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Design Thinking in Values-In-Action (VIA)
In Design Thinking, students learn to be human-centered problem solvers. They identify complex challenges, understand the needs of those around them, and then work in teams to prototype and test innovative solutions that meet those needs.
In the process of solving these problems, students learn empathy, collaborative skills and the value of radical ideas.
Reflective Design Thinking: https://faculty.sfsu.edu/~mkumar/content/reflective-design-thinking-0
VIA plays a crucial role in the holistic development of student
It instills a sense of responsibility towards society and teaches students the importance of giving back to their community.
Provides students with opportunities to apply their classroom learning in real-world situations, enhancing their understanding and skills.
It fosters empathy and understanding towards different societal issues and diverse communities, promoting a more inclusive and compassionate society.
Being actively involved in VIA can give students a sense of belonging and purpose, leading to increased satisfaction and well-being.
By challenging students to step out of their comfort zones, confront new situations, and develop resilience and adaptability.
Students can develop a wide range of skills such as communication, teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, and time management through VIA.
This year, Nanyang Nature Society (NYNS) held our annual 4 Degrees Workshop on the 20 and 21 June 2023. 4 Degrees Workshop is an environmental outreach project, aimed at allowing participants to gain new insights on how reducing waste can be achieved through every stage in its life cycle, ranging from sustainable sourcing to repurposing waste.
The workshop aim to educate participants about sustainable practices, foster creativity and innovation, and empower individuals to make environmentally conscious choices in their daily lives.
The programme for all sessions of this year’s workshop comprises 3 sub-sessions, namely:
Session 1 – Outdoor Composting
Session 2 – Upcycling Used Materials
Session 3 – Managing a Sustainable Cafe
Repurposing food waste to learn about the values of organic waste and feasible environmental responsibilities
Learning about composting that not only repurposes food waste but also creates compost that is beneficial to plants and the environment.
Introduction to compost
Hands on activity: Cutting food scraps
The actual composting (can it be small piles of compost instead of a large pile of one)
Understanding the importance and implications of sustainable fashion by upcycling unwanted clothing into bracelets
Making friendship bracelets
Both make use of unwanted materials to upcycle them and turn them into new objects to lengthen their lifespan.
Sharing: Importance and implications of sustainable fashion, recycling etc → link them to relevant things upcycling is doing (e.g. Save the pen initiative and Thrift sale)
Participating in reutilising coffee ground waste into creative artworks that enhance an economical food cycle
Participants learn about how food cycle doesn’t have to be wasteful; can choose sustainably created food (stopping from source) and reutilise food waste for other purposes (reducing waste).
Sharing of coffee beans history (specifically chose from sustainable source) + how we chose our coffee beans
Learn about the environmental impact of coffee consumption, from bean cultivation to waste generation.
Understand the concept of upcycling and its application to coffee grounds as a resource.
Develop creativity and artistic skills through the process of creating coffee art using coffee grounds or other recycled materials.
NYNS Student Reflection
A process where students describe their learning, how it changed, and how it might relate to future learning experiences.
Students can identify their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for growth. This self-awareness fosters personal development and helps students develop essential skills such as empathy, communication, and leadership.
Empowers students to take ownership of their learning and their impact on the community. By reflecting on their experiences, students can recognize their potential to effect change and become more active and engaged citizens.
Help students connect their community work to broader learning objectives. They can see how theoretical concepts taught during CCA apply to real-world situations, enhancing their understanding and retention of knowledge and skills.
Encourages students to think deeply about their experiences, analyze their actions and their impact on the community. This critical thinking fosters a deeper understanding of community dynamics, challenges, and opportunities.
4 Degree Workshop was a very eye opening experience to me, even though I was a facilitator and event planner, and not a participant. While I expected to gain some skill sets like learning how to access risks that the participants might face while doing the workshop and how to then tailor the activity to their needs, one thing that I least expected to gain from this workshop was how to react calmly to chaos, or rather, a group of energetic primary schoolers. After the workshop, we struggled with calming the primary schoolers down for debriefing, with one primary schooler even sprinting around the canteen in circles (oh to have the energy). That experience taught me to keep calm in unexpected scenarios and go with the flow, and that the answers to our problems can be in the form of the most unexpected solutions that deviate from the normal – instead of forcing him to sit down immediately, the teachers actually recommended that I let the primary schooler run around a few minutes (while keeping an eye out for his safety of course). By allowing him to run about for a while, the primary schooler burnt his energy and was later more obedient when listening to instructions. So I would say that 4DW was a very fun and fruitful experience, the former because of how cute some of the primary schoolers were and the latter because of the lesson that I had learnt.
- Alyssa Teo (Sec 4, 2024)
Through 4DW, I had a cool and enriching experience guiding the primary schoolers in various processes like making coffee and drawing with coffee ground water!! ☕☕ I think that it was very fun and the primary schoolers weren't the only ones who gained knowledge from 4DW! I learnt a bunch of new information (such as coffee grounds are great for your skin and apparently is a natural exfoliator! 😮😮) As well as gained valuable experience in guiding the kiddos!! 👧
I think it's important to teach them such useful information to lead sustainable lives using things that they would usually throw away! And giving them hands-on experiences with the coffee grounds helps in preventing them from being bored 😂
- Valery (Sec 2, 2024)
Overall, the experience was really enriching when we got to teach primary students a little about the environment. Making bracelets, composting, and interacting with the young children created a great bond. I feel a sense of pride and meaning at the end of the day when we took group photos together and waved goodbye. Hopefully, the 4DW have kick-started their love and exploration for nature and the environment.
- Yi Ming (Sec 3, 2024)
It was really fun being a facilitator for 4DW – I loved interacting with them and teaching them more about our cca and the environment, especially since some of them were really cute and paid attention to everything we said, but of course there were some who were more mischievous, so that proved to be a challenge that we had to overcome. I would say that we handled those challenges well by talking to them patiently or telling them interesting stories, thus allowing the schedule to move very smoothly. I was so content with the results on how everything turned out and if there’s a opportunity to participate in a similar activity, I would definitely want to be involved it it again, it was such a fun experience.
- Shell (Sec 3, 2024)
The most memorable part of 4 Degrees Workshop for me was trying to brainstorm a name for it. Though it seems like a simple task, it reality it took hours of brainstorming and countless of rejections just to come up with a simple name. Continuing on with tradition, we used our signature “4 Degrees” to raise awareness on how if the world’s temperature rises by 4 degrees, there would be irreversible environmental consequences, thus highlighting the importance of leading a sustainable lifestyle. “Workshop” was ultimately chosen to describe the activities as it, while not as professional a workshop run by companies, involved us imparting some of our knowledge and skills to the kindergarteners. I am proud to have been a part of planning this project and I hope to see continuations of this project in the coming years.
- Kaelyn (Sec 4, 2024)
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