At the beginning of the year, two of our third grade teachers along with one of our EIL (Education Innovation Lab) teachers, did a Design Thinking project where each group of students had to design and create a desk caddy to hold their materials (pencils, erasers, scissors, etc.). The final product was cut on the laser cutter in the Lab and the kids glued them together (you can see more about that if you look back in our blog posts).
Recently, the third grade finished their Mini-Society unit and as a culminating project for the year, these same two classes wanted the students to do a service project. Groups of students went out into the school community and looked for "clients". Through interviews with their clients, these students came up with desk caddy concept that met their clients needs.
In the Lab, we taught them to design using the 123D Design and Inkscape software. After they created their digital prototype, they shared it with their client to get feedback. Using that feedback, the students created life-size prototypes using cardboard, foam, tape, etc. These were shared with their clients to get final approval.
Once the clients gave the students the "OK" to proceed, the kids came back into the Lab and we began laser cutting the pieces for their caddy. Of course, some of the caddies had to have alterations made to the design, but overall, it's all part of the process.
Here are some of the final projects:
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