Design Thinking
Janet Neyer, Cadillac High School
Design thinking is a protocol for examining problems and designing real-world solutions to those problems. It allows students to consider authentic problems and play a meaningful role in solving them.
FIRST STEP:
Design QUESTION
Craft a broad question to spark students' interest and engage them in a real problem-solving opportunity.
For example:
How might we improve upon high school for current and future students?
For example:
How might we improve upon high school for current and future students?
Second STEP:
discover
Brainstorm the challenges. Students conduct original research and explore preliminary readings about the problem.
For example:
Students use Google Forms to create surveys of their classmates about issues they see as problematic.
Students explore what high school could or should be.
Students explore sources on various topics to determine their focus.
- Should junk food be sold in schools?
- To what extent is bullying a problem in schools today?
- Is standardized testing valuable?
- What should the role of technology in education be?
- What can be done to decrease the high school dropout rate?
- Should high school start times be later?
- Do students have too much homework?
- Do schools prepare students for a global economy?
- Are single-sex schools beneficial for students?
- To what extent is music education beneficial?
- How might project-based learning be beneficial?
- How can schools help students better prepare for careers?
For example:
Students use Google Forms to create surveys of their classmates about issues they see as problematic.
Students explore what high school could or should be.
Students explore sources on various topics to determine their focus.
- Should junk food be sold in schools?
- To what extent is bullying a problem in schools today?
- Is standardized testing valuable?
- What should the role of technology in education be?
- What can be done to decrease the high school dropout rate?
- Should high school start times be later?
- Do students have too much homework?
- Do schools prepare students for a global economy?
- Are single-sex schools beneficial for students?
- To what extent is music education beneficial?
- How might project-based learning be beneficial?
- How can schools help students better prepare for careers?
Third STEP:
Interpret
Teacher models how to write about data.
Students interpret the results from their surveys and write about what they are thinking now.
For example:
Based on a survey of 9th graders at CHS, 11% of students get 8 to 9 hours of sleep a night during the week. Seventy-seven percent of students say they get 6 to 7 hours of sleep while the remaining 11% say they only got 5 or fewer hours of sleep. Many students believe there would be academic improvement for students with later start times. Although some were neutral, none of our respondents thought there would not be academic improvement. All the students answered that a later start time would help them. Twenty-two percent of students had concerns and said that a later start time would affect after-school activities, but the majority of students believed there would be little to no effect for them. Nearly 77% of students find sleep very important and a majority of students are interested in having a later start time. With later start times students would be more focused and do better in school.
Students interpret the results from their surveys and write about what they are thinking now.
For example:
Based on a survey of 9th graders at CHS, 11% of students get 8 to 9 hours of sleep a night during the week. Seventy-seven percent of students say they get 6 to 7 hours of sleep while the remaining 11% say they only got 5 or fewer hours of sleep. Many students believe there would be academic improvement for students with later start times. Although some were neutral, none of our respondents thought there would not be academic improvement. All the students answered that a later start time would help them. Twenty-two percent of students had concerns and said that a later start time would affect after-school activities, but the majority of students believed there would be little to no effect for them. Nearly 77% of students find sleep very important and a majority of students are interested in having a later start time. With later start times students would be more focused and do better in school.
Fourth STEP:
Brainstorm
Explain the nature of brainstorming and let students go! Students brainstorm about what they would like to create to address the problem.
Click for Brainstorming Rules from the Design Thinking Toolkit
For example:
- A smartphone app (appinventor.mit.edu/explore)
- A letter to the next president (letters2president.org)
- A letter to the editor
- A classroom grant (donorschoose.org)
- A speech
- A website