HOW DO YOU DECODE DESIGN THINKING FOR EDUCATORS?

 Just like learning any new language we count on associating what we know and experience with new symbols and sounds.  The same is true for learning the language or design thinking.  Teachers are familiar with using manipulatives, flash cards, exemplars and graphic organizers in their everyday teaching. These tools help to translate the unfamiliar concepts into the familiar for their students.
 
As I've worked with k-12 teachers throughout the South East I had a request to create a graphic organizer to help students follow along with the design innovation process being  used during their PBL (project based learning) modules.  The first version (see below) of the Design Challenge Canvas was used with 5 grade students at Centennial Academy in Atlanta, GA

But in addition to making the design innovation process transparent to both teachers and  students for better project management other issues arose including:

• Enhancing professional development beyond PBL 101.
• Moving beyond teacher determined scenarios and allowing students to have more agency in developing lines of inquiry especially after grade 5.
• On-boarding of new staff quickly at the beginning and middle of the school year.
• Decoding design thinking theory, practice and lingo into an educational environment which is not always ideal or fully supportive of the aspirations of design thinking, PBL or the Maker Movement 

This led to creating a coaching simulation which helped teachers to practice and facilitate the design process first with colleagues and then with their students.  One example is the webinar below which was created for EdChatInteractive and to serve as a refresher for teachers who are new to conducting Design Challenges in the classroom.

OUR NEWEST ADDITION: DESIGN ACTIVITY CARDS!!!

Our goal at CREATOMbuilder has been to create accessible low-cost ways giving teachers and students a set of tools to scaffold the use of design thinking into classroom projects.  In 2011, I started out on a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship  in India with The ATOM Project  creating a portable art and design curriculum for after-school teachers in rural Tamil Nadu with the students of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology.  It had some level of success as long as we were onsite, but it did not decode design thinking concepts enough for most teachers to  grasp.  Through the design of two web applications and constant revision the Design Challenge Canvas really was a game changer.  From this graphic organizer we tuned up professional development and responded to teacher's next request: more design thinking content.  They were ready for it and in September 2016 the Design Activity Cards and Project Menus became part of our professional development protocol.  We first tested them in Austin, TX in November 2016 with the teachers at Cunningham  and Odom Elementary.