Design Thinking: It's not about THE process, it's about having A process.

Audience: STEM Waukesha Teachers

Design Thinking: It’s not about THE process it’s about having A process.

If you were to do an image search in Google with the search parameters “Design Process” you would get pages and pages of images of DIFFERENT design processes.  Go ahead...try it...they all look pretty cool.  These design processes have been employed for everything from landing a rover on Mars to reorganizing your living room furniture.  While there is no perfect process that will work in all design challenges, the act of using a process is vital to frame thinking and guide learners.  

Below are two design processes that have been used to coach K-12 learners through inquiry based design projects.  The top is from John Spencer & AJ Juliani’s Launch Cycle, recently published and promoted through the website (thelaunchcycle.com) and book Launch.  The bottom design “wheel” is from the Engineering is Elementary program.  We have kits from this program available in both STEM buildings and these units are woven into our curriculum maps.

We are kind of biased when it comes to “favoring” specific phases.  What we find to be the two most important phases for design thinking in our world today are the ASK and IMPROVE stages.  

• When we prompt learners to ASK questions, we are nudging them to look at the world around them and consider how they could improve things.  We are asking them to empathize with the end user.  Will the person, animal or group be happy with the design?  What do “they” need?  How can we help?  
• The IMPROVE phase is where our growth mindset is developed as we remind learners again and again that failure is part of the process and if we continue to make changes to our thinking then we WILL succeed.

Take some time to study these design loops.  How are these processes different and how are they alike?

*Sources:

The LAUNCH Cycle: A Design Thinking Framework for K-12 Students

Engineering Design Process: Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve (EiE)

Hawthorne STEM staff will engage in a design brief during STEM PD on Wednesday.  Bring your flexible thinking and creativity!  Which design loop will you use?

There are so many ways design thinking can be woven into the learning experience for our STEM learners.  Continue this conversation with your colleagues and explore how you will encourage learners to think deeply throughout the design loop and make their thinking visible.