Creative Problem Solving Institute 2025

Exploring the human-machine interactions for all steps of CPS.

Participants will be taken through the basics of LLM (large language model) and image generative AI formats to show how AI can fuel increased creativity, but not provide the best ideas without human interaction.

Through a fun exercise, participants will find the most relevant market to address, ideate items, create packaging, and present their final products at the end of the session.

The project (workshop) is designed to neither advocate for nor against AI, but to show how this exciting new tool can be leveraged in creativity. The result is that participants see how to use AI well instead of being concerned about it or accusing AI of doing things it can’t.

Neuroscience and a deeper understanding of neurobiology have revolutionized what we know about how and why we are creative. Learn about the brain systems and patterns found in over 2000 published studies and why there has never been such a thing as left and right brain thinking. The session will also touch on the relationships to other tools you may already know. We will look at how the paradoxically simple and complex framework has been and can be applied to bring the best out of people and entire organizations. Participants will have the opportunity to complete the inventory, which has now been used by over 20 million people around the world.
 
Interactive nature of session: Ideas will be presented and participants will be asked to contribute their experiences through written reflection, one-on-one and small group discussions shared to the front of the room.
 
Takeaways:

• Learn about the neuroscience behind creativity
• Learn about how to apply this information to yourself and others
• Learn about applications in particular fields and organizational impacts

Founder of InsideOut Creativity, Katie Ravich and Polarity Thinking™ expert, Liz Monroe-Cook will introduce you to the powerful, creative process of leveraging polarities (dilemmas or paradoxes) specifically in educational settings. Using “both-and” thinking as a creative process within a wide variety of educational settings and within your teams has positive impacts on challenges found across the whole learning ecosystem.

Through collaborative discussion and hands-on processes we will apply Polarity Thinking to an important set of polarities educators work with every day. We will use a key tool of Barry Johnson’s Polarity Thinking, the Polarity Map®, in the workshop to explore a few key dilemmas in depth. To achieve our learning objectives, we will:

• Map interdependent factors within education with attention to both creative thinking and emotional intelligence.
• Explore the interdependent partnership of Polarity Thinking™ and Creative Problem-Solving (CPS).
• Raise curiosity and flexible thinking about how to get the best from the common dilemmas in learning ecosystems.

If you are a curious-minded teacher or leader in formal or informal educational settings, this workshop will ignite both thinking and action—offering a fresh perspective on familiar challenges. We invite you to be both Challenged (and) Supported as you supplement your thinking to transform your practice.

Note: This workshop will focus on the application of Polarity Thinking™. If you are interested in a general introduction to Polarity Thinking, please see the double session workshop with Lindsay Burr and Liz Monroe-Cook earlier in the week.

Explore how neuroscience fuels creativity in this engaging, interactive workshop. You’ll uncover how key brain networks drive creative thinking and practice science-backed techniques like brainstorming with constraints and collaborative idea mapping to tackle challenges. Leave with actionable tools to spark innovation individually and within your teams.

Whether you are leading a team or facilitating a group, how you behave creates a working climate. The question is, are you creating the right kind of climate, one that helps those you lead engage, solve problems creatively, and use their collective talent to better the team or company? During this session you will discover how the climate you create can turn your efforts toward innovation or stagnation; you will see how developing a creative climate leads to measurable business results; you will learn about nine dimensions of climate; and walk away with tools to help build climate and stretch groups to new levels of innovation and change.

We all know self-care is important, but finding time for it often feels impossible. In this session, we'll break down the myths around "self-care" and dive into the essential elements of rest, renewal, and review—and why each one is crucial for keeping our creativity and energy flowing. Using creative problem solving tools, you’ll develop personalized strategies that actually fit into your life, so you can recharge, reignite your creativity, and avoid burnout.