Remember at the end of this post where I told you to stay tuned to read about our makerspace project? If not, please familiarize yourself before continuing. You'll want the whole story, trust me. After the students had gathered sufficient knowledge about their topic of choice (Women's Suffrage Movement or Civil Rights Movement) it was time for them to share what they learned. Challenging myself to provide new and authentic ways for students to share knowledge (other than an essay), I decided they would use the design thinking process to create an artifact from that period in time that could teach passersby something about that movement. In order to do this, we first had to learn what an artifact is! Each student was told to bring something from home that is a "little piece of their history." We then did a gallery walk, where students looked at different artifacts and tried to make inferences about that person. For example, looking at a used pair of roller blades, students guessed that perhaps their owner is athletic, adventurous, fun-loving, and a kid (based on size)! Next, we thought about what artifact could a person find that could teach them something about the two movements. Students drafted an initial design and then shared with the group. The Women's Suffrage kids shared their designs first. When they were done, I asked a question to the rest of the class (who did not study Women's Suffrage). "What questions do you still have about the Women's Suffrage Movement?" I then wrote down their questions. Students asked questions like, "Why couldn't women vote?" and "When did this happen?" We repeated this process with the Civil Rights group. This process allowed the creators to develop a sense of empathy for their audience, which is actually the first step in the design thinking model. Once students understood what the audience's needs were, they were ready to improve their design. For example, one student added the year 1876 to her ballot box to show that women were not allowed to vote in that specific election year. Another student labeled his two schools "black" and "white" to correlate the fact one school looked nicer than the other with race. Meeting with the audience, hearing their questions, and improving their designs allowed the creators to move closer to their mission of creating an object that could educate someone. The students worked in the makerspace to bring their design to fruition, and you can see them in a display above their cubbies. Behind each artifact is an article that student wrote describing why and how they made it. You can also look at their design sketches. I will post pictures below, but I highly recommend coming in to take a closer look!
2 Comments
Brent
10/18/2018 11:08:11 am
I love how the kids can explore through the independent learning!
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Mrs. Skillman
10/19/2018 05:31:54 am
Thank you! They love it too. :)
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May 2019
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