Protocol Overview and Instructions: 
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Idea quota is an idea generating protocol where you simply set a time and set a quota of ideas that you would like students to generate.  The guideline for brainstorming is judgement free, that no idea is a bad idea, and to simply get as many ideas out on sticky notes.  Ideally, if you have sticky notes, students write one idea per sticky note so this protocol can be used with other solutions protocols, like affinity mapping.

Idea Quota Protocol Instructions

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Educator Thoughts:
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After gathering information, interviewing stakeholders, and creating empathy maps, it was time to begin brainstorming.  Students used sticky notes, and wrote one idea on each sticky.  During that process, we gave different constraints to drive the brainstorming in a variety of directions. In the end, students brainstormed nearly 300 ideas.

"We had a tough driving question, and I wasn’t sure what the students would come up with.  They came up with a huge variety of ideas, and went in directions I didn’t even think of!"

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Student Quote:
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"It was really fun to brainstorm so many things knowing that one of our ideas could be used to solve our problem!"

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​Meet the Educator:

Carrie Johnson is a fifth grade teacher at Lakewood Elementary in the West Ottawa School District for the past 24 years.

     "I love connecting real-world situations and experiences with our learning in the classroom.  Working through the Creative Sequence allows every student to participate and shine, and prepares them for future learning and careers."
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