their amazing friends, as the fairy tales are always full of wonders.
     We wish you success and happy solutions!
 
 
 
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Last updated on Jan. 30, 2001.     Access point:  Editor: nakagawa@utc.osaka-gu.ac.jp