When we were presented with the idea of going to the STEAM maker fair in December, there was a mix of hesitation and excitement. Ultimately we wanted to share our experiences with the educational and Design Thinking community to continue to grow and develop as a program. We thought the best way to represent exactly what it is we do here at Francis Parker Lower school was to provide those visiting our booth an opportunity to “walk through” a design thinking project as an active participant. We wanted to show how each step of the Design Thinking process had a well designed project element that was directly associated with our Design Thinking model here at Parker.
To achieve this we chose the fifth grade boat project, which involves students learning the fundamentals about boat design and buoyancy along with supporting the classroom’s social studies curriculum. In the classroom, students built boats out of cardboard, tinfoil and tape followed by measuring the amount of weight each boat could hold. After the first couple of iterations, students brought those experiences to the design lab where they worked with a partner to create a final boat design. Students brainstormed different designs on paper and discussed the benefits of the different designs before having access to materials. Once the final boat design was decided upon, students worked together to create their boats which were again tested with different amounts of weights but were also put up against a variety of hazards such as wind, rain, and waves. This was done in a 12 by 4 foot pool made out of old garden boxes and a large tarp along with a drill rigged up to a pulley system that pulled each boat across at a standardized speed.
As boats were being designed, created, and tested, students were also creating Sea Monster paintings in Art, studying buoyancy in science, and continuing to study the age of exploration in the classroom. It is in these interdisciplinary experiences, lasting memories in students are made and the learning experiences become much more meaningful. As you entered our booth at the maker fair, you were immediately presented with the challenge we presented to the kids, along with the opportunity to design and create your own boat using the same materials and even test the boat in our pool of water. There were examples of students art work along with a video of students testing their boats with different weights and different hazards thrown their way. Lastly, as we do everyday in the Design Lab at Parker, we asked participants to reflect upon the experience and record some of those thoughts on a provided poster board. The turnout was great and the feedback provided to us was equally as rewarding. Students, parents, and teachers who visited our booth that day were engaged and excited to walk through the Design Thinking process we use here at Parker everyday.
