Brainstorming Principles

Brainstorming has its own set of principles that determine whether it works well in the classroom or breaks down.

What brainstorming is for

Brainstorming serves two main purposes in a classroom.

Purpose 1: Activate prior knowledge. Before formal instruction begins, brainstorming brings out what students already know. The teacher learns where students stand. Students re-activate connections they may not have used recently.

Purpose 2: Engage every student. A traditional teacher-question-and-student-answer pattern engages only the few students who volunteer. Brainstorming invites everyone. Even quiet students can offer one idea.

Both purposes serve the lesson that follows. After brainstorming, the teacher’s instruction connects to ideas the students just shared, making it easier to land.

Eight principles

Principle 1: Stay relaxed. A teacher who tenses up during brainstorming kills the activity. Relaxed teachers invite participation. Tense teachers shut it down.

When brainstorming starts, students will be excited. They will want to call out at once. The classroom will get noisy. A relaxed teacher accepts this temporary noise as part of the activity. A tense teacher tries to silence it and loses the energy.

This does not mean letting chaos reign. Relaxed teachers manage volume by saying “one by one” without shouting. The next principle covers this.

Principle 2: Take ideas one by one. Students should call out individually, not all at once. The teacher uses gentle reminders: “one at a time, please” or simply pointing at each student in turn.

A useful technique from the teacher does not look at students when calling on them. They face the board, write what is being shared, and say “one by one” without making eye contact. This keeps the classroom focused on the board where ideas are being captured rather than on the teacher’s face.

Principle 3: Don’t worry about organization initially. During brainstorming, the teacher writes ideas wherever space allows. The board may look messy. That is fine. Organization comes later.

A teacher who tries to organize while gathering disrupts the flow. They stop to think where each idea fits. Students wait. Energy fades. The brainstorm dies.

Principle 4: Focus on quantity, not quality. The goal during the gathering phase is to collect as many ideas as possible. Even ideas that may not be relevant get written down. Quantity gives the teacher more material to work with later.

A teacher who filters ideas during brainstorming sends a signal: only “good” ideas are welcome. Students with less confidence stop offering. The brainstorm narrows to the few confident students.

Principle 5: Be positive; don’t criticize. When a student offers an idea, the teacher writes it without comment. No “good idea” or “that is not quite right” or “are you sure?” Just write.

’s reasoning: positive validation invites more ideas. Criticism shuts down ideas. Silence (just writing what was offered) is the safest response.

After all ideas are collected, the teacher can comment on which ideas turn out to be most relevant. But during gathering, criticism is poison.

Principle 6: Keep ideas simple. Students should offer single words or short phrases, not full paragraphs. The teacher captures simple offerings on the board. A web of one-word ideas is more useful than a list of long sentences.

’s tip: if a student starts to give a long explanation, the teacher gently extracts the keyword and writes that. “So you mean fishing? Got it.” The student feels heard while the board stays uncluttered.

Principle 7: Write everything down. The teacher captures every idea offered, even if it seems off-topic. As principle 4 said, quantity matters. As principle 5 said, criticism is poison.

Writing every idea also validates student participation. A student whose idea was written down feels heard. A student whose idea was skipped feels dismissed.

Principle 8: Build description by omitting later. After the gathering phase, the teacher transitions to refinement. They look at the web and start narrowing.

For a brainstorm on “fish”, the web might include: fins, gills, eyes, scales, water, swimming, trout, salmon, shark, fishing, fish food, aquarium, pond, river, sea, horse (added by mistake earlier), dolphin (offered but actually a mammal), boat, fisherman.

The teacher walks through:

1. “Fins, gills, eyes, scales - these are parts of a fish.” Keep.
2. “Water, swimming - related to fish habitat. Keep.”
3. “Trout, salmon, shark - kinds of fish. Keep.” Note: dolphin offered earlier - not actually a fish. Discuss with the class why and remove.
4. “Horse - this is not related. Remove.”
5. “Fishing, fish food, aquarium, pond, river, sea - these are about fish. Keep.”
6. “Boat, fisherman - related but not directly about fish. May or may not keep.”

The refinement step turns a messy web into a focused web that supports the lesson. Students see the difference. They learn what is relevant and what is tangential.

The two stages

These eight principles operate in two distinct stages.

Stage 1: Generation. Principles 1-7 govern this stage. Gather everything. Stay relaxed. Don’t criticize. Write down all ideas.

Stage 2: Refinement. Principle 8 governs this stage. Now the teacher and students together identify what is relevant. Some ideas stay; some get omitted. The web becomes focused.

A teacher who tries to do both stages at once breaks the brainstorm. The teacher who keeps the stages separate produces a working tool.

Where brainstorming connects to other strategies

Brainstorming is one strategy among many. It connects to several other concepts.

Cognitive level check. Brainstorming serves as the cognitive-level check from the lesson plan structure. The teacher learns what students already know.

Activating prior knowledge (Vygotsky). Vygotsky emphasized prior knowledge as the foundation of new learning. Brainstorming activates prior knowledge directly.

Stimulating recall (Gagné). Gagné’s third instructional event is “stimulate recall of prior knowledge”. Brainstorming is a clean way to do this.

Working memory activation. Brainstorming brings related ideas into working memory at once, ready to receive new content.

A teacher who uses brainstorming well is using multiple educational principles simultaneously. The strategy is more powerful than it might first appear.

Common mistakes

Mistake 1: The teacher dominates. Some teachers ask questions that they themselves answer. Students do not get the chance to contribute. The “brainstorm” is actually a teacher monologue.

The fix is to wait. After asking the prompt, the teacher waits silently. Students will eventually contribute. The wait is uncomfortable but necessary.

Mistake 2: Calling on the same students. Some teachers default to the few confident students. The same five students contribute every time. The other 25 stay silent.

The fix is to deliberately rotate. Call on quieter students. Use names. Wait for them. An earlier note on equal opportunity applies here.

Mistake 3: Skipping the refinement stage. Some teachers do the gathering well but never refine. The web stays messy. Students leave with a confused jumble.

The fix is to allocate time for both stages. Generation for 5-7 minutes; refinement for another 3-5 minutes. The total is 10-12 minutes for a strong brainstorm.

Mistake 4: Criticizing offerings. As principle 5 said, criticism is poison. Some teachers slip into commentary anyway. “Hmm, that is not quite right.” “Are you sure about that?”

The fix is silence. Just write. Save commentary for refinement.

Flashcard

What two stages does an effective brainstorm have, and what governs each?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Generation and refinement

Generation: gather all ideas. Stay relaxed, take ideas one by one, don’t organize, focus on quantity, don’t criticize, keep ideas simple, write everything.

Refinement: review the web, keep relevant, omit irrelevant, build the focused picture for the lesson.

A teacher who keeps the stages separate produces a working tool. Combining them breaks the brainstorm.