The Ropes of Design Thinking in Classrooms
We live in a world where information is at the tip of our fingers, so why teach design thinking to students when they can find a solution to almost any query in a matter of seconds?
In a live podcast with a bunch of design thinking gurus namely, Don Buckley, Michael Schurr, Lisa Yokana and podcast producer, Michael Flanagan, I was taken in a journey to the world of design thinking. As I wrap my head around this buzzing method, I came up with this blog to share what I have learned from these inspiring Design Thinkers.
What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is an iterative non-linear process that puts emphasis on the process of defining a problem through empathy, ideating solutions, prototyping, and testing. The process of design thinking isn’t one that is straight forward and clean. It is messy and tangly where iteration is a constant ingredient that one must be ready to swallow. In short, design thinking requires a specific mindset of allowing yourself to be lost in the process, taking a risk and be open to failure. It is not for someone who wants an instant sure win, instead, it is for a designer who is agile and is comfortable being vulnerable. Design thinkers embrace the process of learning from both the failures and the success of the project.
Why Teach students Design Thinking?
Because design thinking process doesn’t provide instant solutions that give designers instant gratification, students learn patience, grit and the ability to be imaginative, creative, collaborative, think critically and become good communicators which are deemed to be essential in the 21st-century workforce.
With increasing access to technology, kids attention span and drive to figure things out is quite limited these days. They can learn almost anything from watching Youtube videos or blogs. Aside from that, things are always so colorful, animated and attractive that they lose the idea of deep thinking and the process of figuring how things work.
Hence, the so-called “tech savvy” generation or digital natives doesn't necessarily mean they know what to do with the technology and that they understand how it works. By the time our children join the workforce, the tech they are using now may not be the same tools of the future. And so what do we do?
Teaching students the process of design thinking can help them make sense of things by identifying challenges, gather information, refine ideas, generate and test potential solutions. Because design thinking process doesn’t provide a quick fix that gives designers instant gratification, students learn patience, grit and the ability to be imaginative, creative, collaborative, think critically and become good communicators which are deemed to be essential in the 21st-century workforce.
How do we teach Design Thinking in the classrooms?
Design thinking links closely to Entrepreneurship. However, you can apply design thinking to almost any curriculum you are trying to teach in your classroom. Michael Schurr who is a Learning Designer and STEM Integrator at Riverdale Country School shared how his 2nd Grade students practice design thinking when analyzing the story of Rapunzel. Students looked at what Rapunzel needs to get out of the tower — does she even want to get out of the tower? Students have to empathize with Rapunzel and come up with solutions, perhaps something aside from letting down her locks and being saved by a prince.
Lisa Yokana who is also a Learning Designer and STEM Integrator at Scarsdale High School emphasized the importance of defining a problem and constraining it to a more precise and achievable aspect of a problem as well as a specific target audience. Finding a fine balance between a problem that is messy sticky and complex versus a very simple solution is pivotal in teaching students the design thinking process. Using the elements of the value pyramid from Harvard Business School can also help narrow down solutions starting from the bottom-up.
Passion vs. Purpose
Using students passion or interest is a good way to hook students when jumping into the design thinking process. When students begin to think about the things that interest them, it sparks them because it is something familiar and something they care about. However, it is important to combine something students care about with something others need or want.
Anchoring a problem in both passion and purpose is a good starting point for students to develop an idea that is meaningful. Michael Schurr suggests looking at the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a starting point when thinking of designing a project with a purpose. Purposeful making is essential for students to empathize and make sense of their world.
Design thinking process allows students to be comfortable at being uncomfortable and not knowing the end product because, in a world where things are constantly changing, you just don’t know what is going to be the next problem our world has to face.
In a world where content is no longer a commodity and knowledge is no longer powerful because we have it all in our pocket, kids need to be flexible. They need to know how to go through messy, sticky problems in order to make their way out there. Design thinking process allows students to be comfortable at being uncomfortable and not knowing the end product because, in a world where things are constantly changing, you just don’t know what is going to be the next problem our world has to face. We need our children to be confident collaborators tackling issues where there's not just one solution and that the answer to the problem is yet to be discovered.