Empathy, creativity used in design thinking project
by Pamela Malinowski, eighth grade science teacher
In a science lesson coordinating with a recent guest speaker and reading in English class, eighth graders used Design Thinking and simple machines to create devices for people with disabilities.
In a science lesson coordinating with a recent guest speaker and reading in English class, eighth graders used Design Thinking and simple machines to create devices for people with disabilities.
The students in my eighth-grade science class had an introduction to Design Thinking last week. Instead of designing a wallet or some other similar device, my hope was to expose them to some experiences with which they may not be as familiar. Each student, upon entering the room was assigned a certain disability: they either were confined to a wheelchair or they had an arm amputated. At each station was a task they were asked to accomplish. These tasks included pouring cake batter from a bowl into a cake pan with only one arm, cutting carrots into thin strips with one arm, and seeing what was cooking on a stove from the vantage point of a wheelchair. In total there were 11 different scenarios, and each student had a chance to try his or her task to gain a sense of empathy for living without being fully physically abled.
Once they had this sense of empathy, each class began going through the steps of the Design Thinking process. They were paired up and interviewed each other to try to design a project for the other person, having to empathize with a task and disability they did not previously have. After receiving feedback from classmates, they revised their design and then built a prototype of this design out of various supplies around the room. Many students used the knowledge of simple machines and leverage to build these prototypes. For instance, some students were assigned a person with limited grip strength, and they built a flossing device with a large handle, trying to apply the concept of a wheel and axle to make it easier to grip. Other students used pulleys to help lift heavy objects, or ramps to get a better view. Some students used wedges to open jars. Using simple machines was not a necessity, however, empathy and creativity both were. Seeing with empathetic eyes was definitely necessary to design a prototype that truly met the other person’s needs, and thinking outside of the box on how to solve problems helped created some wonderful prototypes by these students.
In preparation for this unit, I visited the Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute at Vanderbilt, and received some first-hand instruction on how to use a variety of assistive technology devices. Valery Hanks, an occupational therapist at Vanderbilt, showed me around its treatment facilities including the kitchen, laundry room, and rehab room and described how patients could be treated for a variety of symptoms and how they could try to increase their mobility and independence when completing everyday tasks. I also participated in a Design Thinking evening class hosted by Brent Taylor, a USN alumnus, who help provide the scaffolding on the lesson that was eventually designed and implemented.
In preparation for this unit, I visited the Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute at Vanderbilt, and received some first-hand instruction on how to use a variety of assistive technology devices. Valery Hanks, an occupational therapist at Vanderbilt, showed me around its treatment facilities including the kitchen, laundry room, and rehab room and described how patients could be treated for a variety of symptoms and how they could try to increase their mobility and independence when completing everyday tasks. I also participated in a Design Thinking evening class hosted by Brent Taylor, a USN alumnus, who help provide the scaffolding on the lesson that was eventually designed and implemented.
This project lined up perfectly with a couple of things happening in Middle School. Empathy was required for this project, and it is also one of the main themes from eighth graders' English class while they read “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This project also aligns perfectly with the recent visit of Josh Ruchotzke, who attended our Middle School Town Meeting this week. Ruchotzke is a quadruple amputee who played baseball throughout his high school career with the use of a specially made prosthesis with a baseball bat. This Design Thinking activity tied in the ideas from the simple machines unit, while exposing students to new careers, like occupational therapy and how assistive technology can be used, while asking them to be empathetic about the experiences of others at the same time.
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