Short problem novel

Why?

Short Problem Novel is a creative thinking-technique that forces the students to pull out the essence of the problem. This helps the students to confine themselves and focus in order to quote a clear-cut problem statement.

How?

‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn’ is the totality of what has been called a six-word novel, often associated with Ernest Hemingway. Along similar lines, the teacher challenges the students to formulate their perception of the problem in only six words.

Tips

Each student group arranges themselves into a circle with their chairs. Now, following the circle clockwise, each student states one word of the problem novel. Thus, the first student states the first word of the novel; the second student states the second word of the novel and so forth. This activity continues until the problem statement hits the mark.

Literature

The Guardian (Saturday 24 March 2007) To cut a long story short. Accessed 18 November 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/mar/24/fiction.originalwriting.