At the Intersection: Where Design Thinking & Literacy Meet
At many design thinking workshops, the question that often arises is “How might I use this to support content area learning?” And, ultimately, when design thinking works best, it is because classroom teachers have learned how to integrate it into their instructional practices. After spending a lot of time trying to find answers to this somewhat complicated question, I wanted to share some activities that highlight how to integrate design thinking in a literacy classroom.
Empathy Boxes
It’s important to envision another person’s experiences as you read and as you design. An Empathy Box activity helps students observe, connect and empathize with others through the crafting of stories. Gather a set of boxes - you can use jewelry boxes, plastic boxes, or shoe boxes, for example - and fill them with an assortment of items. You might include mementos, photographs, artifacts or memorabilia. Have the students examine the contents and create a story about a person who might own such items. Ask them to share their stories with the class. Compare and discuss similarities and differences in the stories.
The Plot Twister
The ability to consider diverse perspectives is critical to fostering empathy, an essential component of design thinking. Part of developing reading comprehension skills is to able to have a “lived experience” through the text as Louise Rosenblatt described in her transactional theory. In the Plot Twister activity, ask your students to work in teams to introduce a new character with a different viewpoint into a short story they are reading. Then have them create a journey map or graphic organizer of the plot that highlights the impact this character had. Have them read the original version, and compare and discuss the impact their new characters had on the story.
What Are You Wearing?
Clothing and costumes can provide insights into the nature of a person’s hopes and dreams. Begin the “What Are You Wearing?” activity by having your students listen to a folk tale or fable. Ask them to work in small teams and create a costume for one of the characters. Provide paper bags, duct tape, fabric scraps, ribbons, and other materials to create their costumes. Do a gallery walk and discuss the similarities and differences in what the students have created. Ask the students to explain the observations they made about their characters and how that supported the choices they made in their costume design. Being able to communicate effectively and share stories is an important part of both literacy and design thinking.
?Choose Your Own Adventure & Then Confirm What Really Happened
The ability to make predictions is an important skill for readers to develop, as it aids reading comprehension. Being able to brainstorm multiple solutions is an important skill for design thinkers. The Choose Your Own Adventure activity combines making predictions and brainstorming. Help your students develop this skill by pausing in the middle of a story and conducting a brainstorm. For example, you might brainstorm a variety of solutions when a character in the story faces a problem. Have the class share and discuss how they think the character would proceed based on what they know, and then read to confirm what happens in the story.
The best thing about design thinking is that one is always iterating and learning from a dedicated community of practitioners and our students. We look forward to continuing this marvelous journey!