A sports approach to ideation

In ball-playing sports such as football, rugby or basketball there is an approach to learning known as non-linear pedagogy which advocates a more ‘hands-off’ approach to teaching and learning within physical education (PE) embracing both technical and cognititve skills.Through the manipulation of certain constraints, rather than prescriptive instruction different information is presented to the learner. In turn, the learner is challenged and channelled to find their own movement solutions to the problems they face or the goals they need to achieve. The set constraints, which relate to the performer, the environment or the task, are the boundaries in which the learners can search for those solutions. In this way, learners are encouraged to make their own discoveries. This approach works for ideation too. Indeed the ideation workshop is very much a non-linear pedagogic approach raising the awareness of ideation tools through manipulation of constraints.