Bad ideas

What can students learn from this?

Through this activity students can reflect about factors that determine the success of an idea or a product. In particular, working in a group, they have to try to spot opportunities in a cooperative framework.

How can I do this in class?

Each person in the group should make up a ‘bad idea’ and write it on a piece of paper. For example, four bad ideas to get you started might include camouflaged golf balls, edible dog leads, glow in the dark eye mask and a chocolate tea pot.

• They then screw the paper up and put it in a bin.
• Group members take turns to pick an idea out of the bin.
• They should introduce it to the group, explain why it might be a bad idea and then discuss how they could turn it into a good idea
• The group has to pitch the new successful ideas and present a slogan to sell the new idea

Reflection tips

During the activity reflect with the students:

• Which factors they consider to classify an idea “bad” or “successful”?
• What decision-making process was applied in the group to turn the bad idea into a successful one?
• Which is the social impact of the new successful ideas?

Before the pitch, ask your students to structure the pitch following these discussion points:

• the baseline issue (the bad idea)
• the new successful idea
• the target group

Relevant useful material

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