Hanna Zajączkowska
Enhancing creativity + the value of community
This year, I am enrolled in a university course that has deeply inspired me, focusing on the psychology of creativity and generativity. I am eager to share insights on the fascinating realm of creativity, delving into its definition, the optimal conditions for generating a multitude of solutions, and a cognitive perspective on the creative process. To enhance understanding and engagement, I have selected exercises that align with the theoretical concepts discussed.
If there’s time, I’m really looking forward to sharing my summer job experience where I worked as a camp counselor in the U.S. Through this story, I’d like to convey the significance of community and pique others’ interest in similar experiences.
I aim to provide other participants with a understanding of creativity, insights into its practical applications, and an exploration of community building through my personal experiences.
Kutay Yıldız and Seray Toprak
“7 Strengths”
“7 Strengths” is an activity where participants discover their strengths that they have and want to have, and get to know each other by matching with other participants and predicting each other’s strengths.
We want to raise awareness within ourselves by knowing that we are more than what we think and finding how we are close to achieving these strengths. By the second part of this activity, we are planning to get close to the other participants by breaking the social challenges and distances between us. It can also be very inspiring to hear what other people think and what our strengths may be.
Leonor
The hat of fears
Each person writes one or more fears they have and puts the paper in a hat brought for the purpose. Then one person at a time draws a paper from the hat, reads the fear, comments on it and comes up with suggestions to overcome it or to help it.
To bring awareness to the fact that everybody has fears, to promote self-knowledge and respect for differences, to increase risk perception, to identify fears that can vs can’t be controlled, to break the ice, to create a safe space for vulnerability, etc.
Catarina
My map
The practice I want to present is an activity that can be developed with a large group of participants and it is an exercise of imagining the existence of a map of the world on the floor, in which the activity leader should identify the approximate “locations” of the 5 continents. Then the activity leader launches sentences for which the participants have to position themselves on the floor (on the map) in response to them. These sentences can be like: “the place where I was born”, “the place where I took my first trip”, “the place where I feel I belong”. Through their positions, participants move through the space, interacting with each other and discuss these positions, if they feel to.
Promote reflexions about identity and diversity, through introspective work and dialogue between the participants in an environment of respect and safety.
