In Design 1 at Spring Lake High School the course is primarily focused around the Design Thinking Process from the d. School at Stanford University. This was a lesson that was found on the d. School website and modified to fit the grade level I was teaching at. Below you can see an image of the design thinking process.
For this assignment students were first asked to create a hamster with a distinct personality. This project had a major focus on the Empathizing and Defining stages of the process. Who was their hamster? What did they need? How would you create an ideal home for them?
After students were finished getting to know their hamsters, and defining what it was that they needed, they began the ideating process - coming up with as many ideas possible to build the perfect home for their individual hamsters. The following step was proto-typing.
This gave me the opportunity to differentiate the instruction for students. They had the option to build a 3D model using found/repurposed materials, hand-drawing a floor plan rendering, or using and online interior design tool to create the space digitally (students used HomeStyler.com). There was even a student that wrote a proposal as to why she wanted to build her hamsters home in MineCraft. I was very impressed with how creative students got when they were given options and freedom on how to create their homes.
This gave me the opportunity to differentiate the instruction for students. They had the option to build a 3D model using found/repurposed materials, hand-drawing a floor plan rendering, or using and online interior design tool to create the space digitally (students used HomeStyler.com). There was even a student that wrote a proposal as to why she wanted to build her hamsters home in MineCraft. I was very impressed with how creative students got when they were given options and freedom on how to create their homes.
This project was initially only meant to last a week. When we got rolling, students were so excited about their creations, I took time to adapt my plan to fit the schedule for the rest of the trimester. When students are excited and motivated to work on a new project, I never want to put a stop to that passion. They were able to use a little extra time and we got great results from the class overall!
I never thought my students would be designing homes for hamsters in my student teaching but I am sure glad we did! This project was a great success and really helped them to understand that Design Thinking Process much better.
What do you think? Would you know where to being when designing a home for a hamster? :)
I never thought my students would be designing homes for hamsters in my student teaching but I am sure glad we did! This project was a great success and really helped them to understand that Design Thinking Process much better.
What do you think? Would you know where to being when designing a home for a hamster? :)
National Standards Addressed
VA:Cr1.2.HSII
Choose from a range of materials and methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices to plan works of art and design.
Choose from a range of materials and methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices to plan works of art and design.