The end of the path for DT and PBL?
[NOTE: This post is pointed at the secondary classroom. It may not apply to elementary classrooms for various reasons.] I have been involved in an ongoing Twitter DM conversation around design thinking (DT) with my #dtk12chat friends. Unfortunately “design thinking” has become one of those buzz words that education wants to see in their curriculum […]
Anatomy of an Interdisciplinary Project
From http://messiahnetwork.org/2015/04/01/puppet-show-on-sunday-april-19/ December 16, 2016. That’s the date on this draft post I was thinking about writing. It is another of my 10 “draft” posts I have on my blog. I’m about to shift this blog over to WordPress and away from Blogger. I have 276 blog posts altogether. Most were written over a 4 year […]
Understanding Life in 1800 When You are 12
https://www.pinterest.com/Lugsail/merchant-ship-1750-1800/ This week I am wrapping up a project with my 7th graders that is about traveling to Texas in the year 1800. All of my design students take either French or Spanish and I have them in corresponding “delegations” with a student governor. Within the delegations are groups of students (3 to 6 in […]
Let’s Make a Maker Space
https://hildakweisburg.com/2016/01/04/on-libraries-makerspace-magic/ Right up front I want to say that any school that has a Maker Space because that’s what great schools have, is missing the whole idea. I think playing with things and trying out things is really cool. I do. But if we haven’t thought through what we will have in our space then […]
Design Thinking or PBL, A Chicken/Egg Scenario? My journey.
http://www.science20.com/gerhard_adam/chicken_and_egg_problem_view_evolution-107927 Last night I missed a great conversation during a Twitter chat hosted by #MeritKCI and involving my friends who frequent the #dtk12chat. As I was scrolling through the tweets from the chat I noticed some discussion of PBL and how different Design Thinking (DT) is from PBL. A blog post that was referenced (and […]
Using An Old Challenge to Teach Project Management
http://goo.gl/AK0vs When I talk with teachers about getting started with PBL I often tell them to think of something they have seen done before and take the idea and make it their own. But I also caution them to think of their content first – what are the verbs and nouns in their standards? Unless […]
I Go From Project Idea to Project Launch (PBL with a DT Feel)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/ I’ve just completed a pretty darn nice 2 weeks off for the holidays. Tomorrow I head back to 2 days of PD before the students come back to me on Wednesday. I’ve been spending the last couple of hours fine tuning my first design project of the year. This is my first year of […]
Building Empathy Through Interviews
www.floridamemory.com/items/show/32039 7th graders are all over the map when it comes to emotions. So, on one level, you might think that it isn’t hard to get them to develop empathy. But how many of your students, at any grade level, have conducted interviews to gain knowledge of their interviewee? My first semester at Meridian school […]
Early Forays Into Empathy (7th Grade)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/apelad/ Today my 7th graders created questions about “Empathy.” This was their first week of school and today was the second day of class for them (they are on an A/B Block schedule). As a Design class I want them understanding the idea of Empathy. As an International Baccalaureate (IB) school the students are expected […]