A class of second-graders at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School took a cue from businesses such as Facebook and used their insight, creativity and research skills to fill a global need.
Their unusual product was shared with an audience of 145 on Friday at a Design Thinking Summit at their Atlanta school. The brainstorming conference attracted teachers and administrators from 21 private academies and public charter schools interested in making education relevant for kids.
"Design thinking" coaches challenged the group to unleash students from their desks and allow them to apply what they are learning to solve problems in the world around them. Using design thinking, kids can discover an issue, empathize with others impacted by it and experiment with solutions to help.
The Mount Vernon second-graders shared their creative process for helping kids in their sister school in Zambia who endured long walks in heavy rain to get an education, shared only a few books between them and had little food and clean water at home.
“In the discovery mode, we learned about the students in Zambia and about how bad the rainy season is and how hard it is for the students to get to school,” student Samantha Fraser told the group. “We went on Google Earth to see where Zambia is and what it looks like.”
Then, the kids explained what they did to empathize with their peers on the African continent.
“We started the day by walking a mile and a half around the campus carrying a gallon water jug each,” said student Kendall Slayden. “Then, for the rest of the day, we turned off the lights and air conditioning and shared just two books between all of the students. We also chose to give up our snacks and tried to only eat a small amount of food at lunch. It was difficult to learn this way.”
In the experimentation process, the students explained how they broke into groups to develop ideas and create prototypes for new products. One group designed shoes for walking in the Zambian rainy season called “Mudders”; another invented the “Water Saver” to help African families catch and clean rain and make it safe to drink.
The product the kids featured at the summit was called “The Rainer” -- a colorful full-length raincoat made out of recycled plastic bags that won raves when it was presented virtually at the World11Kids conference held last year in Geneva.
"It's all made out of Halloween ... candy wrappers and juice boxes," Kendall explained. "We used hot glue and tape." Second-grader Jackson Toller modeled the raincoat.
The student project was part of Mount Vernon's exploration into design thinking and how it can transform k-12 education. Students also have been unleashed to develop a design thinking lab at the school, among other things.
The school was recently featured by Independent School magazine as a leader in implementing design thinking in classrooms.
“We took a model we learned from Stanford University and tweaked it for k-12 students,” said Brett Jacobsen, head of the school. “We are not trying to just create a rigorous environment, but one that is also relevant, too, and very engaging. They are producing ... not just memorizing multiplication tables.”
Friday's conference also attracted business leaders, including an executive from Turner Entertainment Network, who shared their experiences with design thinking. After learning the three steps of the process used at Mount Vernon -- discover,empathize, experiment -- the group was asked to use it to create the ideal outdoor classroom and interview students as their clients.
Julie Moor, director of studies of the lower school at the Westminster Schools, said they have plans to turn “obsolete” computer labs into design thinking labs because most kids now have laptops or use mobile technology carts.
Edi Houghton, an assistant principal at the Lovett School, said her school is exploring the strategy, too.
“We are asking kids to become thinkers and solve issues in the world today,” she said. “We want to give them that foundation.”
Design thinking
- The concept encourages imagination, bringing about multiple options and solutions.
- Students learn ways to tackle a problem that doesn't have a clear answer.
- Teachers take a back seat in the classroom. Students are presented a challenge and find solutions as a team. As a result, they connect more with one another by collecting stories.
- It teaches meaningful research techniques.
- It promotes empathy.
Mount Vernon's Tenets of Design Thinking
Students identify real-world issues, collaborate through research, test their results and produce prototypes to impact the world rather than simply consuming information, recalling facts and never applying them to the relevant, applicable global marketplace confronting their future.
Source: Mount Vernon Presbyterian School
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