“Design Thinking is neither art nor science nor religion. It is the capacity ultimately, for integrative learning.”
-Tim Brown
Design thinking is a creative and systematic approach to teach problem-solving. In this process, the students progress through the stages of Discovery, Ideation, Experimentation, and Evolution in search of innovative solutions to vexing problems. During the last month, the students of Grade II dived deep into different fairy tales using the design thinking process. The children explored different stories like ‘The Three Little Pigs’, ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and so on.
As part of the Empathy stage of the design thinking process, each class collected data and information about the stories. Students looked at the characters, setting, problems and solutions to help better understand the stories and the characters’ issues.
Next, students moved to the Define stage of design thinking, sorting the data they collected to determine the problems the characters were dealing with. For ‘The Three Little Pigs’, students identified issues like the pigs needing a better understanding on how to build a sturdy house, the pigs needing to work better together to make a strong house. The ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ group defined problems including grandma’s need for better healthcare so she wouldn’t get sick, and Little Red Riding Hood’s need for a safe passage to grandma’s house.
The Ideate stage followed, wherein students worked in small groups to determine which problem they were going to tackle. Then they brainstormed ideas to help the characters, followed by the design and planning of their solutions.
For the Prototype stage, students built their solutions using different techniques and materials to create 3D models. Prototypes included a perfect bowl, a perfect chair and a perfect bed for Goldilocks. One group designed a ladder for ‘Rapunzel’ so that she can escape from the tower. Other prototypes were ‘A flying car with a GPS tracker’ for Little Red Riding Hood so she can safely reach her grandmother’s house. One group designed a group housing complex for the three little pigs and the wolf to live together and have their own refrigerator so they would have their own food and live in peace.
Second graders did an amazing job on this project! They were creative and critical thinkers in examining the stories and defining the issues faced by the characters. They worked well together to ideate and build their prototypes and were thoughtful in their comments on their classmates’ work while doing the peer assessment.
