Tag Archives: design thinking

“… we learn by doing.”

So observed Aristotle in his study on how we should live, The Nicomachean Ethics, a work that is named – so scholars think – out of fondness for Aristotle’s father and son, both of whom were named Nicomachus.

While obviously not a new concept to educators, the principle of learning-by-doing has been applied in one particular framework, credited to UCLA professor Doreen Nelson, called Design-Based Learning (DBL). Also sometimes called Project- or Problem-Based Learning (PBL), DBL / PBL encourages students to think about how to address a problem in its context, specifically by thinking with the end in mind. As a formal methodology in contemporary education, DBL / PBL gained wider recognition during the 1990s, particularly as the oncoming millennium posed the perceived need for students to learn what popularly became known as 21^st century skills.

DBL / PBL methods encourage experiential learning as a way to overcome student disengagement (Kim, Suh, & Song, 2015; Washor & Mojkowski, 2014), such as increasing the enrolment of women in the field of Information Technology (Jessup & Sumner, 2005). DBL / PBL enables students and their teachers to make use of prior learning to address authentic experiences and so-called real-world problem-solving (Wang, Derry, & Ge, 2017) as compared to the more sheltered lessons and linear hypotheticals of the traditional classroom.

Read more about Doreen Nelson in this article and stay in touch with the latest developments on her DBL website.

Typically, as students grow they also discover their own unique predilections, whether these arise from their personal passions or as a result of working alongside their peers. By facilitating and fostering its participants’ capabilities, DBL / PBL methods ideally turn out a multidisciplinary cohort that possesses diverse skills and interests as well as the maturity to envision and tackle a wide variety of challenges.

Visit the Design based learning: STEM & Simple Machines blog post for a resource shared by UBC Engineering Geering Up Educators.

Create, Make, Innovate: Getting Hands-on with Learning Design

Recap of the session in the Scarfe Foyer – Fall 2019:

This week, Create, Make, Innovate! was pleased to be part of the Educational Technology Support (ETS) unit’s TEC Expo, held on Tuesday, October 22^nd, 2019 in the Scarfe foyer.

ETS describes the Technology Enhanced Classroom (TEC) exposition as “designed to showcase and celebrate creative and innovative uses of technology in face-to-face, blended, and online classrooms within the Faculty of Education.” Teacher candidates (TCs) roamed a gallery of exhibit tables spread across the foyer, mingling with the presenters and with faculty and staff from a number of departments around campus. On display were topics and technologies ranging from coding and physics to biology and geology, each designed in its own manner to engage students inside the classroom while inspiring them in ways beyond.

At the Create, Make, Innovate! table, TCs faced hands-on design challenges, which they could try to solve using only the materials provided. One challenge was to build the tallest possible free-standing tower, using items such as drinking cups or pipe cleaners. (Believe it or not, this challenge could even be posed using sheets of newspaper!) One successful tower of cups lasted nearly an hour before finally toppling over after a nudge on the table!

A wooden catapult by Specific Love Creations (YouTube screenshot: “How to make a Catapult for Kids” – posted Nov 20, 2013)

A second challenge was to construct a device or conveyance of some kind that could transfer a small object – like a cotton ball or a Lego character – from one shoreline to another across an imaginary body of water, which were simple paper cut-outs laid atop the display table. One clever catapult, made from wooden craft sticks and elastic bands, nearly launched a cotton ball all the way across! *thanks for the inspiration for this activity from U of Calgary’s Doucette Library WestCast 2019 presentation.

Other ideas for the shoreline-to-shoreline challenge could be constructing a zipline or a bridge, again using only those items available, as provided by the teacher. Although something like a bridge might seem straightforward, like all engineering projects it definitely also requires careful forethought. The results can be pretty amazing – they might even win their designers top prize in a contest! In our session this week, however, we wanted all our materials to be reusable, so we avoided using glue or building a more permanent structure (although these can be amazing, too, not to mention sturdy!)

Read more below about how to make a catapult of your own, as well as some other clever ideas that can challenge students and stir their creative thinking.

A craft staple: the popsicle stick! Free photo available for download at Canva

Resources

British Columbia’s K–12 curriculum features a subject discipline called Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies (ADST), which “builds on students’ natural curiosity, inventiveness, and desire to create and work in practical ways” in order to “… provide firm foundations for lifelong learning.” As early as Kindergarten, students can take a role in learning how to apply ADST principles such as cross-disciplinary thinking, collaboration, and contextualised problem-solving.

One quick design challenge is a toy catapult made simply from a handful of wooden craft sticks and three elastic bands. This catapult is an amusing way for students to observe Newton’s Laws of Motion and the force of gravity while appreciating properties like potential and kinetic energy and concepts like leverage. Likewise, other simple machines, as basic as a door wedge or a threaded screw, can serve as readily understandable physical models for young children.

For older students, biomimicry can offer fascinating design challenges as well as readily perceived connections to the natural environment. Critical making is another avenue that directs older students toward linkages between innovative digital technologies and broader society, in ways that are mindful of those designs and their consequences.

Acknowledgement: post author, Scott Robertson; editor, Yvonne Dawydiak

Special thanks to ETS UBC for including us in your event!

Interdisciplinarity, collaboration, hands-on learning – that’s the spirit of Create, Make, Innovate! We want to promote enthusiasm for sharing and learning across age groups and across subject disciplines.

Make, Create, Innovate sessions took place during the Fall 2019 in the foyer of the Neville B. Scarfe building and were hosted by Scott Robertson, a project assistant on a small TLEF grant with Dr. Lorrie Miller, Dr. Marina-Milner Bolotin and Yvonne Dawydiak, Teacher Education.

If you have an idea or an inspiration for a resource or future session, please let us know! scarfe.sandbox@ubc.ca

References

Aristotle. (1999). Nicomachean Ethics (W. D. Ross, Trans.). Kitchener, ON: Batoche Books.

Jessup, E. & Sumner, T. (2005). Design-based learning and the participation of women in IT. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 26(1), 141-147.

Kim, P., Suh, E., & Song, D. (2015). Development of a design-based learning curriculum through design-based research for a technology-enabled science classroom. Educational Technology Research and Development, 63(4), 575–602.

Wang, M., Derry, S., & Ge, X. (2017). Fostering deep learning in problem-solving contexts with the support of technology. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 20(4), 162–165.

Washor, E. & Mojkowski, C. (2014). Student disengagement: It’s deeper than you think. The Phi Delta Kappan, 95(8), 8–10.

Featured Photo Credit: Maria Georgieva at pexels.com