Geometry and Chair Designs

This post will touch on two grade levels: first and fourth.

The first of which, is 1st grade! First grade has had a big focus on geometry in the past week. We have used K'nex to make specific shapes, learned about new shapes (pentagon), and gained new vocabulary (congruent, edges, vertices). Tons of hands on learning has been happening. Students have also integrated reading into geometry with "Sid the Snake". Students read and then built the shapes that Sid described.

Over the last few weeks, I have also noticed that these students needed a bit more work on following steps, so we played the Read and Draw game. Read and Draw works on reading skills, shape skills, and step by step directions.

The next grade focus of the week is 4th grade! We engaged in our first design thinking project of the year for these students. The challenge was to design the idea chair for their partners.

We had some WILD ideas! Chairs were going to fly to space! Chairs were going to have rocket launchers! Chairs were going to have every electronic item in existence attached!

Wild ideas are the basis of design thinking. They are an amazing starting point! However, designers (the students) must then take those wild ideas and think, "Is idea cool AND build-able?" From this small question, discussions about supply, demand, adaptability,  profit, and what the consumer really wants sprung to life.  Students made some smart choices on how they might change those prototypes to be more consumer friendly, with price and function.

4th grade interviewing the "consumer" before prototype day

It may look like chaos, but this is how learning happens. Prototype day is the best! 

The fourth grade group is amazingly creative, and this project kept them thinking big. In our post-prototype discussion, students expressed that next time we tackle a design, they will keep the overall consumer in mind.

One students even said, "It isn't about doing exactly what your partner says they want (space launching chair), but more about figuring out what they really need and how you can build that." Talk about hitting the nail on the head!

Design thinking is...

• Human Centered - feedback from other users is fundamental to good design!
• Experimentation and Prototyping: prototyping is not a way to validate your ideas, but rather to think further and learn.