Day 1
01 Workshop Opener 02 Previously, on 03 Break 04 Model Lesson 05 ML Reflection 06 Equity 07 Lunch 08 Curriculum Investigation 09 Conclusions and Connections 10 Break 11 Unit Planning 12 Wrap Up 13 Debrief

Session 4: Model Lesson

45 minutes

lesson exploration

Purpose

This model lesson is intended to model effective management of group work and supporting positive group dynamics while participants engage in the Problem Solving Process for Design.

Objectives

  • Participants are exposed to the essential content knowledge necessary to plan and implement Lesson 3 of Unit 4, Chapter 1
  • Participants engage in the “think, pair, share”, “peer feedback” and “journaling” teaching and learning strategies
  • Participants engage in a structured problem solving process to breakdown a problem into smaller components

Supplies & Prep

Room Setup:

  • Participants are grouped into teams of three to five participants

Facilitator Supplies:

Teacher Materials:

Agenda

Warm Up (5 minutes)

Activity (34 minutes)

Wrap Up (6 minutes)

Facilitation Guide

Warm Up (5 minutes)

(5 minutes) Designing for Others

Prompt: In the last two lessons we've seen that products are designed with a purpose and that different designs are more useful or pleasing to different people. Since different people have different needs, interests, what might be some of the challenges if you're trying to design a product for someone else?

Discussion Goal

This should be a very quick introduction to the lesson. You are looking to call out that designing for other people requires you to consider their needs instead of your own, which can often be challenging.

Think - Pair - Share: Allow learners a minute to think silently before having them share with their tables and then the group as a whole.

  • (1 minute) Think: individual reflection
  • (1 minutes) Pair: discuss with a partner
  • (3 minutes) Share: share and discuss with the whole group

Introduce the Question of the Day: How can we design for people other than ourselves?

Activity (34 minutes)

(5 minutes) Introduce Design Thinking

Show participants the video, Design Thinking Process, and stop the video after Step 5 (around 3:10).

Remarks

The Design Thinking Process is very similar to our Problem Solving Process - both are centered around empathy, and both have a similar cycle for defining, preparing, trying, and reflecting. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to practice this process so we can design products and apps for people in our communities and around the world. Today and tomorrow, we’re going to practice a shorter version of this process by brainstorming different groups of people and their needs, then designing smart clothing products to meet those needs.

(2 minutes) Introduce the Activity

Overview: As a class read through the "Overview" section of the activity guide to make sure groups understand the goal of the activity.

(17 minutes) Problem Solving Process - Define

Facilitator Tip

You will notice that the brainstorming starts with learners working independently and then moves to the table group working together. This sets the foundation for inclusion within the group. All team members have space to brainstorm ideas to bring to the team. As you circulate during the lesson, be on the lookout for teams including multiple perspectives into their group solutions. If it seems like one person is dominating group decision making, ask guiding questions. For example: Point to a post-it and ask who came up with the idea. Then ask that person to describe the idea to the group.

  • (2 minutes) Brainstorm Users: Ask learners to independently list on their activity guides as many different potential users of smart clothing as they can think of. After about a minute, ask them to create a post-it for the two or three user types they think are most interesting.

  • (2 minutes) Categorize Users: Invite learners to discuss with their table at least one bigger category of users they see within their group. Bubble up their ideas to a full class discussion. You should aim to create broad categories for every user on chart paper.

  • (1 minute) Choose Specific User: Ask groups to pick one of the categories you've created to design for. Do your best to ensure a good mix of users in the classroom but it's not a problem if some groups choose the same user.

  • (2 minutes) Brainstorm Needs: Learners will independently brainstorm on their activity guide to identify a list of potential concerns, interests, and needs of the user they picked. Encourage learners to think carefully about what might be important to those people.

  • (4 minutes) Categorize Needs: Learners should compare their list with their group and create post-its for each need, interest, or concern of their user and then group them. Learners can use the markers and poster paper to do this step.

  • (1 minute) Choose a Specific Need: Ask groups to pick the specific need for their user that they want to address. They should try to pick a need they think could be addressed by smart clothing so in some cases they may need to be a little creative in thinking about these needs.

  • (5 minutes) Share Out: Each group shares a specific user and a need or interest with the whole group.

(10 minutes) Problem Solving Process - Prepare

  • (2 minutes) Brainstorm Solutions: Ask learners to independently brainstorm potential ways smart clothing could be used to address the problem they've decided to solve.

Facilitator Tip

Be on the lookout for group conflict here. Have a plan in mind for how you will redirect groups if one person seems to be unwilling to let go of their idea and is causing group conflict as a result. Your response should be one that both models a way a teacher could intervene to support effective group dynamics while still respecting participants as professionals. Ex: You might ask the participant who is causing the conflict to suggest a strength of a different idea and follow up by asking a different group member if that strength could be incorporated into the idea in question.

  • (5 minutes) Discuss the Pros and Cons: Once learners have brainstormed solutions invite groups to discuss the pros and cons of the proposed solutions. Reinforce that they should be having this conversation from the standpoint of their user. Either the specific needs they chose or the broader needs they've brainstormed should guide how they value each idea.

  • (3 minutes) Choose Specific Solution: Each group chooses a specific solution they will focus on. The decision will guide the product they create.

Wrap Up (6 minutes)

(1 minute) Journal

Prompt:

  • Today’s activity involved a lot of brainstorming with your group.
    • What is one example from today where a group member had an idea that you hadn’t considered before?
    • How did that idea affect some of the decisions you made?

(5 minutes) Share Out

Invite a few participants to share their journal response with the whole group.