Brainstorming

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. During the idea-generating stage of brainstorming, what should the team do with each idea?

A Criticise it straight away and cross it out if it seems weak

B Write it down without judging it

2. Which approach matches 'quantity first' in brainstorming?

A Aim for as many ideas as possible in a short time

B Spend the whole session perfecting one idea

3. A student says, 'That idea for the app is silly, let's not write it down.' What is the problem with this?

A It is early criticism, which stops people sharing ideas

B Nothing, brainstorming should remove bad ideas immediately

4. When should a team review and choose the best brainstormed ideas?

A While each idea is still being suggested

B After the listing stage is finished

5. After brainstorming 30 ideas for a school canteen ordering app, what is a sensible next step?

A Group similar ideas together, such as payments or menus

B Delete every idea except the first one you wrote

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1brainstorming		AListing as many ideas as possible quickly, then reviewing and grouping them afterwards to find the best ones
2quantity first		BCriticising an idea during the listing stage. Ideas should only be judged after brainstorming, otherwise people stop sharing.
3No early criticism: ideas are not judged while they are being generated		CAim to produce a large number of ideas, because more ideas gives a better chance of finding a good one
4Grouping ideas: related ideas are sorted into themes after the listing stage		DLogin ideas: password, fingerprint, PIN, face scan
5Team says: That idea is silly, cross it off the list now!		EStopping too early. Brainstorming puts quantity first, so keep listing many ideas before choosing the best.
6Stop after 3 ideas because they are all good enough		FIdea: add a dark mode (no comments, just write it down)

Definitions

brainstorming

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

_____ timeLeft > 0 ADD newIdea TO ideas END WHILE

FOR EACH idea IN newIdeas ___ idea TO ideas END FOR

WHILE LENGTH(ideas) _ 20 ADD newIdea TO ideas END WHILE

FOR EACH idea IN ideas ADD idea TO groups[idea._____] END FOR

__ phase = "review" THEN EVALUATE ideas END IF

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A SET ideas TO empty list

B WHILE timeLeft > 0

C DELETE weakIdea FROM ideas

D END WHILE

E REVIEW ideas

Question 2

A DISPLAY topic

B SET timer TO 5 minutes

C WHILE count < 3

D ADD idea TO list

E END WHILE

Question 3

A FOR EACH idea IN ideas

B theme ← random()

C ADD idea TO groups[theme]

D NEXT idea

Question 4

A WHILE timeLeft > 0

B newIdea ← READ input

C REVIEW newIdea

D END WHILE

E REVIEW ideas

Question 5

A SET ideas TO empty list

B WHILE timeLeft > 0

C ADD newIdea TO ideas

D END IF

E GROUP ideas BY theme

F REVIEW groups

Answer Key

Brainstorming

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Write it down without judging it

A — Aim for as many ideas as possible in a short time

A — It is early criticism, which stops people sharing ideas

B — After the listing stage is finished

A — Group similar ideas together, such as payments or menus

Section B: Match the Pairs

brainstorming → Listing as many ideas as possible quickly, then reviewing and grouping them afterwards to find the best ones

quantity first → Aim to produce a large number of ideas, because more ideas gives a better chance of finding a good one

No early criticism: ideas are not judged while they are being generated → Idea: add a dark mode (no comments, just write it down)

Grouping ideas: related ideas are sorted into themes after the listing stage → Login ideas: password, fingerprint, PIN, face scan

Team says: That idea is silly, cross it off the list now! → Criticising an idea during the listing stage. Ideas should only be judged after brainstorming, otherwise people stop sharing.

Stop after 3 ideas because they are all good enough → Stopping too early. Brainstorming puts quantity first, so keep listing many ideas before choosing the best.

Section C: Definitions

brainstorming — Listing as many ideas as possible quickly, with no early criticism and quantity first, then reviewing the ideas afterwards and grouping them to find the best ones.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

WHILE timeLeft > 0
  ADD newIdea TO ideas
END WHILE

FOR EACH idea IN newIdeas
  ADD idea TO ideas
END FOR

WHILE LENGTH(ideas) < 20
  ADD newIdea TO ideas
END WHILE

FOR EACH idea IN ideas
  ADD idea TO groups[idea.theme]
END FOR

IF phase = "review" THEN
  EVALUATE ideas
END IF

Section E: Spot the Error

C — Brainstorming has no early criticism. Deleting weak ideas while the list is still being built is judging too soon. Every new idea should be added with ADD newIdea TO ideas, and the review happens afterwards.

C — Quantity comes first, so the loop should keep collecting ideas until the time runs out (WHILE timer > 0). Stopping after only 3 ideas limits the list.

B — When grouping ideas, each idea must be placed by its theme. A random value would put unrelated ideas together. It should be theme ← getTheme(idea).

C — Ideas are reviewed after the brainstorm, not one by one as they are generated. Inside the loop each idea should just be added with ADD newIdea TO ideas.

D — The block opened with WHILE must be closed with END WHILE, not END IF. Only after the loop has finished are the ideas grouped and reviewed.