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Grade 7, 13th August 2015
Session 2
Hook:
This session was a
reflection session after the bag activity. Children gathered in a circle and
shared their insights from the bag activity.
Flow of the session:
The session began
with the teacher probing the children to dig deeper into their own behaviour
pattern that they observed while engaging with the user. They were made
comfortable with the fact that nobody would judge them for what they share.
Each kid took turn to share individual reflection from engaging with the user.
They shared about things they did not know about the user.
The teacher probed
further asking what it that they noticed about their ownself is. One kid shared
that at times he is so much in a hurry that he does not even wait for the
person to finish. He identified that he behaved mostly in that particular
manner because he just wanted to finish the task at hand.
Phoram Ma'am also
spoke about surplus and deficit behaviour. Surplus is a way to add value to the
environment and spaces. It was also shared that one can always add value to the
space by feeling for it and by observing the space. Guiding questions were used
to streamline the reflections.
Guiding questions:
1) What pattern did
you observe in your behaviour?
2) Where is the one
place that you can add value?
3) Is it your
assumption that you need to add value or does the space really require your
input?
Closing the loop:
The teacher concluded
the session by asking the children to find out where they can add value. She
also told them the key in understanding where they can add value is by
observing the space. The teacher also called out how each of them very brave
and courageous to share about themselves.
Key Takeaways:
The children were comfortable to
share their own pattern of behaviour that does not lead to surplus.
They understood that being
mindful of individual actions is very essential.
Assumptions will never help in
understanding the need of the user
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The Design Thinking Guide
Grade 7, 19th August 2015
Session -3
The session was conducted as a
prelude to the cartography exercise to introduce children to three key lenses.
Hook
The session started with Phorum
Ma’am introducing children to three kinds of paper- white paper, yellow and
green cellophane paper and leading them to see the space they are sitting in
through these eyes to introduce them to the three kinds of lenses important for
cartography- Physical, Social and Emotional.
Flow of the
session
The session began with the teacher taking the children to a space
other than their classroom and then regrouping them into groups of four. After she introduced the three different
papers, she asked the children to spend one minute at least with each and then
lead each group to discuss what they saw through each paper.
The children shared what was discussed
within the group. For the white paper, kids shared that their vision seemed
blocked, which the teacher paraphrased as that sometimes our vision could be
blocked with the shadows of our own experience. Further, the yellow was brighter and clearer
while the green was darker. Some children shared that by mixing green and
yellow, the view became blue which lead to a point that sometimes mixing two
things can change your vision of the focus area. While combining the white and
cellophane paper, the kids could not see through were able to see things that
were right in front of them.
She led the children to understand
that in order to understand the space from different perspectives we need to
observe it from different lenses ourselves before interacting with the user.
The teacher used the board to
collect all the responses and link them up to a holistic understanding of the three
lenses (physical, social and emotional) by leading them to identify the pattern
in their responses; and how they helped them to see things from a different
light and observe the way they saw things change.
She used some questions to lead the
kids to understand the lenses and what is it that we need to observe in the
space.
How do the people feel in the space-
Emotional
Who uses the space and what is happening there-
Social
Structure of the room- Physical
Once the children had a sound clarity on the lenses, the teacher
regrouped children of similar personality in groups and allotted one space to
each group to understand if children use the lenses and if they have
assumptions in their mind about the observations, i.e the children don’t just
see the shadows.
The children were given 10 minutes to observe their allotted
spaces. She made sure she observes the way how each group did its observations,
whether they tend to focus on just one lens or they see different perspectives.
A big chunk of children ended up focusing on the physical lens.
Also the teacher linked the observations to the responses from the paper activity to make the children aware of
their behavioral patterns – whether we see with blocked vision, or are just
using one angle to see the space.
She then led a discussion if the time we spent is enough to
understand the space from all the possible lenses. The teacher gave an example
of google maps to lead them to understand how it is better than any other maps,
because it has been created by keeping all the user needs in mind.
Guiding Questions
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Why is it important to view our space from multiple lenses?
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Do our assumptions come in play while observing?
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Do we keep our user in mind while looking at the space?
Closing the Loop
The teacher concluded the session by introducing the student
manuals and instructing them to do fill their reflections in the book before
the next session.
Take Away
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Even though the children were acquainted with the name of lenses,
they developed a sound understanding of what each lens meant.
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They understood the importance of taking a pause and observing
before coming to a conclusion.
