At Simons Valley School, we have been involved in the evolving process of learning through creating. Outlined below is Simons Valley School’s pathway to become a CBE leader in design thinking:
- Year #1 - Phase 1. DLC teacher, school based one time funding
- Year #2 - Phase 1.5. DLC government top up one time funding
- Year #3 - Phase 2. DLC and the design thinking model incorporated into the classroom
In year #3 questions such as, Where do we go from here? Came up. Students engaged in a Speakerhead Video Conference led by Dominic Wilcox highlighting his organization http://www.littleinventors.org/. They learned about his creative process, how he brainstorms and innovates to develop creative solutions. Students applied this along with skills previous developed in the DLC and utilized the design thinking method while thinking through the lens of empathy to discover logistical problems in other classrooms. The logistical problem they were innovating to solve was a lack of classroom storage space. Students then brainstormed possible solutions and created final prototypes. The grade 6B class had a variety of prototypes and selected one prototype to share through direct voting. The selected design was submitted to Little Inventors for the possibility of Dominic Wilcox creating the actual design.
The “Quad Shelf” Prototype
Upcoming work will focus on designing inventions combining empathy while developing the entrepreneurial spirit. Steps will include: product development, pitching and marketing. One thing is for sure, wherever students take their design literacy skills will amaze us as they shift their thinking around design to incorporate empathy and communication. It is through the lens of multiple literacies we hope to connect the design thinking model so students have an opportunity to delve deeper into their learning.
Charlene Mudry (@cmmudry) Grade 6 teacher focused on developing engaging learning tasks, foodie, gardener, newbie picture taker and art enjoyer.
Shane Spriggs (@sbspriggs) Grade 5 teacher and Learning Leader focusing on making engaging tasks for students in the 21st century and BEYOND…