The was a school-‐wide ini.a.ve held on October 18, 2013 as part of the MB Expo. It was designed to teach crea.ve problem-‐ solving, a skill that will be highly valued and rewarded in a rapidly changing world.
One of the most reliable methods for teaching problem-‐solving is called Design Thinking.
Applicable in any field or discipline, Design Thinking involves iden.fying a real-‐world problem through a process of empathy and story-‐telling; framing a central, driving ques.on; brainstorming and researching possible solu.ons; and then proto-‐typing, tes.ng and gradually refining a best solu.on.
Design Thinking shares many features in common with Project-‐Based Learning, and is becoming increasingly well known as a form of pedagogy as well as business management (e.g., Designing for Growth: a design thinking tool kit for managers, J. Liedtka and T. Ogilvie, Columbia University Press, 2011).
MB is fortunate to be collabora.ng with some of the country’s leading prac..oners of Design Thinking: architect Trung Le, who collaborated on a book called The Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Use Design to Transform Teaching &Learning; and designers ScoX Doorley and ScoX WiXhoZ from Stanford University’s d.school, authors of Make Space: How to Set the Stage for CreaEve CollaboraEon.
Prior to The MB Challenge, all Moses Brown faculty and staff par.cipated in several days of training in Design Thinking and PBL. In August, for example, they immersed themselves in tackling the ques.on: How could we improve the first week of school? Proposed solu.ons included a 24-‐7 hotline for answering families’ ques.ons, innova.ve ways to orient new families and great ideas for suppor.ng seniors in their final year at MB.
In prepara.on for The MB Challenge, a group of teachers at MB created a unique model to help students learn the methods of Design Thinking. Appropriately, it’s called PRIMER.
Part of the power of Design Thinking and Project-‐Based Learning is that the central ques.on is driven largely by student interest and experience, and the work is collabora.ve. Here, Elena Peterson’s upper school advisory focused on the design for a beXer locker.
Altogether, students tackled 65 different challenges.
Lisa Ardente’s advisory worked on designing a beXer backpack for students. Here, Lillian H. begins to shape the architecture of what ended up being called Da Fab Pack.
A number of the projects explored the physical environment at MB. Iden.fying a need for space for small group study and reflec.on, Michael Himelfarb’s advisory focused on reconfiguring the library to suit that purpose.
MB’s PRIMER model of Design Thinking encourages visual thinking as part of the problem-‐solving process.
Elena Mansolillo’s advisory focused on the people of MB, asking: How can students gain a beXer understanding of those in our community who may not be so visible? Here, students use a deck of cards created by MB faculty to explain the Design Thinking process.
Kindergarteners collaborated to design a two-‐ story habitat for their hamster.
Mike DeAngelo’s middle school students took on an engineering challenge: to design a bridge – using only dried pasta and marshmallows – that could support a significant weight. Documen.ng progress with notes and photography enables reflec.on and learning aZerward.
Why do s.cky notes seem to feature so prominently in this process? A key part of Design Thinking is brainstorming – gegng as many ideas on the table as quickly as possible. It turns out that colored s.cky notes are ideal for recording, displaying, grouping, rearranging and refining ideas.
Some of the projects were .ed directly to MB’s curriculum. FiZh graders, for example, collaborated on the design of “tool kits” for their pen pals on the island of St. Vincent, intended to help them share their stories with us.
Part of the Design Thinking process involves “rapid prototyping,” mocking up a proposed solu.on as quickly as possible so that it can be shared, discussed, tested and ul.mately improved. Here, Carolyn Buonanno Chase’s middle school advisory focuses on crea.ng new (and safe) social media tools. Their solu.on: an iPad app called “Quake That!”
Tapping into a strong student interest, MaX Herreid’s middle school advisory explored ways to bring music into the “regular” curriculum. In addi.on to proposing project ideas in Math, History etc., they designed and built a working percussion instrument using PVC pipe.
Design Thinking, Project-‐Based Learning and Children’s Engineering are best supported in large, open and flexible studios with movable tables and chairs and a combina.on of high-‐tech (e.g., computers, scanners) and low-‐tech (craZ supplies) materials. MB’s new strategic plan envisions the crea.on of such a space, called the Innova.on Lab (iLab).
Since Design Thinking and Project-‐Based Learning typically focus on real-‐world problems, forging connec.ons with outside experts and organiza.ons is natural and easy. Here, design engineer Michael Handy helps Fourth Graders with packaging design, part of their project to design and send toys to pen pals in Kenya.
Students in Lenke Wood’s upper school advisory collaborated with former MB parent Jan Brodie P ‘09, now the Execu.ve Director of the I-‐195 redevelopment commission. Their challenge: what is the best use for the 41 acres in downtown Providence vacated by the reloca.on of Route 195?
One of the less obvious benefits of The MB Challenge was the partnerships forged between faculty and staff. Here, Athle.c Director Jeff Maidment helps Jared SchoX’s MS advisory with its project: What is the best use for the under-‐u.lized space outside/adjacent to Bready House? At right, Director of Alumni Rela.ons Karin Morse helps a group of students consider physical changes to the MB campus that would bolster community spirit.
An important part of the crea.ve process is communica.ng results and seeking construc.ve feedback. Many of the 65 design teams used the PRIMER framework as a way to organize and share their results.
How could the use of Friends’ Garden be improved? The answer, thanks to Graham Holland’s advisory: a beXer system of signage for the raised beds. With guidance from LS/MS Woodshop teacher Randy Street, students designed and manufactured wood signs in less than four hours!
Cathy Van Lancker and Anni Barnard’s advisories explored ways to bring more trip opportuni.es to the middle and upper school. Such student input will be cri.cal as we design a new curricular program called MB TRIPs (Travel, Research and Immersion Programs).
How can we share responsibility for keeping our community spaces clean, such as the cafeteria? Dan Ohl’s middle school advisory came up with an idea for ready-‐to-‐use cleaning kits at each table.
Will all the ideas proposed during The MB Challenge be implemented? Probably not. Adding lights to Campanella Field – a great solu.on (shown here) to the challenge of increasing school spirit – is not in our long-‐term plans. But many of the ideas show promise and merit further explora.on. Future itera.ons of this work will allow more .me for tes.ng and improving on prototypes, and reflec.ng on the learning embedded in the process.
MB would like to thank all faculty, staff and students for pioneering this exci.ng ini.a.ve during the MB Expo. Special thanks, too, to the team of volunteers who conceived, organized and stewarded the morning’s ac.vi.es: Elizabeth Grumbach, Fourth Grade Beth Lantz, US Humani.es Laura Hunt, Third Grade Sarah Barnum, Lower School Art Becky Biggs, Dean of LS Admissions Tammie Worthington-‐Witczak, Associate Director of Development Jen Rawson, Director of Auxiliary Services
MaX Glendinning, Head of School Laurie Center, Academic Dean Jeff d’Entremont, Lower School Head Jared SchoX, Middle School Head Debbie Phipps, Upper School Head Jessica Mastors ‘05 Rebecca Leuchak P ‘04 ‘09