Design Thinking - More Than Just A Project: Charles Stevens, Principal, Lee-Davis High School

In September of 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Dominica. It was regarded as the worst natural disaster on record to affect the islands and the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since 2004: over 3,000 fatalities.

This event hit home as some of our students had family on the islands and for me personally as I have friends that live in San Juan.

So what does this have to do with education?

Mrs. Jao, Spanish teacher at Lee-Davis, collaborated with our Instructional Technology Resource Teacher, Mrs. Calder, on a unit using the design thinking process for her Spanish III classes. Design thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. At the heart of design thinking is empathy. According to the Institute of Design at Stanford University, empathy is also the foundation of a human-centered design process; by deeply understanding people we are better able to design for them.

One of the thematic units in the Spanish III curriculum addresses the environment and the community. In the curriculum, students are expected to recognize, discuss, and talk about environmental issues and eco-friendly solutions in the target language. They chose Hurricane Maria as the focal point for this unit and used the design thinking principles of empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test for the assignment: What can we do for Puerto Rico?

The Design Thinking Process

Empathy:  To start, the students were immersed in a hurricane simulation of Hurricane Maria, which was rated as category 5. They turned off the lights for several minutes, played strong hurricane winds for sound effect and projected images of the island after the storm to immerse the students as much as possible. Students were not allowed to use cell phones either as they would have been unusable during and after the storm. Using Spanish vocabulary and tenses they learned, the students shared their feelings and emotions after the experience. According to the teachers, it was quite emotional experience for some students.

Define:  After this discussion, they collaborated in small groups to define the problem area they wanted to address. They had to keep in mind the original assignment: What can we do for Puerto Rico? Two of the primary areas the groups addressed were housing and nutrition.

Ideate:  The assignment was open-ended and students could choose to develop any product or service they desired to fill the need they defined. The students researched essential information, available resources, and discussed ideas to others before developing their product or service. They used concept maps to draw out their thoughts and ideas. Throughout this process students spoke using the targeted language and used vocabulary and tenses from this unit.

Prototype: During this phase of the process, students began creating their product or service. There were a wide range of products created to provide assistance for the people of Puerto Rico: a 3-D model of a solar powered generator, a vegetarian survival kit, waterproof pillows, various forms of temporary housing like a bunker inside a mountain to shield people from the elements.

To incorporate more use of the language, students also had to create a video advertisement and bilingual brochure to promote or sell their products.

Test:  The final phase of the process was to present or test the usefulness and practicality of the products. The student audience could ask questions of the product or offer suggestions for improvement.

When reflecting with the students, every single student gave a thumbs up on the experience and indicated they want more learning experiences such as this. As one senior stated, “I actually like things like this. I have to figure out something that could actually help someone.”

This greatest takeaway from the teachers was how immersed the students were in this assignment. This went beyond engagement. Their learning and application of that learning had a purpose beyond a grade. This experience gave them an opportunity to not only empathize with other people, but to put that empathy into action. The assignment became more than a project, it became a mission.