The best school in the world
Age group
8-10 years
Primary CMS area
4. Managing life and career
Other CMS areas
2. Managing the relationships
Unit Description
Students work on the following topics: what is innovation? Why is it important to know how to develop new ideas? What is our school like? How would we like it to be?
Starting from a problem, the goal is to design a prototype of the school they would like. The activities require that children work in groups, focusing on common projects. it is possible to foresee that the groups work on different projects (planning of the school they would like, a playground near the school, etc.). It is important that all children participate actively.
Learning outcomes
Students experiment learning throughout life
Student interact confidently and well with others
Student are innovative and creative in their thinking about work, learning and life
Activity Name
The best school in the world!
Description
Introduction
- Introduction of the activity (15 minutes)
- making groups (15 minutes)
Execution
a. To each child is assigned a “student” of School X (the first school on a new planet) who has a particular problem that needs to be solved. We have the kids think about how their students are feeling by circling options from a list of words. They then share their students’ problems and feelings with the group.
b. “My student needs me to solve a __________ problem.” We give the kids a list of major social problems (transportation, education, energy, etc.) and then ask them to circle one or more social problems that apply to their character’s personal problem. They then complete the above statement.
c. Brainstorming on solution: We introduce these rules, paper, and markers and let the students go
d. Prototyping and testing solution: We ask the student to describe prototyping and we discuss the importance of the cycle of testing and iterating an idea. After everyone has an understanding of why this is important to the design process, we hand out clay or other materials and ask the kids to create a model of their favourite idea from the Ideate stage. As they build, the facilitators serve as “testers” by walking around the room and asking student group questions about their inventions.
Closure Discussion on the different phase of design thinking carried out
Learning materials
Stanford’s Design Process for Kids: Teaching Big Picture Problem Solving http://www.ideaco.org/2013/07/standfords-design-process-for-kids-teaching-big-picture-problem-solving/
Discover Design Thinking https://dschool.stanford.edu/k12-lab-network/discover-design-thinking
Timing
-
The activity lasts 4 hours:
- Introduction ½ hour
- Execution 3 hour
- Closure ½ hour
Role of the Teachers
The teacher participates in the activity and collaborates with the career educator. His/her role is to facilitate the engagement of students and their learning achievement. Teacher evaluate the activities and integrate them with curriculum and disciplines
Methodology
The Unit is bases on design thinking methodology. It is a non-linear, iterative process which seeks to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.
Assessment
Self-evaluation on work group activities
Peer evaluation on prototypes
Video
