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!

Sail Car

Here is a little iMovie trailer on the fun we have been having in third grade! 

Week of Code

The week of October 19-25 is Digital Citizenship Week in the United States, and what better way to celebrate, than to expose the students to one of the most important parts of future digital literacy...code.

I will be the first to admit that I am far from a coding genius. But just because I'm not an expert, doesn't mean I can't help them find their way in such an important part of future jobs.

“If you close your eyes and think about the world 10 years from now, it will be completely different,” Vedati said.

We are preparing students for jobs that don't even exist yet, and many (most!) of those jobs will include some sort of coding ability.

 As stated earlier, this week is a nationwide Digital Citizenship Week, but in our room, it is all about code. Welcome to the Clarke TAG Week of Code!

First through fifth grades have been using age appropriate coding apps (Daisy the Dinosaur, Scratch Jr., Hopscotch) to learn more about what is behind those video games they play. Below is an example of one of our beginning lessons.

Graphic from IPAD 4 School

The students found out quickly that it takes several commands to make one little square. Wow! Imagine all the code behind an entire game...

If time allows, ask your fourth or fifth grader to show you their "house" or "square" in Hopscotch during conferences....but make sure to look at the code behind it too!

Design Thinking

We had another great week in TAG! This week, our highlighted class was the third grade group. They were engaged in an introduction to design thinking. Engaging student in hands on projects provides a rich learning experience. For design thinking, I provided scaffolding and facilitated reflection as the students designed the ideal wallet for their partner.

As we talked about in class, it is all about listening to your partner and even thinking beyond what they tell you. For instance, one student asked great questions to design the perfect wallet for her partner, but she also thought about making her wallet waterproof - something the partner had no idea they wanted until it was already done!

A few reasons to love design thinking:

•  It is human centered, so they have to talk to their neighbor and ask questions. 
• Students engage in rapid prototyping and redesign based on "consumer" feedback.
• Hands on! By the end, they are building wallets, purses, or whatever their partner suggested. 
• It get students ready for the culture of design, which will aid them greatly down the road.

We had some great wallets and happy designers!