Week Three
SketchUp
SketchUp is a useful technology to promote design thinking in students. It allows students to engage in the design process by making prototypes that reflect their ideas. This is useful for students in classes such as science, DT, and woodwork, as it can help them to start visualising their ideas.
Designing an Irrigation System
In research conducted by Razzouk and Shute (2012) design thinking is defined as "...an analytic and creative process that engages a person in opportunities to experiment, create and prototype models, gather feedback, and redesign." (p.330)
The five phases of design thinking (DT) include (Dam, R. F., & Siang, T. Y. 2021):
Empathise.
Define.
Ideate.
Prototype.
Test.
When creating our irrigation system, we first had to design our own prototype through planning. This was useful in order to boost our own creativity and come up with solutions ourselves. Once everyone had their own idea of a prototype, we shared among our peers to contrast our products. Then we would make alterations to our product and continue developing our idea as a group. This allowed us to come up with a final group prototype. Through this planning stage, we engaged with the empathise, define, and ideate stages of DT, as we had to reconsider and redesign our product in order to fit the purpose of the product and its usability.
How this promoted creativity?
Completing this DT project was useful in allowing us to be creative in may ways. For example, it promoted our collaboration skills which was significant in allowing us to be creative, as we could share our ideas, and add on to them based on the feedback of our peers.
It is also stated in research that DT projects are extremely useful in promoting students' creativity as it allows them to engage their problem-solving, communication, and teamwork skills in order to create a solution to real-world problems (Panke, 2019).
Hence, this activity, and the use of design thinking was extremely useful in boosting our creativity, as it allowed us to collaborate and help design a solution to a proposed problem.
Pedagogical Reflection
The use of design thinking, and projects that involve DT, are extremely useful for teachers to use in their classrooms, especially in subjects such as science or geography, as it encourages students to critically engage with the content, in order to experiment and physically create prototypes that could solve a problem.
This would allow teachers to boost student collaboration, and self-confidence in their creativity within the classroom.
References
Interaction Design Foundation, Dam, R. F., & Siang, T. Y. (2021). What is design thinking and why is it so popular?.
Panke, S. (2019). Design Thinking in Education: Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges. Open Education Studies, 1(1), 281–306. https://doi.org/10.1515/edu-2019-0022
Razzouk, R., & Shute, V. J. (2012). What Is Design Thinking and Why Is It Important? Review of Educational Research, 82(3), 330–348. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654312457429
Sprouts. (2017, October 23). The Design Thinking Process [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0VX-aU_T8
Hi Bella!
It was a joy to read your blog on Design Thinking, and I absolutely loved the inclusion of the five phases of design thinking you've supplied, as it provides great structure for both teachers and students alike!
Your pedagogical reflection brings up some great points in how design can be brought into classrooms. It's also important to remember in all designing task the appropriateness of the programs used, while I think SketchUp is good for students in the high school years, perhaps there is a more structured program for Primary-Aged Students.
I also loved your point on visualisation of ideas, and how it is so transferable between a range of subject areas and passions.
Beate Mannes [09/04/2023]
Hi Bella,
I enjoyed viewing your blog post about design thinking!
The design thinking process video is a great video to show our students' how they can conduct their thinking for designing a product. The process is simple to follow and looks like it can be flexible with students' individual design needs. I would've like to see a further design of your house in Sketch Up and explain briefly of how it uses the design process.
Overall, good effort!
Regards,
Shekane