4th Grade Toothbrush Design Thinking

A couple weeks ago, I gave a brief review on what design thinking is, and why it is so important to our Talented and Gifted students (or any student for that matter). This process gives people a way to think beyond themselves, get creative, make mistakes, and learn from them. Via prototyping, the fourth grade students have realized many mistakes, but have also pushed forward to find new solutions.

If you remember, these students were tasked with redesigning something we use every single day of our lives: the toothbrush! When we started this project, picked by the students, to say I was weary of the redesign would be an understatement. However, it has been my goal since starting this position to be a facilitator of learning for my students...no matter what their interests.

Per usual, these kids went above and beyond. I truly believe that when we give kids a safe environment to be creative, and teach them that failure is OK as long as we learn from it, amazing things will happen. Do we have a design Colgate will pick up? Who knows! What I do know is that these students learned more about emotionally letting go of their ideas. This allowed them to be open to other suggestions and find new paths when things didn't pan out the way they had planned.

Below, you will find a few pictures from the interview, planning, and prototyping process of these brand new toothbrushes.

7 New Fables

Over the last weeks, the first grade group has been learning more about fables. These tales, that are meant to teach a lesson, provide a wonderful opportunity for digging deeper into a story. We had several surface discussions before the students came to the conclusion that perhaps The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing might be about a little more than a mean wolf and a yummy sheep.

"Mrs. Fitz, it is like stranger danger!" an excited seven year old yelled out in one of those light bulb moments. "The wolf looked like a sheep! But he wasn't! He was bad like strangers!" We then talked about how important it is to be aware of people.

But then, I had one of those moments where your head swells and heart thumps for this amazing job I get to enjoy each day. One of the students said, "You know, I saw this thing on TV, and it looked really cool, and I finally got it, and then it wasn't near as cool. It was a bummer. Is that kinda like this moral too?" Why yes, appearances can be deceiving, both on people and on products!

We concluded this project by writing our own fables. You may recognize a bit of a theme in the first few as the first grade is going through their nutrition class right now. They are learning how important healthy foods are to our lives, and that seeped into their morals.

So, sit back, grab some popcorn (not much - this is only a short film), and enjoy What is the Moral: 7 New Fables by Clarke Elementary First Grade TAG!

Design Thinking - Digging Deeper

After students (and teachers) took a week to Sharpen the Saw on spring break, I decided we would all benefit from going back to the beginning basics of design thinking. As you may remember, students started the school year learning more about human centered design. Human centered design takes a step away from the old thinking of, "If I want this, other people must too!"

While this may be true to an extent, it is important to have the consumer in mind as well. Learning how to interview others, ask the right questions, and synthesize this information is an important step that will help the students, not only in design, but also in learning to make inferences and amalgamate information in other aspects of their lives.

To set up this session of design thinking, we started by brainstorming objects we use in our everyday lives that could use an improvement. Pencils, backpacks, whiteboards, steering wheels, and a variety of others were brought up. In the end, third grade choose to redesign the ideal backpack, fourth choose a toothbrush (pretty interesting ideas are happening!), and fifth grade choose to design tabletop games.

Students have interviewed others in the class, interviewed again, come up with five radical ideas, shared and captured feedback, and are now coming up with their final designs. I can't wait to see what new and improved object these amazing students come up with!