STEAM this week was challenging, and pushed students to remember to put the WHO we are designing for before the WHAT we are designing.
First we talked about the Stanford d.school Design Thinking Process, which begins with empathy and asks the students to consider who we are designing for before we go anywhere in the process. Then we asked them to reassemble the hexagons and words at their tables. The older students will do this BEFORE the discussion and hopefully will be able to use their years of STEAM experience to remember the order in which we operate!
We then asked students to partner up and immediately begin designing the ideal and perfect gift for him or her. Students were immediately frustrated, confused, and struggled--wondering, how can we design for our partner if we don't really know them? Partners who are already friends felt confident they were on the right track, but we kept pushing them to consider, do they know the WHYs behind their likes and dislikes? Even best friends can dig deeper! So we had the partners interview each other to find out what would be most useful and interesting to them and everyone was much more successful!
After interviews, students drafted three potential gifts for their partner, then received feedback from that partner on their designs. Only then did they choose their final design and begin making a detailed sketch with materials in mind.
Next week the students will have one day to turn these plans into reality! Ask your students who their partner is and what gift they are designing for them in STEAM!
No comments:
Post a Comment