The innovative process is a storyboard of risk taking through problem solving and collaborative creative tensions of students' thinking. Students explore learning by collaboratively problem solving learning to question, interact, consolidation and communicate leading to an exploration of valuing ideas from classmates. The process of innovation becomes a thinking skills process of wiring creativity and building on previous knowledge leading to create new knowledge of problem solving from technology, coding to rich conversations. Throughout the year we need to equip students with thinking tools, confidence with risk taking when using programming and reflecting on learning as well as consolidating as a whole class on our learning journeys.
The United Nations Global Goals have been the focus throughout this year. Post on Global Goals The design thinking process is a long process for students based on ideations, iterations, self reflections on skills and consolidations for determining next step. For the Global Goals the students wanted to inform the community by taking their conceptions to business centres. Due to many school events sometimes the journey is held up. The students shared their journey with only the school community.
The slides below show the process from imagining, planning, refining and reflecting about the thinking and the tools (Hummingbird, Lego Mindstorm, Makey Makey) of designs.
Design thinking is about the students' thinking process from goal settings and reflecting about every step of the process. Having an audience for sharing is important especially to impact the audience by the design.
The following playlist demonstrates the process of sharing with the audience from the provoking steps to the reflections from the audience.
The full playlist will play through to view individuals; place the cursor on the left of the window for individual teams' videos.
This year has been a year of training and learning with the students. I will continue to embrace the creative, critical thinking and collaborative design process the following academic year. I will apply what I have learned and I look forward to new learning with the new group of students.
For educators it is important to embrace the learning with our students accepting successes, failures, uncertainties and the perseverance of the innovative learning process. The classroom community is our blueprint for our professional learning as we reflect from our students and our larger community from the school, the board and of course the global online educators.
It has been a while since I have shared my learning experiences, The students inspire me and I owe them to share the process of integrative thinking. I was just reading their reflections about the competencies which motivated me to pursue sharing our experiences.
As an educator the drive and the motivation for learning is developing on a daily basis through reflections and next steps. If the classroom learning is based on thinking and complex curiosities for creative purposes then I have to embrace the unexpected. It is not an organization of activities rather a transformation of values when learning through conversations, knowledge building, analyzing, reflecting and sharing. Reflection is the most important cause for the success, it is not an event! It takes place while observing students during the tasks, conversing with them and continuing to give students autonomy by questioning.
The learning with me and the students unfolds together in an extraordinary situation through mistakes that are overcome by learning and growth. It is an experience of the unknown you just have to persist and follow through as it is student lead. Being wrong is a useful skill when trying, persisting than just failing. The learning for me is from the enthusiasm and engagement of the students. We travel together through the unexpected zones of the process. As educators we should not be afraid of the unlearning, it is a trust of discoveries of problem solving, valuing the learning through compassionate conversations that lead to more inquiries,
Thinking is not an organisation of activities. It is a process that is driven by the students' complex curiosities of problem solving. It is definitely messy and non linear learning.
Through Integrative thinking the competencies are unpacked and woven through, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, character and citizenship. As an educator I need to guide the students evidence of the 6 C's during the process by scaffolding reflections and bringing awareness of these competencies.
Here is an example of the 6c's from a team that collaborated, communicated and focused on the critical thinking for knowledge building.
The student reflection focused on why they are accelerating in the progression of the dimension of Critical thinking and knowledge building. How during the Prop Pro model (Rotman I-Think) not only they were problem solving, analyzing and researching to confirm and learn new facts. They also pursued by adding a causal model to further the thinking of colonizing Venus and Mars.
A short video capturing the process
A video of conversations demonstrates the 6c's during team collaboration
Pictures about the integrative process and students' collaboration during team work after reflecting and persevering to develop their thinking. the 1st picture indicates the initial research and the second picture further analysis. Pro Pro model (Rotman I-Think) of why colonize Venus and Mars or why not colonize Venus and Mars?
The initial integrative model followed by further analysis.
This reflection also refers by using the Pro Pro integrative thinking that the team collaborated with. The team was able to also analyze all facts, give examples and compare the reasons. This reflection shows how the team was leveraging technology through reliable sources.
The students deserve the right of growth. As educators we need to embrace learning as a life of a project. There is no size in learning, there is lots of growth by enriching a process of competencies and thinking skills that is also self-directed learning.
Here are questions to make us think of learning and growing:
What situations am I creating for students not to learn individually?
How are students collaborating and orchestrating their learning?
How are students valuing and trusting all ideas?
How am I integrating competencies during the learning process?
