- Supporting Students - At this stage most groups need really intense support in the early stages of turning their ideas into reality. It's very difficult with just myself in the classroom to provide this support and I've got groups that are spending too much time waiting.
- Materials - There are so many great ideas. Virtually every idea requires some sort of specific material. Choosing which to provide and which to leave for students to get for themselves is presenting another challenge.
- Limited Skill Set - I knew this going in to the project but I hadn't quite anticipated how much of an impact that inexperience would have on the work. Again, the ideas and the ability to see them through is causing frustrations for students, especially when compounded with the above challenges.
- Working in the Classroom - My classroom is not a makerspace and isn't really set up for the work. I'm okay with a mess but we don't have many of the tools needed for move forward, at least in the current direction.
Well, we've run into some issues the past couple of days. It would seem that our ideas are beyond the scope of our skills, both mine and my students. In moving from ideas to reality, the range of projects is presenting challenges that need to be overcome so I can be confident that students can be successful and safe in their work.
In the end there are several issues that we are running into: Really, I'm feeling that things are running away from me. I think it's time to take a step backwards but right now I'm not sure what that step will look like. What I do know, however, is that I need to solve some of the above problems before we move on. For now, I'm thinking that we need to a more structured prototyping stage. This would involve having students create simple prototypes, using basic materials, that allow student to create their ideas without so many roadblocks to success. Essentially, I would be looking for proof of concept before they can create a more detailed model of their idea. This prototype, at least as I see it, would reveal some of the issues with their design, slow things down a little, maintain a safe environment, and utilizes existing skills. I want to keep the open-ended essence of the challenge but I suppose, in my own excitement, my task design doesn't currently respect the amount of scaffolding required for success. Just a tweak or two and I'll re-evaluate after that
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After many delays, we are finally back on track with the design challenge. The past couple of sessions have been very intense with groups beginning the transition from the Think stage to the Make stage of our TMI Model.
Things started off with an introduction to the potential tools and materials that they had available for use in their design. Up to this point, I had deliberately held back on sharing these as I didn't want them trying to 'smush' their ideas to fit a specific tool or material (Remember MinecraftEdu from a previous post?). I felt it important to encourage open and free flowing ideation before showing them what the kit (and the rest of my classroom) contained for their use. We walked fairly slowly through the materials and tools, which included:
I showed each to the class and then sent them on their way, encouraging them to take the time to play with different things before going back to their ideas and starting to match everything together! What was interesting is that most groups had to immediately go back to the Think stage as just seeing the materials and tools set off new ideas, all of which required further planning and research. Some groups almost completely changed their original idea while others worked on refining what was already in place. High Demand Items - Powerful Idea Generators Of all of the items, I've got to say that OpenBeam and LitteBits carried the most power when it came to changing and creating ideas/solutions to challenges. It was amazing to watch different groups interact with these materials, having never seen them before, and develop very solid ideas within an exceptionally short amount of time. The ease of use and creative potential made these highly valuable tools at this stage. While many groups will not necessarily be using them in their final prototypes, the interest, excitement and creativity stemming from these tools caused me to put in a request for more! Highly Specific Materials - A New Challenge There's a new challenge arising from all the ideas and excitement, however. In not wanting to say 'No' to any idea, there is a growing demand for materials that are highly specific to certain design ideas. I'm feeling really unsure about what to do with this demand. In my mind there are two ways of solving this: create a shopping list and buy everything that is needed OR tell students that they must bring in any and all materials that are not part of the above list. The problem with either solution, however, is the cost. Work like this could get really expensive, on level that would not be sustainable throughout an entire year filled with design challenges. Asking families or the school to shoulder to load on their own simply isn't reasonable. So far, I have agreed to bring in scraps of building supplies that I have at home and we've had class discussion about needing to supply as many materials as possible from their homes. During planning, as well, I've pulled together a list of specific materials that are needed for several projects (activated carbon and sand are two examples). I think I can take some money and purchase some of these to help alleviate some of the concerns. I'll keep thinking, load the car with scrap materials before the weekend is over and potentially do a bit of shopping... Our Think stage continued today but, before beginning, we explored two examples of creative design that illustrated the concept of taking current ideas/products and making something new from their ideas.
Both the Aquaduct Concept Vehicle and the LifeStraw are solid examples of designers combining existing ideas to design a solution to an identified problem or challenge. The class really latched on these ideas and, through our conversation, showed a fresh understanding of what 'building off the ideas of others' means when designing something new. As one student pointed out (in reference to the Aquaduct): "They just took two ideas and turned them into something new!" Their Think time seemed, to me at least, to be more effective today. Perhaps they just needed time or perhaps the examples helped illustrate our conversations from yesterday. Either way, when listening in, there seemed to be a lot more talk and sketching about using old ideas in new ways. There was also a lot more independent research happening as they dug deeply into their ideas in order to confirm thoughts or deconstruct previous inventions. Seems that the process is well on track now - It's going to be interesting to watch the dynamics of ideas development over the next few days. Well, I suppose sometimes you can only plan so far in advance. After some unforseen delays, we have finally come back to the design challenge.
Today, students were introduced to a simple design model, TMI, that is outlined in Invent To Learn (Martinez and Stager, 2013). The TMI Model stands for Think, Make, Improve and is really just that simple. I could go on about the details but I have a feeling you can figure out the process! The Challenge After a quick discussion about the above model (focusing on the need to generate and develop ideas before selecting a tool that will be used to solve the problem), students were finally introduced to the challenge: Design and create a system that:
Designed to build on their experiences and knowledge from throughout the year, the challenge was tweaked to be as open ended as possible while still tying into specific learning outcomes. Students were then given a short time (approximately 25 minutes) to work start working through the Think stage. Keep in mind, I have yet to show them the tools that they will have available for use. I chose to restrict this because I didn't want the possible tools to influence their original brainstorming process. Unexpected Lessons I've got to say that this process did not go as smoothly I had planned. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, as we all often turn to familiar solutions when faced with a problem, when many groups started this process by picking tools and then trying to force their ideas into the tool they selected - MinecraftEdu, in particular, was a very popular. When questioned, however, many of these groups could not yet elaborate on their plans but KNEW that MinecraftEdu was the answer. The second major challenge for some groups was developing an understanding of the difference between building off of previous knowledge and directly copying the work of others. All of this in 25 minutes! Needeless to say, their work was very stop and go as I engaged groups and the whole class in different short conversations to support their efforts. Eventually, I decided to end the session in order to give things a bit of time to 'sink in' before revisiting in the future. We shall see how tomorrow goes - what I think I'll do is pull exemplars or have a short sharing session in order to point out why it's vital to develop a basic idea before moving forward with choosing a tool. Recently, my class was offered the opportunity to pilot test a new initiative being developed through the CT Centre Learning Commons. With funding from Education Matters, the ILT team is developing Maker Kits, a set of varied and powerful equipment that can be borrowed in order to offer classroom challenges inspired by the Maker Education Movement. Before they become available system wide, however, the team wants to put them through their paces so that they can be sure they are making the best decisions around specific equipment to be included within each kit. That is not to say, of course, that this is everything they might need to know. The content of the webs makes it clear that there is still much to learn. In his book, CAD Monkeys, Dinosaur Babies and T-Shaped People: Inside the World of Design Thinking and How it Can Spark Creativity and Innovation (2011), Warren Berger says that oftentimes designers are at their best when approaching a problem that they know very little about as it let's them 'ask stupid questions' in order to approach the problem from a new direction. The challenge, then, is providing my class with enough previous knowledge that they can get started without providing so much that I have given them the answers or influenced their thinking so that all the solutions become similar or the same. |