One of the ways we've been connecting real-world problem-solving to making is by engaging students around "design team challenges" provided by our faculty and staff. We asked faculty and staff to submit videos of themselves asking for something to be fixed, built, or invented by our students to improve the classroom or school-wide experience. We received an intriguing list of ideas including rainwater diverters, 3D models of the new buildings, and portable sound booths.
We decided to start with a problem that exists in Ms. Sedlock's 2nd grade classroom: how to neatly and efficiently store eleven sets of headphones. Students had been stacking them up in a crate but the cords were getting tangled and Ms. Sedlock figured there had to be a better way.
We invited students in grades two through eight to join us during lunch to participate in a process guided by the Stanford d.school and IDEO's Design Thinking concepts:
We decided to start with a problem that exists in Ms. Sedlock's 2nd grade classroom: how to neatly and efficiently store eleven sets of headphones. Students had been stacking them up in a crate but the cords were getting tangled and Ms. Sedlock figured there had to be a better way.
We invited students in grades two through eight to join us during lunch to participate in a process guided by the Stanford d.school and IDEO's Design Thinking concepts:
To begin, we showed students this video so they could understand the problem and empathize with what was needed and why: