1×5 Creative Thinking

15-20 Minutes

The 1×5 strategy is a creative thinking strategy that provides 1 object or idea and has students alter it 1 time for 5 rotations. So, you could move students into groups of 5 and provide each group with an object or an idea. Each person in the group must add or change one thing about the object or idea. You rotate until each person in the group has had a turn. This is helpful for clarifying and narrowing a big idea into a more refined, cohesive thought.

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STEP 1 – SELECT THE STARTING OBJECT + GROUPINGS: Place students into groups of 5. You can have less than 5 in a group, but 5 is ideal. Provide students with the starting object. This can be anything – a blank piece of paper, a pan of watercolors, a piece of music, etc.
STEP 2 – JUST CHANGE ONE: The first student in the group changes just one thing about the starting object. They might change a side of a given shape or fold down one side of the paper.
STEP 3 – ROTATE: Rotate to the next person who changes one more thing about the object. Repeat this step a total of 5 times (or until everyone has had a turn).
STEP 4 – REFLECT: Explore how the object changed in form, structure or components from where it started out. If you are working with a general idea, how did the idea change? If you are working with an object, how can the object now be used or not used?
STEP 5 – REVISE/SHARE: If happy with the end result after the original set of changes, share out the new object/idea. If not happy, repeat the process and revise the object or idea and then share.