This is fascinating.
I had no idea there were extreme opinions on brainstorming. People who take
brainstorming to a "check your brain at the door" extreme and people who
eschew it entirely.
Brainstorming is part of the modeling cycle of teaching. The teacher
demonstrates something (e.g. a ball rolling down a slanted track) and
students brainstorm in several stages. It begins with possible observations,
which are then narrowed down (students will often say you can observe energy,
so you have to ask them to explain that, and they come up blank); then
possible measurements; then which measurements might be related (so we can
develop a purpose and procedure).
I like the barometer parable because I think there ALWAYS need to be
alternate ways of solving a problem. I did not hear of this story until I
was an undergraduate, and I also joined this list as an undergraduate. There
are probably people who still haven't read it. While it may have been
"discussed to death" on this list in a previous year, there are new people
joining all the time. 12 years ago, we discussed the "glowing electric
pickle" to death. How many times has that come up again? Will we not answer
questions from a novice teacher next year because we answered them all this
year?
Sorry. I felt dismissed in a previous posting.
-Fran Poodry
Williamstown High School
Williamstown, NJ