3rd Grade: Blending Skill with Innovation

Design Thinking vs. Basic Woodworking skills...which should we do?  Both!  

While directly teaching the Design Thinking process is one of our main goals, it is equally important to develop the skills needed to interact and engage with our Design Lab tools in a safe and appropriate way. Francis Parker 3rd graders started off the year by with the skill building challenge of creating an iPad holder.   Students learned to cut notches in small hard-board pieces using a provided template and a coping saw to create a desktop iPad holder for use in the classroom (making this project very popular with the classroom teachers!).

 

After the students have used their iPad holder for a couple of months, we will circle back and have students take another look at their design, how it is used, and how it could be improved to better meet their needs.  To directly develop empathetic skills in these students, we will ask them to interview another student, attempting to better understand the others perspective and individual needs.  The students will then take that information and continue along the Design Thinking process, brainstorming improvements to the holder, and designing and creating a improved iPad holder that will better meet the needs of their partner.  
   
 We are using this seemingly small, introductory  project to not only develop fundamental skills needed to effectively and safely engage with the design center and its many tools, but also to directly teach the Design Thinking process and help the students develop empathy and effective communication. Win-Win!

We can't wait to see what they come up with!

Transformation: The Scripps Design Center

At the end of year one, we learned a lot of things from our dabbling in Design Thinking, but a primary concern that surfaced was related to space. A regular problem had arisen: kids would be elbow deep in an exciting project only to discover that they would need a particular material only found in another location on campus. To get this material, they had to head all the way to the other end of campus to get it, and would sometimes go on extended tours in this process. We realized that it was going to be critical to have teaching spaces that were design oriented needed be located in a common area. This area could not be too far removed from the general classrooms to save on travel time as well as to afford greater integration of projects with learning. 

We had a space that was set aside for large meetings and other school functions, but typically was not heavily used during the school day. After a lot of discussion and meetings, the decision was made to relocate our wood shop and art room to another part of campus, and to house them next to one another as well as positioning them next to our science classrooms and library. This would afford us the ability to physically de-silo the specials classes in which design thinking projects would take place. It also helped with students being able to easily access materials and teachers when working on projects. 

Happily, new flooring and electric were only real construction elements that we had to consider. This resulted in minimal costs that we were able to take from annual capital improvement. This was a deliberate consideration - we weren't sure what the kids would need, so we put things in place that we knew we would use, and then build from there based on the projects that came to life during the year. We took what we had from other parts of the school to encompass both functions (technology and woodworking/fabrication shop) that we needed in the space.

We had a small handful of teachers willingly relocate their classroom space to accomplish this - and the results have been outstanding... 

This relocation of spaces has completely transformed the way we teach. It also honors what we promised to do from the outset, which is to build a lab that would meet the emergent needs that came about as a result of dabbling in Design Thinking in year one. This process held us true to our commitment to let philosophy and student outcomes drive physical space decisions and considerations. 

Our new Scripps Design Center, ready for action!

The fall semester project board shows a full docket of integrated projects in almost every grade level.

This new space has breathed new life into our design thinking projects this year, and because it is in a better adjacency to regular classrooms, it is also allowing us to bridge the gap between classroom instruction and projects in a way that proved nearly impossible last year. It has facilitated a great deal of collaboration for the design team as well as for the design team and classroom teachers. In fact, it's not unusual to see the classroom teacher dropping in to check on student progress to see how the work in the Scripps Design Center underpins and supports what they are teaching their kids in the academic classroom.

Today, we free flow through the spaces in and around the Scripps Design Center - both students and faculty. This free movement has allowed kids to expand their thinking and incorporate both engineering design and artistic considerations into whole, integrated projects. We are also seeing greater free flowing of our faculty in terms of on-the-fly collaboration and just-in-time adjustments to instructional pacing. This all serves to benefit our students by providing improved pathways to achieve what they set out to create.

Lower School Design Thinking Year 1

    

"Implementation is invitational, but learning about Design Thinking is mandatory."  This was the message as we embarked on our Design Thinking journey.  Accepting that invitation, we here at the Lower School immediately began looking for ways to implement Design Thinking.  Our initial attempts saw us doing this in three different ways.  First, the group of teachers who would become the "Design Team" started by working with small groups of students.  We lead the Student Council through a Design Thinking exercise to discover and implement a better way to track tickets at the Halloween Carnival.

Introducing the Design Thinking process

Brainstorming ways to track the tickets

Bringing their vision to life

  
Our fifth grade students then noticed that given the upcoming holiday concert season, visitors to our campus might need more information that you would find on a traditional campus map.  So we led them through the Design Thinking process to design maps featuring the best places to park, accessible ramps, and even the coldest drinking fountains!

Students interviewed the office staff and our safety patrol officer to create this map of the best places to park.

As we were doing this the team noticed that brainstorming, collaboration, and all of the other elements of design thinking weren’t innate skills for many kids and needed to be taught.  To that end the second thing we did was to begin using Design Thinking challenges to teach/model these individual skills. 

For example, in the library,  we did a mini lesson on brainstorming.  We read a story about Queen Victoria, who loved to swim but was unable to get to the beach while preserving her modesty.  

 Right before the innovation was revealed we stopped, and brainstormed our own ideas following the rules of brainstorming…

1.  Listen respectfully/let all voices be heard. 

2.  Defer judgment/there are no bad ideas.

3.  Build on the ideas of others/ use “yes, and…” statements.  

Students had some creative solutions to Queen Victoria's problem

Here are a few other examples of ways we taught the individual steps...

This engineering challenge was the perfect opportunity to teach collaborative skills

Try, try again.  Students had to come up with several iterations of a catapult.

When we think of Design Thinking, we tend to think of product innovation, but at it's core Design Thinking is a repeatable process that can be applied to any problem or challenge.  So, the third thing we did was to go into classrooms and work with teachers to show them how to "tweak" their existing lessons to reflect a more Design Thinking approach, in other words,  show them that Design Thinking is not something that you do...it is how you do it.   

Taking a lesson and making it better.  Instead of taking a test on the Social Studies chapter on transportation, students brainstorm innovations on modern transportation and then create prototypes of their inventions.

 

As we reflected on year 1, we were surprised by many things...the exponential increase in the student's engagement, how much of this we were already doing without realizing it, and just how hard it is for us as teachers to embrace ambiguity.  Our biggest realization, however, was that the two biggest obstacles to teaching in a true interdisciplinary way were time and space-specifically our class schedules and proximity of our classrooms.  

It seems we have a new Design Thinking challenge on our hands...

Coding Play Dates!

One of the things we had learned at Lighthouse Charter School was that all faculty should and could learn to code, as well as 3-D print. Throughout the early spring months, we procured some small 3-D printers and also the necessary supplies to provide coding basics for students and teachers.

While many of our faculty are comfortable with 3-D printing and the related applications to make things for printing, several had not yet had a chance to experience the magic of 3-D printing. Similarly, while some faculty were familiar with coding language and using code as an outcome of student learning, other faculty had yet to learn about this. As a result, we held a couple of "Coding Play Dates" for faculty after work hours in late April and early May. These play dates were essentially an open house for design lab related tools. We provided computers, the apps related to 3-D printing, and 3-D printers, MakeyMakey kits, and coding applications.

The play dates were a huge success! We had over 20 faculty attend each session, which means that 40  folks learned the essentials about coding and 3-D printing, as well as walking away with some great ways to use and apply these technologies in the classroom. I highly recommend that schools who are moving to a design thinking paradigm (or who are moving towards a stronger technology presence with coding and 3-D printing) use this informal, drop in, novice-friendly approach to heighten interest and provide guidance in learning.

At one of our coding dates we even had students come in to teach our faculty. That was a great touch that really motivated and interested the faculty - they saw how much the kids loved doing this kind of activity, and they walked away with some wonderful ideas on integrating coding and 3-D printing in their classrooms. As we move into the new school year, we anticipate more coding and printing taking place in our classrooms. Stay tuned!

Faculty from all three divisions tackle Scratch coding.

Colleagues help colleagues learn the essentials for 3-D printing via Tinkercad.

We used low resolution 3-D printers to quickly produce prints created by faculty members.

Here's a 3-D print ready to roll in Tinkercad.

Eureka! Success in programming a MakeyMakey kit as a drum set. 

Colleagues had fun learning coding basics and using MakeyMakey. 

5th Grade Science Fair!

In what was undoubtedly the launch point for design thinking at the Lower School in the spring of 2014, the 5th Grade Science Fair in 2015 was truly a sight to behold. This event encapsulated all of the elements of design thinking that we have embraced at Francis Parker. It was awesome!

First, it was 100% student created - all of the work was done by students during class time here on campus, and while students had consultative help from teachers and staff, they did all of the ideating, brainstorming, creating, and designing all on their own. While the final finish of these projects might not be as strong as those that involve parent help, the students owned their work and their learning in a way that would not have been possible otherwise.

During the morning of March 27, our 5th graders hosted the science fair at our Lower School campus. All students displayed their projects and were available to explain their work to parents, faculty, administration, and even their fellow students. It was truly remarkable to hear 10 year olds thoroughly explain complicated projects and processes, including hearing them discuss their iterative process and repeated testing to get a solid final product. Students also provided live demonstrations of their projects for all participants.

My favorite part of the process was that students were required to talk about successes, failures, challenges, and what they learned - not just about the project itself, but from the process of creating the project. Just behind that, my second favorite part of the event was that students from other grade levels visited the fair, and the 5th graders walked all of those students through their projects - students as teachers made for a fun morning of learning for all. Many of the poster boards that accompanied the projects included these discussions of successes and challenges. It was great to see kids realize that failing is part of succeeding, not to mention having them so professionally discuss their end results! See the photos below to get a taste of an incredible morning of teaching and learning and design thinking!

Display boards are examined by parents and faculty members. 

The science fair was a big hit for everyone! Kudos to our 5th graders.

All displays included discussions of successes and challenges - reflective learning evidence.

Here a group of students demonstrates their product in a live demo.

Another group's reflection on what worked, did not work, and what they'd do differently next time.

5th grade teams teach students from other grades - students as teachers led to powerful learning for all!

Updating Our Textbook

In 3rd grade, our students discovered that an entire chapter of their social studies textbook was woefully out of date. The wrong state governor, wrong representatives, and even wrong laws were shown as being current! Our students and teachers decided to do something about it. Enter Aurasma, a very neat app that gave a great option for students to take charge and set history straight.

Students first found all of the text and photos that needed to be updated. Then, they investigated the current and correct information that needed to be inserted. Finally, they put their iPads to use and virtually inserted the correct photos and information into the chapter using Aurasma. This app allows the students to "virtually insert" the right photos into the book. Once this process is done, the viewer can hold the iPad over the textbook and the app automatically and magically updates the photos and text when you look at the page using the iPad's camera. It is pretty amazing!

The students loved this project, and it provided an innovative and creative way for our students to learn the current office-holders in our state as well as enhance their digital learning skills. The 3rd grade teaching team shared that they had never seen their students so highly engaged in this unit of learning before. When I visited the classrooms, I was bombarded by students excitedly wanting to show off their Aurasma pages that they had created!

Chinese New Year Makey-Makey Project!

Our Lower School Chinese teacher, Sophia Dalton, was one of our faculty who had the opportunity to visit Lighthouse Charter School. During our time there, she envisioned, created, and prototyped a fun new lesson for her Chinese New Year cultural learning unit. Being brave and willing to try something completely new, she gave it a go just a few weeks later!

Final product - 100% functional. Next year: work on polishing the final display

In the past, students had studied different traditional elements of Chinese New Year, like the use of dragon dances, the eating of oranges, and the use of red envelopes for gifting money. Sophia updated this project by having the students still study the traditional elements and learn the vocabulary in the target language. Students also produced short written summaries in the target language. However, this year, they took that learning and crafted an interactive table display to teach others about Chinese New Year - not only showing off their learning, but also allowing others to learn from what they made! It ended up being a great "pay it forward" kind of experience where younger learners got to experience Chinese New Year and new target language vocabulary because of what the older students created.

Sophia shares that her kids LOVED using the Makey-Makey kits. While the lesson took a bit longer than it had in the past, she felt it was 100% worth it due to the high energy and engagement demonstrated by the students as they created the project. She shared "the project was not too overwhelming to facilitate, and I can see it could be integrated in various projects and used in our upper grades at Lower School." She went on to share that the biggest challenge was the difficulty in staying in target language due to the technical aspects involved, however, it ended up being worth it in the end.

Students having big fun working with Makey-Makey

The final product was not as polished as she wanted, but it was completely student done and engineered. Next year she is looking at ways to polish up the finished display so that it can be displayed in a public space at the school for more people to enjoy.

To quote Sophia, "WE DID IT! Bottom line: we will totally do this next year with some modifications."

The Fifth Grade Play

Our 5th grade students experienced what has likely been the most ambitious design thinking project to date! What was it? It was their grade-level play. Each 5th grade class put on their own production. 

In years past, our drama teacher had written a play for our students, and then directed the play. Students filled the roles of actors and stage technicians, with all students receiving direction on roles, duties, and responsibilities. Tasks were pre-defined and clearly explained.

This year, the approach to the 5th grade play could not have been more different, and it was truly a community affair. This time around, the drama teacher and classroom teachers made a determined effort for this to be student-centered, and they took on the role of facilitator/questioner rather than boss or director. Aside from organizing the teams that were needed to put on the production, the teachers did not overtly guide the work. The teams included script writers, researchers, actors, costume designers, prop masters, sound masters, and stage tech crew. Students self-selected into one or more of these teams to put on their production. 

The students decided the theme for their play (all three classes focused on ecology). Students wrote the script - doing all of the research necessary to fact-check their work. Students then began crafting the props and costumes with the help of specials teachers in our wood shop and art classes. Students also delved into the sound effects and music needed for their productions, with our Lower School technology coordinator acting as facilitator of their work. The technical crew led the lights, curtain, and other stage elements for the productions. Students created playbills and invitations to the production as well!

On the day of the performance, the student pride in their work was clearly evident to all who came to the event. Students approached their work with a determined but happy energy. It was incredible to watch the teachers let students take the helm of all aspects of the live performance, from the start time to introducing the production to the closing curtain. 

Students performing one of the three plays

Following the play, our drama teacher, Letty Robinson, guided the students through a live debrief of the production and the process that led students to the performance day. It was really neat to hear the students reflect on their learning, and to watch parents listen to their students discussing their learning. Students were able to clearly articulate the challenges, victories, lessons, and take-aways that their design thinking journey took them on. Even better, students referenced the specific steps of the design thinking process in their debriefing.

Parents listen in as students debrief their learning process

The teachers were so proud of their kids for all of their work, as they should be! All of the involved faculty shared how hard it was to "let go" and let the kids run with their ideas, but they also all expressed how amazing the students were in terms of working through problems and finding solutions to "make it work" in the end. The plays each had a high production value, and in the end, the involved faculty said that the productions were the best they'd seen due to the students' ownership of all aspects of production. Given that the plays had involved props, costumes, scripts, and even songs, this was no small feat.

While the efforts to pull this off were intense, and it required a lot of collaboration and flexibility among the adults in the process, the glow of happiness from our students after they took their final bow made it all worthwhile. Everyone involved feels very strongly that the net result is that our students truly "own" their knowledge about the importance of ecology, as well as the fundamental steps and processes to put on a quality stage production. Kudos to our 5th grade students!

Spanish Two: "Home of the Future" Presentations

Design thinking is beginning to pop up in all kinds of fun places, like in our foreign language classrooms! 

Our Spanish teacher, Ms. Gallardo, traditionally had her Spanish 2 students demonstrate their new understanding of house/home vocabulary by drawing their house and labeling it. This year, she decided to try a new strategy: students would use their new vocabulary to design and create an energy-saving "home of the future" and then present their ideas to their classmates!

Students were given rapid prototyping materials to transition their drawn diagrams into 3d models, which they then labeled in Spanish. Finally, as part of the test and share step, students developed a short, 3 minute presentation to introduce their classmates to their ideas, after which classmates asked questions about the design elements. 

When you look at the photos below, you can get a sense of how much fun the students had in dreaming big and creating their own "home of the future" to share. Ms. Gallardo and other adults in attendance for the presentations all shared that the students had some amazing ideas in their designs, and they were pleasantly surprised at the high level of thinking in the designs, presentations, and audience questions.

A surprise take-away from this project was that without direction, students did all of the planning and work in the target language! This was of enormous value in the students' learning process and students gained even more new vocabulary in their efforts to properly describe and create their homes of the future. 

The project combined new knowledge, core knowledge, and design thinking into a fun, three-day event for students. This was the same amount of time kids had done the previous house drawing, but the level of output from the students was much improved with the integration of design thinking. 

Here's several groups of students sharing their models:

CAIS Presentation

In early March, Parker Thomas joined me in Oakland so that we might share our work with other educators across the state at the CAIS regional summit meeting. We had strong attendance at our session and many folks asked us a slew of questions. It appears that there is a lot of interest in our approach to design thinking, and we are excited at the prospect of helping other schools achieve wonderful learning outcomes for their students as a result of a 'philosophy first' design thinking approach.

Here is the link to the slide deck and resources that were shared.