These suggestions accompany the Design Thinking framework and slides found in the presentation on the left above. They can also be found in the speaker notes section of the presentation and in this PDF Document. 

Understanding the Problem:

• Do a quick thinking activity like this one - ask students some key questions to get them thinking about the problem statement

• Do a more detailed exploration of the problem through discussions, research, expert interviews, field trips etc.

  • Tie in curricular competencies and content here to help further understanding

• Complete a handout like the Unpacking the Problem Worksheet which looks at multiple factors attributing to the problem statement

Problem Statements:

• To structure your DT and PBL to meet curriculum expectations you can provide students the initial problem statement.

• To create your HMW Question use a framework such as the following: 

  • Curricular Competency + Real World Problem = How Might We...

• Examples: 

  • Science or Geography - How might we design a solution to address the impact of climate change on individuals?

  • Citizenship/Politics - How might we engage more young people in the political process? 

  • Math or Computer Science - How might we design a tool to help individuals with financial planning?

Why we use “How Might We”…. it is optimistic - there is no option to not find a potential solution or to say “we can’t” 

Empathizing:

• Interviews are the most authentic way students can gain empathy for a problem or situation 

  • Students can conduct a single interview or multiple interviews - See Interview Summary and Empathy Map resource

  • Students can interview direct users, classmates, their parents, experts can come in to be “interviewed” by the class as a whole 

• I recommend guiding students on how to create and ask good questions prior to sending them on their interviews

  • Interview Preparation and Interviewing for Empathy  (d.school resource) 

• If you don’t have time or resources to conduct actual interviews, students can create fictional user personas (or use characters from books) to develop empathy for a potential user - See the FDS Persona Handout 

Resources:

• FDS Persona Handout 

• Interview Summary and Empathy Map 

• Interview Outline

• Interview Outline Example

• Workbook Pages 2 & 3

(Re)Define the Problem:

• This is an important step which allows students to clarify the problem statement for themselves

  • This is where you first get to see where each student will take the problem/project. 

• Using a Madlib style worksheet so that students can define the problem based on the results of the empathy exploration

Resources:

• FDS Madlibs

• Empathy Maps

• Workbook Page 4

 Ideate:

• Crazy 8’s is best done on paper with pens or sharpies - this doesn’t allow students the option to erase or over think their ideas

• You don’t need to do 8 - if you think this will be too hard reduce the number to 4 or 6. 

• It is essential to keep this quick paced - if students or you are worried they won’t get a good enough solution in such a short amount of time remind them that the process of design thinking allows for us to continually test, reflect and update our ideas

Resources:

• YouTube 40s Interval Timer

• Crazy 8 Worksheet (note this is formatted to be 8.5’ X 14” Legal Paper)

• Workbook Page 5

Ideate - Sharing and Feedback:

• Storyboards (paper or digital) are great to use for this part of the design thinking process

  • Have students summarize their Crazy 8 ideas into a 3 part Storyboard

  • Students can share this Storyboard and get Feedback from Peers

Resources:

• Canva is a great online tool for creating Storyboards

Prototype:

• Prototyping can take many forms but the key is that students MAKE something that can be tested

  • Less thinking about the thinking

• Give you students many options on how they can prototype their solutions or let them decide what they think will be best

  • Suggestions: videos, storyboards, websites, physical artifacts, dioramas, art pieces, musical pieces, theatre pieces, apps, robots…. 

• There is lots of room to integrate technology in the prototyping phase:

  • Tools such as Canva, Google Sites, Google Drawings, iMovie, Image Editing software,  Marvel App, Storyboard That...

Testing for Feedback:

• Have students test their prototypes with each other or with their initial interviewees

• Guide students through a reflective process by which they can take feedback from the testing phase to iterate on their solution and make it better

• This prototype-testing-prototyping-testing phase can be as long or short as you want it to be

Design Thinking:

• Start small to introduce your students to the process - do a mini design thinking challenge first - see d.school’s Design Thinking Projects and Challenges (most are around an hour)

• Look for projects you already use and love - see how you can add the DT process to that project

• Be prepared to give up some control - to make it meaningful for your students you will need to let them follow their problem statements

Want more information and inspiration? Check out:

• • Future Design School

  • FDS iPad App

  • K12 Lab Network (d.School)

  • K12 Lab Wiki

  • d.School Bootcamp Bootleg 

  • The Change Agent - A Design Thinking Toolkit for the Classroom

  • Follow #dtk12 or #dtk12chat on Twitter