5th Grade Environmental Play-Letting the students take the lead.

The set designers measure the stage

Costume and prop designers at work

Actors audition for parts

At the completion of every project the Design Team has a debrief session to reflect on the process.  After last year's 5th grade student lead play, we asked ourselves how the experience could have been even more meaningful for our students.  Could we do anything differently?  The answer was a resounding YES!  Last year the play was largely accomplished in the classrooms, during lunch, with support from a few subject specialists.  The resulting play was fabulous, but we wanted the students to play an even bigger part in the production.  This year, with the creation of the Scripps Design Lab and a flexible schedule in place, the 5th grade teachers and the Design Team are collaborating to offer students a unique opportunity...access to work spaces, designated time each day, flexible groupings, and the expertise of many teachers.  Whether it is sewing or building, singing or acting, lighting or sound effects the students can get help with whatever aspect of the project they need when and if they need it.  This new structure has enabled students to take real ownership of the process and their learning.

Here is how 5th grade teacher, David Ries, described the process in a letter to parents:

We are currently immersed in the production of our fifth grade environmental play.  The process is our most ambitious application of the Design Thinking principles that we engage in here at Francis Parker. 
The students started with a bit of research and discussion about what environmental issues were important to them.  Students then decided how they wanted to contribute to the process, from writing to acting to set design and costumes.  And once the script was finished, we broke up into our groups and began the arduous task of bringing our ideas to fruition.  The Design Team are providing the structure and support for students to help us collaborate on a daily basis.  It is wonderfully messy.
Sending a fifth grader to design a set or start rehearsing lines can be tricky.  Sometimes even chaotic.  Still, we map out our daily plans, we work our way through differences of ideas, and we reflect on how things are going well and how they are not.  Then we adjust our course.

We have ten working days until rehearsals begin.   I guarantee struggles and setbacks along the way, but we will get there.  We will put on an environmental play that may or may not save the world.  But students will walk away with valuable skills that will help them to be independent thinkers and workers.  They will have produced a substantial piece of work as a member of a collaborative team. 
That is significant.

4th Grade Business Sale a la Design Thinking

Our fourth grade students have an annual project that directly ties to benchmarks we identified as essential in the areas of math and social studies. This project has come to be known as the annual business sale. This year, we tried to adjust and make this project more "real world" for students by incorporating design thinking. While in prior years, student groups just chose an object to make, market, and sell, this year we approached things differently. Before deciding on an item, we introduced the fourth graders to the concept of "market research" and made this research a big part of the process this time. We had all of the students go out and talk with possible customers about what they would like to see available.

Market research with potential customers

Following the market research, students wrote up a business proposal and presented those proposals using newly acquired technology training. Side note: Again, we must note how important it is to backwards design these projects to ensure the students are skilled-up on essential functions prior to them applying those skills in a more public manner. In order to craft a successful proposal, students learned Keynote as well as learning basic modeling to project costs and revenue streams. Both of these elements were brand new to the project this year. They were highly successful additions!

Creating a business proposal presentation

A student shares their business proposal with peers

The next step was to create print advertisements in their art classes, and then going back to their technology learning to create a green-screen oriented commercial. As part of the research on marketing, students studied about various sales and marketing techniques, and those techniques had to be evident in their materials.

Creating advertisements for the sale

Learning about why some products sell and some don't in library

Creating Prototypes

Students then made prototypes and iterated designs before settling on the final design. This led right into the sale itself. Sales were on par as years past - perhaps just a bit higher than average but still robust. Students sold their items like small stores, including having a "season end" sale time a couple of weeks later on to finish selling all products.  

After the sale, the students then researched where they'd donate their proceeds and they also wrote a narrative persuasive essay about why funds should go to that cause. All in all, the project was very successful, and we had higher involvement of our specials and core classrooms. The student engagement was very, very high. On the other side, the vision for this project was probably less sharp than we would have preferred - it could have been more cohesive because of the meshing of content and product creation and we missed some key opportunities to more seamlessly integrate the many moving parts. This is something we will take into consideration when we approach the business sale next year.

Production day