Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1081161
causes students to see how issues are bigger than the questions before them. " We g o t t h e f u l l p i c t u r e a n d r e a l l y t h o u g h t about how we could help the person and see them as a p erson — not a problem that n eed s a solu- tion," Barnes says. This applies to educators as learners as well. In Vista, one of the challenges posed to educators during a Teachers Guild workshop was to redesign the staff lounge at school. Dickerson says this experience helped bring home how her students were learning. "I got to feel what it was like to be a student," she says. "You need to go through the process yourself — you'll see what it's like for them. If you're enjoying it, it's easy to see how the students will enjoy it." Fremont springboards into innovation In Fremont, educators are just getting started on their design thinking journey. Seventh-grade teacher Chelsey Staley is putting the finishing touches on the design challenge she's creating called a "passion project," which asks students to consider what they can do to help people and improve their community. Among her students' ideas: create a YouTube chan- nel for educators to communicate with students in a medium they use every day; change the school lunch program at their school and across the state; and find ways to stand up against bullies on their campus. "ey are very motivated to stop bullying on cam- pus and have asked, 'How can we get to the root of bullying?' and 'How can we stand up Fremont educators immerse themselves in design thinking at their Creative Leadership Institute. 29 F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 019 S t e p s o f D e s i g n T h i n k i n g T H E D E S I G N T H I N K I N G A P P R O A C H uses a six-step model to develop innovative solutions to problems. The model can be applied to nearly any question or problem, from the classroom to home life to global issues. Empathize: Discover the needs of students, users or people in the commu- nity, and reflect on evidence to see the problem or question from the end-user's perspective. Empathy is the foundation and inspiration of any user-centered design process. Ideate: Generate new ideas through structured brainstorming that encourages thinking expansively and without constraints. No idea is too wild when ideating, especially because unorthodox ideas can often spark visionary thoughts. Build: Make ideas tangible by build- ing a prototype. The Build step brings to life the most promising ideas from the previous step. These early and rough prototypes can be tested to help improve and refine ideas. Test: Try out prototypes and get feedback from end-users. The Test step is the most critical phase of the human-centered design process. With- out testing, it is unknown whether the solution is on target or the idea needs to evolve. Iterate: Refine ideas based on feed- back from end-users and use that information to fuel design changes. There are usually multiple iteration, test- ing and feedback integration stages to fine-tune the solution. Share: After making sure the solution meets the end-users' needs and getting details just right with the design, it's time to share your ideas with the world and inspire others to try them. 6