Standard 2 Instructional Planning: Stanford d.school Design Sprint
The teacher effectively plans using the approved curriculum, instructional strategies resources and the data to meet the needs of all students.
We began the year by introducing design thinking by using a 90 minute design sprint protocol developed by Stanford d.school. The activity asks students to complete an entire design process from empathy (ascertaining the users satisfaction with the experience) to testing (interacting with a 3-D model of what would have positively changed the experience for the user) by having them redesign the gift giving experience for their partner for the last gift they gave to someone. We have continued to use design thinking throughout this year both as teachers and have had students do the same.
What did you learn about your professional practice?
In terms of professional practice, in planning a new project, like other years, we generated project ideas that combine all four core courses, along with possible driving questions, products and final exhibitions of learning. This year we have been able to put a name to that step in the project process and in our research we found that coming up with 26 ideas is the minimum acceptable number before a successful one is chosen. We have used the empathy phase of the design process to interview groups of students before projects to make sure among our 26 ideas we have the project, the driving question and the product that will resonate with the students. In the course of the interviews, we have found an amazing amount of wisdom in these groups of students and their ideas and phrasing are ones that other students latch on to, while also hitting required targets for each subject area. We also regularly prototype the final product and test it through multiple iterations in which students and teachers give feedback.
How did you use your learning to grow as a professional or enhance your students' growth?
We used the design process terminology (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test) throughout the year for each of our projects, essays and speeches to enhance students’ growth in their ability to approach any task or problem, whether it is in the classroom or in real life by having a replicable process. The process is not linear, but cyclical, which leads to the understanding that any prototyped idea can always be revised after the test phase by acting on feedback from other people. This consistent application of the design principles and terminology has led to 53% of students taking feedback from others and creating a second, third or fourth prototype of the same task, sometimes completely re-inventing the work from the drawing board. Students express that it was tough to do and it took a lot of willpower, but they ended up with a product that was easier to understand and we communicated more successfully.
