5th Grade Innovation Fair
The goal was to take our traditional science fair for 5th grade and transition it into a true design thinking project. Last year, we had taken a big step forward by removing the "work at home" component of our science fair and keeping the learning and project work in the classroom so that we would have authentic student work. We also integrated a reflective component for students to discuss what did and did not work. These were great additions, but we felt it was time to really embrace design thinking completely. We wanted to take all of the steps of design thinking that we'd been learning about all year and really dig into the empathy element.
We also wanted to focus on how design impacts others in our community. How might we make our environment better by solving real world challenges at our school? Here's how we do this in our own back yard - moving forward students should be ready to have "real world" clients for their design solutions. We wanted them to see something that needed change and know that they can effect change. This was a big part of the project!
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| Students interview classes to determine needs |
So, this year, we created a design challenge for our fifth graders. We had students go into all of the classrooms across our Lower School campus find out needs in the various rooms. The students interviewed students and teachers. Following those interviews, students returned with proposals for a solution to the problems uncovered in the interview (empathy) process.
We pre loaded our process with all teachers in all classrooms so that they would be brutally honest with our fifth grade designers. This honest feedback and need for adjustments to meet needs led to better products. This was so good for our students...we had worked with the students on this over the year, but having an actual consumer was a new twist in the process for these kids. As a result, our designers went through the design thinking process several times... focusing on the need to revisit steps on the design thinking wheel. They were constantly trying to better meet needs based on feedback they were getting from teachers and students.
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| Reviewing stated needs and designing a solution |
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| Designing a solution for others |
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| Designing solutions |
The students were responsible for documenting the process. We assessed the project via their documentation and how they included that in the showcase the process itself via their presentation boards. The assessment was less about the product itself, and more about how they captured their process through photos and writing. We kept asking students to capture what they actually did during each step of the design thinking process. This was a big plus in terms of helping us see their thinking and their work throughout the process. We prompted students to photograph and write up their thinking nearly daily.
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| Students document their process |
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| Documentation of process |
At the conclusion of the design and creation phases, the fifth graders actually crafted finished products for each classroom that are now actively in use by students and teachers. They presented their finished products and process during the 5th grade design showcase in mid-May and they received rave reviews from parents and faculty for their perseverance and clever solutions.
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| Proud students show off their final product! |
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| Dr. Gillingham, Lower School Head, learns about a design solution. |
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| Parents were invited to our design showcase to hear about the designs. |
Reflections about this project:
1. We had some projects like this but the students had to put themselves in the feet of others, but never had them actually working with a client directly. This was a great capstone experience for students to put the actual "customer" at the forefront. This will prepare our students to move into Middle and Upper School, where they will likely present their research, ideas, and findings to "real world" audiences outside of our school house.
2. We have seen iteration grow as a word in the vocabulary of 5th graders this year, and it is regularly used now. Parents are telling us that kids make comments about "iterations" when talking about problem solving, and they have shared that students are using the design thinking process to break down problems at home!
3. Time management, collaboration... all of those 21st century skills or habits of mind were really critical in this project along with their physical carpentry. Carpentry was not the intended focus but it ended up being an essential part of the project in the end. This points back to the need for spiraling instruction and planning backwards - ensuring we skill up our students on basics so that they can successfully complete the final product. This takes time and solid planning. We'll have to work on getting better on this next time around.
4. Compared to prior years, teachers got more involved in this project, and even better, all teachers learned how important iterating is to the process of design thinking and learning in general. We feel that this project really "moved the needle" in terms of celebrating going back and improving and cultivating the "fail forward" mindset rather than striving for perfection on the first time around.
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| Ensuring students are "skilled up" = successful project |
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| Students hard at work on their solutions |