Design Thinking – Day 5 (Week 2)

By: Tammy Flanders

In reviewing last week’s workshops, I’m still wondering how the students who are headed to secondary schools would have accepted the scenario that we did use with students looking to teach at the elementary level.

Originally, Paula and I had thought to design a design thinking task around the scenario of the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf.  Because we felt that the point of the task was to teach about the process of design thinking and less so about the ‘content’ of the scenario that this would work.

One of the instructors recommended coming up with a scenario for the secondary students that would appear less ‘elementary,’ afraid that they wouldn’t buy into it. We did have other instructors also teaching secondary students who didn’t think this would be a problem.

So with this little encouragement, I’m still tempted (at some future time) to use the scenario based on the fairy tale with the secondary students. I think the advantages would balance the negative perceptions. For instance, we need to manage the expectations and make sure students understand that it’s the design thinking process that is the most important part of this.

Also, we think the ice breaker that goes with the three pigs’ scenario gets the students into talking more quickly and with less hang ups. This is done as a ‘roundtable storytelling’ where every student adds a line or two in retelling the story.

Compare this with the scenario that we do use with the secondary students that is based on current events around refugees coming to a new country and the challenges they face. The session starter for them is Paula and I reading/book talking the picture book, Home and Away by John Marsden and Matt Ottley. Next we have them chat about what they know about refugees or immigrants from things they’ve read or know personally. Many of them felt that they just didn’t have enough information about refugees in general and that thinking specifically about the Syrian refugees in Canada curtailed their imaginations. They just couldn’t seem to place themselves in the shoes of any new arrival. They were afraid that they would end up creating stereotypes.

However, the three pigs’ scenario wouldn’t have the same baggage as this is such a fanciful story that we encourage students to extrapolate on and take in any direction they want.

Today we had the opportunity to try this out.

Two classes that came to us last week, went through the workshop again (though not in its entirety) using the fairy tale task instead of the refugee scenario. They certainly had fun with it and came up with some really creative ideas.

Because they were already familiar with the introduction, we skipped that and focused the tasks around the scenario giving them lots of time to work through the empathy, definition, ideation and prototyping sections. This was much more hands on as we had the full 80 minutes to let them really get into the role playing, interviewing, defining and ideating and finally ‘building’ a prototype. Even though we brought out many of our building kits (wood blocks, Lego, foam discs, straws and connectors, etc.) many created prototypes that were programs or written informational literature instead.

Over all, I think these second workshops went over well with students but I can’t say for certain whether they would have bought in to it the same way if this had been their first exposure. We did ask if they would have felt it too elementary and some said yes. They also acknowledged that they could see how it would work using the fairy tale.

As I said before, maybe it’s all about managing expectations of the students from the first and reminding them the focus about the process not the actual task.

Thoughts, anyone?

Design Thinking Workshop Prototype

And this is the last peaceful moment we will enjoy at the Doucette for some 5 weeks.  Beginning on Monday, what seems like the sprint to the finish for 2nd year Werklund pre-service teachers will begin with the shot of a starting pistol (only figuratively) and continue at a break neck speed until February 14th.

Not that we, here at the Doucette, have been quiet.  Quite the opposite.  We have been developing a workshop for those same 2nd year students as they test the process of Design Thinking within their grade level and specialty teaching areas.  In order to end with a bang that we are metaphorically beginning with, a Maker Faire will be held here to showcase all of the prototypes of their learning on that final day, February 14.

Back to the workshop.  My partner in teaching, Tammy and I have been generally frustrated by each Design Thinking Workshop we have attended.  We began to visualize what the perfect workshop would look like in order to savour the language and process of Design Thinking.  During the brainstorm of our successes and disappointments, the number one reason for most of our frustrations was TIME.

In infomercial style, many workshops offered complete Design Thinking Training in 30 minutes or less.  And in order to experience Design Thinking, we bought into these workshops to soak up the process we had been reading so much about.   Let’s face it, spending two minutes to empathize with a real world problem is not enough.  Coming up with ideas to alleviate said problem with a 5 minute deadline is dreadful.

Developing our own workshop using the Design Thinking process embedded us in the steps to create a great learning experience for our students.  We decided, (listen carefully), to develop the workshop using the Design Thinking process making the workshop our prototype and having students test and give us feedback.  With me?  Okay, then we developed two humanities based scenarios to work with students through the first three defined steps of Design Thinking: Empathy, Definition and Ideation.

And so we begin the journey of walking 300+ students through the Design Thinking process using our workshop as prototype.  Beginning Monday, I will try to blog at the end of each day to let you know our successes and inspirations to change for new iterations. Notice how the word failure does not appear in this blogpost.  “Inspirations to change for new iterations” is the new failure where failure is, clearly, not an option.

Hang on, it is going to be a bumpy ride!

 

 

Design Thinking: New to the Classroom?

As we all know, buzzwords and education have a close relationship.  The evolution of education methods and movements to differentiating within the classroom is a road paved with buzzwords.  In the last 20 years, some classrooms have seen a revolution in the set-up, content, and learning environments they contain.

All of the buzzwords that we have worked with lately have been leading to a similar outcome. Project based learning, differentiated learning, inquiry, beginning with a big question and now design thinking are aimed at having students invest in their learning, developing interests and creativity and blending knowledge across curricular areas.

Knowledge is now more accessible than ever before in the history of the world and students are capable from a very early age of availing themselves of “the answers” 24 hours a day.  Current educators can take the opportunity to challenge students by pairing their acquired skills with further problem solving.

Through the last 20 years in the classroom, the movement toward creativity and design thinking has been a deliberate and worthwhile outcome of the digitally connected classroom.  Educators can now prepare students in the K-12 classroom to address authentic, real world challenges discussed in some post secondary settings. The experience of working through concrete problems gives students various ways to build on current foundation knowledge in a setting more like the work place.

Working with a group, discussing possible outcomes, revisiting prototypes, reworking failures gives students ways to express their strengths and to build on those skills that need work. Educators that build relationships with their students through creativity and experimentation establish deep learning memories that stay with students much longer than any memorization of facts.

Did I include enough educational buzzwords for you? Just keep in mind that educators are following a pathway where all buzzwords lead to engaged, student invested learning opportunities. Inquiry learning leads to engagement as does design thinking and maker learning.  Students who experience learning, rather than read or memorize for testing, create a rich learning memory.

Task Design

After hosting 3 maker workshops here in the Library, it is clear that good task design is essential.

A good task for a desired outcome has many, many constraints and boundaries similar to those authentic real life situations facilitators are trying to mimic.

For good design thinking and problem identification, a task must ensure students have as much information as possible to bump up against when designing a prototype.  Working through the task with a focus group allows the facilitator to “see” what issues are brought forth and rework the task if necessary.

Again, that old friend, “experience” is the best way to learn good task design.  Looking at examples that other makers have used does not always tell the whole story.

This one example will help illustrate the task design issue we encountered.  Once the design was established and we thought we had covered all the bases in our “Survivor” Challenge, we added a photo of a volcanic island on the cover page of the task information.  Students zoned in on a small island pictured in the photo but not mentioned in the task and designed their whole solution based on a bridge to the island.  A cautionary tale to reinforce the idea that all materials in your design package are usable. 

Experiment with tasks, especially with a focus group and redesign if necessary.  Maker tasks are new to me and I’m willing to learn from my design “flaws” and hone my skills to create the best maker tasks for students.  Through my learning, I can guide those who are taking their experience into their classrooms.

Making at the Doucette

And the pieces of our Maker Space are finally coming together just in time for students to return.

The mindset to adopt this type of teaching into our library experience is certainly in place. To showcase and involve students in the creation of higher order thinking task design, they must experience the process and outcome of doing such tasks.

The Craftsmen workbench was the first Maker task that staff attempted and successfully made all the pieces fit, wheels, handles and all.  Within the drawers of our Maker Space are littleBits, MaKey-MaKey, Arduino and FisherTechnik building kits.  Added, in time, are the craft and “found” pieces that can be included in the task building maker experience.

Students collaborate on the design of tasks, linking curriculum to questions.  Students are looking to push learners to explore, experiment, construct, and re-visit their designs.  Embedded in this problem-solving is the deep learning resulting from trial and error.

Now the crucial ingredient in the task will be the design thinking that works between the time the question is posed and the prototype is developed.  Look for more information  about design thinking in the next post.

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In the meantime, come build with Lego to get your creative juices working.