The Ladder of Meaning Use your imagination and divergent thinking to work through a problem, while expanding your abilities to make sense of the world. 

Explore multiple levels of abstraction to help you discover what really matters and better ways to get there. 

  • Develop Your Design Work
  • Educators
  • Tool
  • When you get stuck trying to solve a problem, you are most likely trying to solve the wrong problem. 

    By moving between the concrete and the abstract, you can discover which problems are a better fit for where you are and what you want to achieve–otherwise you may discover you were moving down a narrow path that wouldn’t take you where you want to go.

    How does it work?

    Use the downloadable worksheet to climb your ladder of meaning. This activity is an invitation to test the hypothesis that exploring multiple levels of abstraction helps you discover what really matters and better ways to get there. The activity is written to be used in the classroom, but it can be done with any group or on one’s own.

     

    Credits

    Experiments in Reflection by Leticia Britos Cavagnaro

    Educator Guide: edited by Jennifer Brown and designed by Lauren Steltzer

     

    Exam Copies for Educators

    To request a complimentary examination copy to review for use in your classroom, contact Penguin Random House Education here

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