Design Thinking for Grade 5-8 students

A non-linear and unconventional process we are trying and testing with Grade 5-8 students of Cambridge Public School K.R.Puram Bengaluru.

Design thinking is though an iterative and non-linear process that is human-centered design process with stages such as Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.

This is part of QtPi's QtSchool STEM program collaboration with the school where students will have exposure and experience in learning, building robotics projects including latest AI projects for Grade 1 onwards.

QtPi follows mixed of top-bottom approaches where students try, think, question and re-work on design and problem solving. Our model has four stages abbreviated as DESI where 'D' stands for Design.

The challenge was to bring up design thinking aspects to Grader 5 to 8 wasn't easy. Even the five stages wouldn't be easy for young minds to grasp! A business case would be difficult to relate for young minds. So we re-worked!

We looked at designs and went reversal. We emphasised that a good design that is memorable has a lot of thinking. What does 'a lot of thinking' mean? We meant, imagination! Aha! How does one visual it? We took students to their preschool days where they learnt Alphabets. Using 'A' alphabet we tried visuals where one could draw ANYTHING.Yes, you read it right! Anything! This would mean an easy visual drawings and everyone could participate and draw.

Then we probed with some questions to know if that was good imagination. Some said, yes and some just giggled through showing off their drawings on board and to their friends. (Remember these are Grade 5-8 students!)

If one vaguely picks up the non-linear process of Design Thinking designs need to - Empathise, Define, Ideate. So far, in this exercise we could see shades of some process however its still far from prototype and test. So we moved to another interesting activity with using the alphabet E, using 'E' alphabet we tried visuals where one could draw EVERYTHING.Yes, you read it right! Everything! This wasn't easy as one design must show multiple possibilities. This exercise fairly took sometime for students of Grade 7 & 8 while Grade 5 & 6 were quicker in coming out with several ideas and possibilities. Grade 5 & 6 weren't hesitant to be imperfect! As facilitators, we kept questioning their thinking & imagination. We tried being non-judgemental on all the occasions.

We witnessed students were trying to define their ideas by labeling their visuals. We knew that we are close to 'define' phase (very non-linear!) so went moved to designs that had conditions. In other words, we asked students to design SOMETHING with specific objects. This exercise took little longer time for all graders as previous ideas were still fresh on their minds.

We got to see some cool visuals that showcased some kind of creativity and the visuals were meaningful. What we mean by meaningful is, the visuals were saying about one aspect. For a company it could be a logo, it could be brand recognition tool for another organisation.

In order to check if there was an aspect of empathy, we gave an activity with pre-defined questionnaires for students to design a birthday cake. Though it started a fun activity, some groups not only interviewed their peers but also involved them designing the birthday cake. One of student whose birthday was last weekend, got cake designed based out of 'Empathy Cake' exercise. Nothing can be as rewarding as this for a facilitator! (We are hoping to interview the student and add it here!).

"Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another." - Alfred Adler

In "empathy cake" exercise, the birthday boy or girl was asked to interview friends whom they want to invite for the party. The questionnaire consisted of kind of flavours, allergies, design, past experiences etc were checked. They reflected on each need and some negotiated if there could be a common ground to design a cake that would make everyone happy to have some cake. Some groups agreed and few groups were clear on their needs. The birthday girl/boy requested the invitees to collaborate for designing a cake. As they drew visuals, others chipped in their ideas. In the end students presented their "empathy cake" to the audience.

As an instructor witnessing students working through the process is fulfilling!

[To be edited]

Thanks to Mr. Mohammed Khasim for the creatives.

QtPi Team Member

www.qtpi.in