| Preamble |
This Chapter is part of the PolyCIVIS Handbook on Participatory Methods for Teaching about the Polycrisis in Higher Education. The objective of this Handbook is to serve as a reference resource for teaching about the polycrisis in Higher Education in a participatory manner, a need which has not only been foreseen by the PolyCIVIS project in its inception phase, but also confirmed and further substantiated in a number of meetings and workshops during the project’s lifetime.
This Handbook is not a coursebook to teach what the polycrisis is, but a methods book, to provide instruments for teaching about the polycrisis in a participatory manner. It is to be made available online as a multimedia live resource, presenting different participatory teaching methods for uptake by the Polycrisis-interested community in Higher Education, together with supporting materials such as method descriptions, references, examples and case studies.
The different methods proposed are presented in one chapter for each group of methods, which also includes, in the digital edition of this Handbook, a live survey to collect peer feedback from the community itself, on the usefulness and ease of use that community members (Higher Education tutors, students, researchers as well as practitioners) may themselves find specific methods to have within, and for, their own contexts and audiences.
| What do we mean by thin participation techniques? |
Lateral and visual thinking techniques help students move beyond linear, habitual and discipline-bound reasoning. Lateral thinking uses reframing, provocation, analogy, reversal and unexpected connections to generate new ways of approaching a problem. Visual thinking uses diagrams, drawings, sketchnotes, metaphors, maps, icons, arrows, spatial layouts and visual narratives to make relationships visible. In the concept of teaching polycrisis, these methods are useful, helping students to see interdependence, feedback loops, blind spots, competing interpretations, uncertainty and possible futures while making participation more accessible to different learners.
| Indicative starter sources for information about these methods |
| Additional sources of information about these methods |
de Bono, E. (1967). The use of lateral thinking. Jonathan Cape.
de Bono, E. (1970). Lateral thinking: Creativity step by step. Harper & Row.
de Bono, E. (1993). Serious creativity: Using the power of lateral thinking to create new ideas. HarperBusiness.
de Bono, E. (1990). Lateral thinking: A textbook of creativity. Penguin Books.
de Bono Group. (n.d.). Lateral thinking.
https://www.debono.com/lateral-thinkingBetterUp. (n.d.). What is lateral thinking? A guide to creative thinking.
https://www.betterup.com/blog/lateral-thinkingInteraction Design Foundation. (n.d.). Lateral thinking.
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/lateral-thinkingFigma. (n.d.). Lateral thinking explained.
https://www.figma.com/resource-library/lateral-thinking/Management Consulted. (n.d.). Lateral thinking.
https://managementconsulted.com/lateral-thinking/Shodiq, L. J., Juniati, D., & Susanah. (2024). Differentiated instruction based on lateral thinking techniques for enhancing mathematical creativity. Mathematics Teaching Research Journal, 16(5), 240–264.
Bicer, A., Chamberlin, S., & Perihan, C. (2021). A meta-analysis of the relationship between mathematics achievement and creativity. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 55(3), 569–590.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.474Guilford, J. P. (1967). The nature of human intelligence. McGraw-Hill.
Kaufman, J. C., & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.). (2010). The Cambridge handbook of creativity. Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511763205Rohde, M. (2012). The sketchnote handbook: The illustrated guide to visual note taking. Peachpit Press.
Brown, S. (2011, March). Doodlers, unite! [TED Talk]. TED.
https://www.ted.com/talks/sunni_brown_doodlers_uniteBrown, S. (2014). The doodle revolution: Unlock the power to think differently. Portfolio/Penguin.
Carter, N. (2018). Sketchnoting in the classroom: A practical guide to improving student learning. International Society for Technology in Education.
Pillars, W. (2016). Visual note-taking for educators: A teacher's guide to student creativity. W. W. Norton.
Andrade, J. (2010). What does doodling do? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24(1), 100–106.
https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1561Boggs, J. B., Cohen, J. L., & Marchand, G. C. (2017). The effects of doodling on recall ability. Psychological Thought, 10(1), 206–216.
https://doi.org/10.5964/psyct.v10i1.217Tadayon, M., & Afhami, R. (2017). Effects of doodling on students' retention of lecture notes. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 9(2), 194–204.
https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-04-2016-0024Arnheim, R. (1969). Visual thinking. University of California Press.
Arnheim, R. (1974). Art and visual perception: A psychology of the creative eye (new ed.). University of California Press.
McKim, R. H. (1972). Experiences in visual thinking. Brooks/Cole.
Sibbet, D. (2008). Visual intelligence: Using the deep patterns of visual language to build cognitive skills. Theory into Practice, 47(2), 118–127.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840801992306Sibbet, D. (2010). Visual meetings: How graphics, sticky notes and idea mapping can transform group productivity. John Wiley & Sons.
Sibbet, D. (2013). Visual leaders: New tools for visioning, management and organization change. John Wiley & Sons.
Kennedy, C. (2020). Introducing graphic facilitation and graphic recording [Conference paper]. International Visual Literacy Association.
https://ivla.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/kennedy_facilitation.pdfHautopp, H., & Ørngreen, R. (2018). Graphic facilitation as a method for developing new educational practices. In Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on e-Learning (pp. 168–176). Academic Conferences International.
Hogan, C. (2003). Practical facilitation: A toolkit of techniques. Kogan Page.
Grundy, A. F., Kohler, C., & Oechtering, V. (Eds.). (1997). Women, work and computerization: Spinning a web from past to future. Springer.
Margulies, N., & Sibbet, D. (2009). Graphic facilitation and the art of making meaning visible. In The IAF handbook of group facilitation: Best practices from the leading organization in facilitation (pp. 351–366). Jossey-Bass.
Schäfer, A., & Steinlin, M. (2021). Undertaking graphic facilitation to enable participation in health promotion interventions in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Denmark. Health Promotion International, 37(3), Article daab122.
https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daab122Nygaard, M., & Gleerup, J. (2023). Combining graphic facilitation and animation-based sketching in higher education. Drawing: Research, Theory, Practice, 8(2), 261–278.
https://doi.org/10.1386/drtp_00114_1| Indicative participatory teaching scenarios for these methods |
Students listen to a short input on climate, energy, migration, public health and democratic instability. Instead of linear notes, they create sketchnotes using arrows, icons, frames, metaphors and questions. The class then builds a collective wall of visual interpretations and compares what each image makes visible or invisible.
Groups receive provocative statements such as “What if universities had no departments?” or “What if non-human ecosystems had voting rights?” Students use these prompts to generate unusual responses to polycrisis education, then translate the most promising ideas into realistic teaching or policy proposals.
Students draw feedback loops linking different crisis domains: drought, food prices, migration, political mistrust, misinformation, public health and social unrest. Each group posts its loop on the wall. Students walk around, annotate missing actors and suggest leverage points.
Instead of mapping success, students visually map how a crisis response collapses: ignored warnings, unclear communication, institutional silos, unequal access, political blame and information disorder. They then redesign the map into a more resilient pathway.
Students choose a metaphor for the polycrisis: storm, web, knot, domino chain, wildfire, pressure cooker, broken machine or ecosystem. They draw the metaphor and discuss what it clarifies, what it hides and how it shapes possible action.
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