Description of the course
The purpose of the Design Thinking course is to give the students an overview of the methodology and hands on experience with developing a solution using the design thinking methodology. Also, to contribute to the development of generic competences and enrich competences necessary for resolving interdisciplinary problems.
Description of the participants
The course was attended by 56 students in spring 2023. The students were from Rakvere Riigigümnaasium. They were enrolled in 2 different directions, namely Innovation and Product design and Information Technology. The course is an elective and took place every Friday from January to March 2023.
Description of gamified design thinking activities
A learning activity based on design thinking was specifically designed for the course. The objective of the learning activity was to challenge students to work on an environmental issue and design a solution to it.
Students worked in groups of up to 8 individuals. The course content was structured as follows:
Step 1: Team building
Activities started with a lecture on the most urgent environmental issues, such as climate change, overconsumption, biodiversity loss, and others. Subsequently, students were challenged to observe over the course of a week environmental issues around them in their everyday lives. At the next class session, they proposed the most urgent issue based on their experiences and perceptions and were grouped into teams of 8 students by topic. The topics were as follows: overconsumption and fast fashion, food waste, transportation, winter maintenance on the streets, sorting of biowaste, waste from discarded cigarettes, overpopulation and knowledge of safe sex, and plastic waste sorting. After that, students played games with sustainability goals cards, through which they got to know each other a little better.
Step 2: Problem discovery
Team members were challenged to research on and off-line the issues around their selected topic. They were encouraged to share their findings with their teams through the platform and they filled in their Team Canvas.
Step 3: Defining the problem
Students were encouraged to have a discussion with their peers and articulate the problem they would focus on. They had to answer the following questions on the ICT-INOV digital learning platform: Whose problem is it? Who or what has caused the problem? What has been done previously to solve the problem? Why has it not worked?
Step 4: Brainstorming and ideation
Students brainstormed on potential solutions using exercises such as the 30 circles and What if…? Challenges. They further used the 6-3-5 brainwriting methodology to produce a large number of possible solutions. Students posted their papers to the ICT-INOV digital learning platform.
Step 5: Prototyping
Students were allocated a 3-week period to work on their prototypes. They were asked to interview their end users and stakeholders on two occasions.
Step 6: Presentation
The final presentation day was open to students at the school and other stakeholders. Students held their presentations on their work in all design thinking steps as well as the final proposal for the solution. Some of the solutions proposed by groups were as follows:
- Making second-hand shops more visible to address overconsumption and fast fashion overspending.
- A competition between students to weigh the food that gets wasted at a school cafeteria. The team with the least amount wins. This can be done locally, nationally or internationally.
- Smart systems for busses that make them aware of where they are currently needed.
- An app for individuals to report issues with road maintenance: snow blocking the road, slippery etc.
- Well-designed bins for raising awareness on the importance of biowaste.
- Designated areas in the city for smokers.
- Condom machines schools that provide you free condoms to students after providing information about safe sex.
- Special containers for plastic bottles and refunding on an individual’s bus card.
