The creative process of science: improvisation, collaboration, innovation

Science is a much more creative process than most people realize. In this scientific improvisation workshop, we see how collaborative play and improvisation techniques can be used to explore scientific concepts.

The intersection between science and improvisation has recently been triumphed around the world by people from both the arts (e.g. Alan Alda) and the sciences (e.g. Uri Alon). Generally, improvisation is fun, but beyond the simple pleasure of laughing together, we can also employ improvisation techniques in our creative scientific thinking. Specifically, we can learn how to explore new concepts, problems, and hypotheses together, while temporarily silencing our inner critics to find innovative out-of-the-box solutions and ideas. We will do exercises together and then break into groups based on expertise (scientists and communicators spread among groups). Each group will explore a topic and we will share our results.

Held at ScienceComm 2015 in Solothurn by Adria LeBoeuf