Design Thinking for Better Thinking

What is ‘design thinking’ ? We have heard the term being used more, especially in education. My understanding of the concept now means that we are able to create better solutions for problems, no matter how big or small. By being able to take on the role of design thinkers ourselves, we able to model these skills to our students to help them to better be able to deal with challenges and problems they face throughout their own educational journeys (Razzouk & Shute, 2012).

As a Science teacher, I work in quite sterile environments. Our Science labs do not really have any features that allow for creativity, apart from a few pin boards to display posters or collaboration beyond the workbenches. Due to the inclusion of workbenches around the outside of the room, there isn’t much room for the creative arrangement of desks to allow for students to experience a collaborative environment without the intrusion of a Bunsen burner gas jet or a sink! 

As we know, Science is becoming a much more collaborative and investigatory subject, so students need a range of spaces that they can use to share ideas, create together and explore things beyond those that require a test tube and Bunsen burner. With the introduction of the flipped model into some of my classes (with the hope of doing so across all in the future), my students need an environment that allows them to freely collaborate with the classmates in a range of ways and to show what they know in a creatively.

In order to allow this collaboration to take place, I changed the set-up of the desks to try to create pods. Unfortunately, due to the space size, I was unable to create pods of various sizes as I would have liked. This would allow students to work together in small groups as well as bigger groups or even on individual tasks if they so wished.

By arranging the pods of desks in this particular way, I have been able to create an environment that I can easily walk around so that all my students are accessible. This allows me to assist the students in whatever activity that they are carrying out. Immersing yourself amongst the students is one of the most important things a teacher can do in order to help to boost the engagement of their students (Burgess, n.d). The arrangement of desks also helps the students to be able to view all other members of the class during class discussions.

To deal with the lack of creative space, I have started using the windows and window markers to allow the students to share their knowledge and help to consolidate what they know. Because there is only one wall of windows which is broken up by the workbenches, I have requested for a large sheet of perspex to be installed along the brick wall in the classroom. This will provide more room for the students to collaborate and create. This idea needs to go through our Business Manager though and I have no idea how long it will actually take to come to fruition!! 

Now that the design has been changed it will be interesting to see what the reaction will be from other staff. We are usually met with the instruction: ‘Please return the room to the way it was at the beginning of the lesson’ which is the desks back in rows! So I guess this is my ‘prototype’ phase of my design thinking process, as outlined by Seidel and Fixson (2013). The method of design thinking that is outlined in this paper is put forward as a three step process starting off with ‘needfinding’, where a problem is observed and the decision is made to solve it. In order to find a way to solve the problem, brainstorming is needed to ideate as many possible ways to solve the found problem. The brainstorm session allows for prototypes to be created as preliminary models. It is once the prototypes have been created that they are able to be explored by teams involved in an attempt to find an effective solution to the initial problem (Seidel& Fixson, 2013). My hope is that my staff allows us to explore this ‘prototype’ for classroom design and that they will be willing to share their thoughts and ideas about the changes and perhaps even provide alternative solutions to the problem.

References:

• Burgess, D. Teach like a pirate: increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator.
• Razzouk, R., & Shute, V. (2012). What Is Design Thinking and Why Is It Important?.Review Of Educational Research, 82(3), 330-348. doi:10.3102/0034654312457429
• Seidel, V., & Fixson, S. (2013). Adopting Design Thinking in Novice Multidisciplinary Teams: The Application and Limits of Design Methods and Reflexive Practices. Journal Of Product Innovation Management, 30, 19-33. doi:10.1111/jpim.12061