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Lesson overview

In the last section of this unit of work, your class will take part in a Design Thinking Workshop that can be delivered as three one hour sessions or combined as a half day activity.

In part one of the workshop, your class will use personas to empathise with different types of people. They will then use these insights to brainstorm ways that robots and autonomous vehicles can improve lives or solve problems.

Learning outcomes

• Understand that design is a process
• Name at least one job associated with design
• Describe basic design thinking techniques
• Understand that issues affect people in different ways
• Empathise with different people and describe how they might see the world
• Think creatively to generate solutions to problems
• Share and evaluate their own ideas

Lesson steps

1. Video opener (5 mins)
   Introduction to design thinking. This workshop’s challenge is to use design to solve the problems of citizens living in a city of the future.
2. Classroom discussion (10 mins)
   Students will discuss the video and share ways they’ve solved problems in that past.
3. Design thinking: empathise (15 mins)
   Students will use character personas to empathise with different people and their travel related problems.
4. Design thinking: ideate (20 mins)
   Students will complete a class brainstorming activity then work in groups to brainstorm ideas to make life better for the character personas.
5. Reflect (10 mins)
   Students will reflect on their brainstorming activity then share their best and worst ideas.

Equipment required (per group)

No additional equipment beyond the lesson resources are necessary.

England

Design & Technology Key Stage 2

• Use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
• Generate, develop, model and communicate ideas through discussion and prototypes

English Key Stage 2

• Generate and develop initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary

USA

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students

• 1c. Students use technology to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
• 1d. Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.
• 3a. Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
• 3d. Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.
• 4a. Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.
• 4c. Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design processes
• 4d. Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• 5a. Students formulate problem definitions suited for technology-assisted methods such as abstract models and algorithmic thinking in exploring and finding solutions.
• 5c. Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.
• 5d. Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.
• 7c. Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal.
• 7d. Students explore local and global issues and use collaborative technologies to work with others to investigate solutions.