What is Design Thinking and why bring it into the classroom?
Design Thinking is a process that results in meaningful solutions by way of generating and experimenting with ideas. Through the design process, users are able to create a customized solution for their problem. So how can Design Thinking be useful in the classroom?
When we pose students with real world challenges and meaningful issues within the context of learning, we challenge them to explore and experiment. Design Thinking encourages students and teachers to work through challenges to create and build a solution.
Photo Credit: Design Thinking for Educators
Design Thinking is a process that results in meaningful solutions by way of generating and experimenting with ideas. Through the design process, users are able to create a customized solution for their problem. So how can Design Thinking be useful in the classroom?
When we pose students with real world challenges and meaningful issues within the context of learning, we challenge them to explore and experiment. Design Thinking encourages students and teachers to work through challenges to create and build a solution.
Photo Credit: Design Thinking for Educators
Our Challenge: Fifth Grade Students at PDS need a classroom that encourages and promotes deeper thinking, collaboration, and an exploration of learning.
While most students (and teachers!) are accustomed to entering a neatly arranged and well decorated classroom on the first day of school, the fifth grade boys at PDS were in for a surprise! Imagine a room with boxes piled high, posters stacked together on the floor, and school supplies all over the room and you have imagined an organized version of our classroom on the first day of school. The students were lucky enough to have a seat, though! As a result of the chaos, engaging the students in this process and getting them to see the challenge was no problem.
The discovery phase of the process encourages students to embrace the problem and asks the question, how do I approach it? To answer the question, students participated in a See, Think, Wonder thinking routine. Students were asked to describe in detail what they saw when they looked around the room, what they thought about the state of the room and the challenge ahead, and what questions they wondered as they began to approach the design process. Students wrote their responses on Post-It Notes and categorized the responses accordingly. The class, as a whole group, then reflected on the responses and discussed the reactions to the See, Think, Wonder.
To see more about their experience with this activity, click here.
Next, the students began to move into the Interpretation phase. The question asked in this phase is "I learned something, how do I interpret it?" Students participated in the Compass Points thinking routine to begin moving forward in the design process and interpreting their thoughts about the classroom. In this activity, students worked as teams of four to answer the questions pictured on the left. The activity resulted in students having a clearer understanding of the classroom's purpose, how learning will take place, how themselves and their peers learn best, and a realization that the students were united in their excitements and worries for the process. Creating this discussion allowed for more open lines of communication in the design process and a sense of community as we moved forward.
To see more about their experiences with this activity, click here.
To see more about their experiences with this activity, click here.
The next phase, ideation, asks students "I see an opportunity, what do I create?" To complete this phase of the design process and prepare for making blueprints, students reviewed an inventory of the items in the room and began discussing how each item in the classroom could be used. We focused primarily on large objects and left the supplies to be determined in the last phase. Students were encouraged to think outside of the box for uses of items and consider the learning styles of their peers as they completed the inventory. Once the inventory was reviewed and students were ready to move forward, the real fun began!
Creating the blueprints for the classroom design served as the experimentation phase of the process. Prior to this stage, students had reflected on the challenge, collaborated to discuss perspectives, and formulated an idea of what the room could become. They were now ready to move forward and answer the question, how do I build it?
Designing blueprints was the most engaging and exciting part of the process, thus far, and the students created a wide variety of designs. We provided the students with cut-out shapes that represented key items in the room in order to assist with the arranging, rearranging, and more rearranging of the furniture on their blueprints. It was so exciting to see the students collaborate and create designs that reflected their personality and wild ideas! After each group had the opportunity to create a blueprint, Kim, Alice, and I sorted through to find similarities that we could present to the class in order to move forward. While many of the designs were creative (and mostly functional), the following centers were a common theme throughout: reading, writing workshop, project area, and (their favorite) the fun zone, which is now referred to as the Crusader Cave! Here are some Crusaders designing blueprints:
Creating the blueprints for the classroom design served as the experimentation phase of the process. Prior to this stage, students had reflected on the challenge, collaborated to discuss perspectives, and formulated an idea of what the room could become. They were now ready to move forward and answer the question, how do I build it?
Designing blueprints was the most engaging and exciting part of the process, thus far, and the students created a wide variety of designs. We provided the students with cut-out shapes that represented key items in the room in order to assist with the arranging, rearranging, and more rearranging of the furniture on their blueprints. It was so exciting to see the students collaborate and create designs that reflected their personality and wild ideas! After each group had the opportunity to create a blueprint, Kim, Alice, and I sorted through to find similarities that we could present to the class in order to move forward. While many of the designs were creative (and mostly functional), the following centers were a common theme throughout: reading, writing workshop, project area, and (their favorite) the fun zone, which is now referred to as the Crusader Cave! Here are some Crusaders designing blueprints:
After determining the common themes and centers of the blueprints, we created a Google Form for students to vote on the location and attributes of each center. The survey was modified after each class period because both the survey and creating of a center took place in the same class period. Each class period was assigned a center to create to be sure that every student was actively involved in bringing to life blueprints. Google Form was a great asset to the process because it provides a quick, easy to read analysis of the results. Here are snapshots of the students' votes on the survey:
Once the votes were in we were FINALLY able to move furniture and arrange the room! Here are pictures of the finished product!
The last phase of the design process, evolution, is one we will be in year round. As the learning changes and progresses, so will the classroom. The design process resulted in a learning space that exceeded our expectations. However, the experience provided the students with much more. Through problem solving, collaboration, and creative thinking, the students were able to immerse themselves in designing a space that they enjoy and take pride in. Every classroom should be a comfortable space that promotes learning; the new classroom does meets this criteria and more! I am so proud of the students for embracing the challenge and creating such a great learning space!
These lessons were developed by Alice Parker, Kim Trefz, and Jillian Hinesley.