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Prisma is the world’s most engaging virtual school that combines a fun, real-world curriculum with powerful mentorship from experienced coaches and a supportive peer community.
We all want our kids to grow up to be problem-solvers, who have a meaningful positive impact on the world. But what kind of people are best equipped for creative problem-solving?
You might initially think it’s all about creativity: being able to generate the most unique ideas. But plenty of us know highly creative people who aren’t able to successfully solve problems! Maybe they lack the ability to deeply research until they understand the features and impact of the problem. Or perhaps they lack the ability to iterate, using feedback to improve their initial idea; or follow through, to see their ideas to completion.
Design thinking is a methodology that's been widely embraced by entrepreneurs, leading companies like IDEO, and esteemed colleges like Stanford University. This process recognizes that the most innovative solutions aren’t random, nor driven by creativity alone.
According to the Harvard Business Review, “design-thinking processes counteract human biases that thwart creativity while addressing the challenges typically faced in reaching superior solutions.” In this sense, design thinking is not just for “designers.” This process can be used by anyone in any industry who needs to solve problems.
It’s because of design thinking’s broad applicability to innovative, problem-solving focused work that we at Prisma believe it’s such an important skill for kids to learn. In a rapidly changing world, where most of today’s elementary schoolers will grow up to work in jobs that haven’t been invented yet, we believe problem-solving skills, including design thinking, will be more essential to success than any particular piece of content knowledge.
At Prisma, learners in our virtual middle and high school programs learn through project-based, interdisciplinary themes. All themes provide learners the opportunity to flex their creative-problem solving muscles through real-world, authentic projects. However, some of our themes focus explicitly on design thinking.
In this blog post, we’ll break down what design thinking is, and how it can benefit learners. Then, we’ll share some concrete project ideas from our most popular design thinking themes to inspire you.
Design thinking is a problem-solving process that encourages critical thinking and innovation. It was popularized by Stanford’s d.school and is widely used in higher education and professional industries to solve complex problems. This methodology is all about understanding the user, challenging assumptions, and redefining problems in a bid to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent.
Design thinking follows a specific process, typically: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test, with variations and additional steps (like reflect or share) added in depending on the context. This approach not only focuses on creating innovative solutions, but also fosters creative confidence, self-confidence, and thinking skills.
In January, the World Economic Forum published a report called Defining Education 4.0: A Taxonomy for the Future of Learning. In this report, experts advocate for a shift in education toward developing “their uniquely human qualities – those unlikely ever to be replaced by technology.” These skills include creativity, critical thinking, digital literacy, collaboration, communication, and adaptability.
Here’s why the practice of design thinking is one of the most effective ways for kids to build these essential skills for future success:
Let's delve into the specific steps of the design thinking process.
Of course, the best design thinking project for your students or children will depend on their age & ability level, any academic subjects you’d like to incorporate, and your interests.
Here are some of our favorite ideas from past Prisma themes:
“It was incredible to see kids using the design thinking process to come up with human enhancements, animal gadgets, and home upgrades in the Inventor's Studio theme,” says our CEO Kristen Shroff. In this theme, learners chose a project group based on which end user they were most interested in impacting (humans, animals, or their own family). They interviewed or observed their end user to generate an idea for an invention that would make their life easier. At the end of the cycle, they created a video advertisement for their invention to share on Expo Day.
“From inventions that made doing their chores easier like the Ellabot Clothes Feeder to a prototype of the Omega Chicken Guard to protect pets from predators, to the Calmet, a device that makes life more accessible to people using a wheelchair, our Prismarians' empathy, creativity, and innovator's mindset always blows us away.”
In our Build a Business theme, learners used the design thinking process to come up with a product or service business idea. In the ideation phase, they interviewed potential customers, analyzed their own passions & talents, and conducted market research on competitors.
Once they completed a business plan, they completed a test run of their idea by either building a prototype (if their business was based around a product) or launched their service for beta customers. Based on customer feedback, they refined their idea. They ended the project by creating a website for their business and pitching to an audience.
“I loved our Games for Change cycle where kids designed their own video games that raised awareness about neurodiversity,” recalls Head of Middle School Claire Cummings. Of course, it’s possible to do a game design project without engaging in design thinking. Since our learners were designing games with a purpose (to educate & inform the players about a real-world issue), they needed to empathize at the beginning of their design process.
“The iteration and feedback process aligned so well to real life, when they had users test their games and then had to go back and make changes based on that feedback.”
In our middle school Wild Inventions theme, learners competed in the Youth Design Challenge to create solutions to sustainability challenges. The catch? Their solutions needed to be inspired by the structure and/or function of a plant or animal. This design tactic is called biomimicry, and it’s a great way to integrate biology learning with design thinking.
In our high school Secrets of the Biosphere theme, learners conducted a study of biodiversity in their local ecosystem. Based on the data they collected, they designed a product, policy, or service that would serve to increase biodiversity. This was a different way to integrate STEM learning in the empathize part of the design process.
In our high school theme The Future of Health, learners interviewed patients struggling with a variety of health conditions, from anxiety to Multiple Sclerosis to a broken leg. They used the qualitative data gleaned from this process to inspire a medical device, app, or policy proposal project.
Along the way, they got feedback from healthcare industry professionals to help them refine their ideas. Bringing in authentic expert guests is a great way to make any design thinking curriculum more relevant to the real world! This theme also incorporated biology & genetics concepts.
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