Creativity Booster: An Ode to the Other Hand

Activity

Warm up activities

Creativity Booster: An Ode to the Other Hand

Diana Varma

Creativity Booster activities can be used as a fun warm up the beginning of each class. This particular activity invites students to discover feelings of empathy.

Tech needed: Video conferencing, Paper / pens, Cameras off option

Synchronous

Accessibility: Visual, Auditory, Involves movement

Duration: 5-30 mins

Student preparation: None

Educator preparation: None

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

Creativity Boosters are short, purposeful activities used at the start of class to energise students and spark creative thinking. They work well as ice breakers and help students shift into learning mode. These activities can support both visually creative subjects (like design or visual arts-focused classes) and non-visual courses that involve creative problem solving (such as science, business, or social sciences).

There are different creativity boosters: some invite students to think visually, see ‘16 squares‘, some invite students to quiet and focus their minds, see ‘5 Senses‘, some invite students to get silly and quiet their inner critics, see ‘Yes! Let’s‘.

USEFUL FOR

This activity helps students reconnect with what it feels like to be a beginner. By doing something unfamiliar—like writing with their non-dominant hand—they build empathy for others who are learning and develop patience with themselves when facing new challenges. It also raises awareness of the “curse of knowledge,” reminding students (and educators) not to assume others share their experience or skills.

PREPARATION

For the ‘An Ode to the Other Hand’ Creativity Booster, there is no preparation required other than having the instructions to guide students through the activity (see below), as well as asking students to have a pen or pencil and piece of paper ready.

INSTRUCTIONS

This activity is inspired by an article in The Atlantic by James Parker entitled ‘An Ode to the Left Hand‘, where he helps readers understand what it felt like to practice drumming using his non-dominant hand.

This activity asks students to tap into their inner beginner and, in doing so, develop a new level of awareness and empathy for anyone learning something new. This includes being gentle and forgiving to ourselves when we’re a novice at a new activity.

Anyone who has graduated from being a beginner at anything likely suffers from ‘the curse of knowledge’; a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual communicates with another individual in a way that assumes the other person has the background knowledge to understand. In other words, when we are no longer beginners, we forget what it feels like to be beginners, which is a dangerous trap for any and all communicators.

Begin by inviting students to step into the shoes of a beginner—like a preschooler learning something for the first time. While their dominant hand may feel skilled and automatic, their non-dominant hand (or an unfamiliar method) offers a chance to reconnect with what it feels like to learn from scratch. If writing with the non-dominant hand isn’t suitable, students can explore a less-practiced skill or use a different part of the body or brain to try something new.
Next, ask students to place a pen or pencil in their non-dominant hand, taking time to try to grip it in a way that allows them to write. Acknowledge that it will likely feel awkward to grip the writing utensil correctly and something that seems second-nature to one hand is completely foreign to its identical twin.
Next, invite students to slowly print their first names on a piece of paper. Ask them to do this a few times (2-3 minutes) to get some practice. Is it challenging? If yes, how so?
Next, invite students to try to write their name in cursive writing, connecting each subsequent letter. Ask them to do this a few times (2-3 minutes) to get some practice. Is it challenging? If yes, how so?
Finally, end the exercise by engaging students in a short discussion about why many found this exercise to be challenging, specific emotions they felt as they were completing the tasks (ex: frustrated, impatient) and how this newfound ‘inner beginner’ can be helpful to their future selves. This end discussion works well as a conversation between instructor and students and/or added visualisation of creating a collaborative Google Doc, Google Jam board and/or Wordle to visually show students how their experience was similar or dissimilar to that of their peers.

DURATION

Approximately 10 minutes.

ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES

If writing isn’t accessible, students can draw a shape, type their name one-handed, use voice-to-text, or imagine the movement instead.

Here is a sample inclusive invitation for this activity:

We’re going to do a quick activity to reconnect with what it feels like to be a beginner. If you’re comfortable, use your non-dominant or less-practised hand to write your name a few times or adapt the task in a way that works for you. You could draw a simple shape, type with one hand, or imagine doing a familiar task in a new way. This isn’t about getting it right – it’s about noticing how it feels to try something unfamiliar. You might feel frustrated, amused, focused – there’s no a wrong reaction. Take a moment now. Then we’ll reflect together on what this tells us about learning, empathy, and supporting others who are just starting out.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

No special technology is required beyond video conferencing software in a live, synchronous class. This activity works with either cameras turned on or cameras turned off.

USEFUL RESOURCES

Talk Paper Scissors podcast, Episode 058: Serious Fun. In this podcast episode, I explain the rationale behind the importance of having ‘Serious Fun’ in post-secondary education, including the incorporation of Creativity Boosters in my virtual classroom.