Design Thinking for Middle School
This course introduces design thinking concepts to middle schoolers. Students learn and practice the methods, and techniques to understand user needs, the role of empathy in product design, and engage in generating ideas, building, and testing prototypes, and incorporating learnings, while interacting and collaborating with peers. Students work with design thinking templates, and exercises in class.
Students exercise their logical, critical, analytical, and creative thinking skills, as they engage in design thinking method of problem analysis and solution building. Tweens and teens have a lot of fun analyzing problems, brainstorming solutions, building, testing, evaluating and improvising their product & solution prototypes in class. Students develop maker mindset, abilities to identify & define actionable solution parts, and a willingness to fail, and to learn, and try again.
Session Info
- 55 minutes per class
- Twice per week for 4 weeks or Once per week for 8 weeks
- 11-14 year olds
- 3 - 10 learners per class
Price - USD
$49.99
$6.25 per class per student
This is an ongoing course offered in 8 class sessions. Each new session builds on the previous session for continuing students
Available Times
Batch 1
Mondays & Wednesdays
5:00 PM – 5:55 PM – IST
12:30 AM – 1:25 PM BST
07:30 PM – 08:25 PM SGT
07:30 AM – 08:25 AM EST
Batch 2
Mondays & Wednesdays
9:00 PM – 9:55 PM – IST
04:30 PM – 5:25 PM BST
11:30 PM – 12:25 AM SGT
11:30 AM – 12:25 PM EST
Batch 3
Tuesdays & Thursdays
4:00 PM – 4:55 PM – IST
11:30 AM – 12:25 PM BST
06:30 PM – 07:25 PM SGT
06:30 AM – 07:25 AM EST
Batch 4
Tuesdays & Thursdays
9:00 PM – 9:55 PM – IST
04:30 PM – 5:25 PM BST
11:30 PM – 12:25 AM SGT
11:30 AM – 12:25 PM EST
Batch 5
Fridays & Saturdays
4:00 PM – 4:55 PM – IST
11:30 AM – 12:25 PM BST
06:30 PM – 07:25 PM SGT
06:30 AM – 07:25 AM EST
Batch 6
Fridays & Saturdays
9:00 PM – 9:55 PM – IST
04:30 PM – 5:25 PM BST
11:30 PM – 12:25 AM SGT
11:30 AM – 12:25 PM EST
Course Details
Develop good understanding of design thinking methods through practice.
Ability to understand user needs & pain points and address them in product design – develop empathy
Ability to identify, ideate, innovate, & prototype, actionable solutions – i.e build quick & dirty solutions that can be tested quickly, & gain insights into what a good solution could look like
Develop maker mindset – willingness to innovate new ways, and embrace risk of failure, and develop persistence.
Foster positive interactions, brainstorming, and collaboration among peers
Engage students’ multiple intelligences and develop multifaceted thinking acumen, and innovation mindset as they work through many identify, ideate, define, prototype, test & learn exercises in class.
Students engage in a variety of problem solving, creative exercises, as they understand user needs, engage in design thinking based solution design, in this innovative course. During the first weeks of session, students familiarize themselves with design thinking by practicing the various stages (understanding user needs, defining problems, ideating, prototyping, testing, & improvising) with many hands-on exercises.
In the following weeks, students engage in design thinking at a deeper level with more involved exercises, and design thinking projects. Students draw from known examples, their own experience with exercises, and class lectures as they come up with their own innovative products, and solutions for a given problem (Students can pick a problem of their choice from a list of projects).
Each class is highly interactive, where students are continuously brainstorming ideas, validating solutions, & sharing their learnings with peers and instructors. We compliment the structured learning exercises with free-flow impromptu games and activities, where students automatically apply their learnings through the act of playing & engaging in activities.
Youngsters draw inspiration from each other, as they engage in collaborative problem solving, and validate each others ideas, and solutions in our positive, fun and interactive classrooms. Most importantly, students develop foundational product design skills – understanding user needs, creating user centered solutions, incremental design – quick prototyping, testing, and improvising, thus building their creative confidence, and maker mindset.
Our teachers are highly qualified, well trained, and experienced, subject matter experts, with exceptional ability to interact, and engage young students online
55 minutes per class once or twice a week, and an estimated 30 minutes to 2 hour per week outside of class for home work
10-20 minutes daily practice homework. Homework is optional, students are encouraged to practice daily, post their work, and reach out to the instructor for questions/clarifications.
Rough notebook or paper, pencils, colors etc. Students will be notified ahead of class when additional items are needed for class activity
Reference exercises, resources, and other relevant information will be provided & updated regularly to reinforce learning with ongoing practice
Formative assessment based on student’s performance, and participation in class activities, and the ideas they come up with, will be provided at the end of the session.
FAQ
This is an interactive, instructor led small group online class that will be conducted over a zoom session. Students are given many opportunities to share, and interact with peers, and teachers in class. Each student is given individual attention when needed, to ensure that every child grasps the concepts, and participates actively in class.
All middle school students greatly benefit from this course, student develop better product/solution design skills, empathy, practice incremental & iterative development, collaboration and maker mindset. They emerge as confident innovators who are always exploring & learning and are not afraid to take risks
The class caters to students with both new and returning students, the goal is to advance each student’s abilities with practice. We assess various product design skills of each student and progress them accordingly, with engaging, differentiated learning exercises.
The activities and exercises during the first class are largely geared towards understanding students’ design thinking abilities, product/solution design & approach, & prior knowledge. They also build rapport among students, and between each student, & the instructor. It is very essential for all students to attend the first class of each session.
Yes, a summary of the concepts taught, and exercises practiced in class, will be provided for students/parents to review through email, WhatsApp & the course reference page.
Our research suggest that students learn, and engage better when they learn together with a diverse group of older, younger, and same age peers. Having said that, in order to best serve the learning needs of each child, we differentiate the learning activities and exercises, and adapt & evolve our teaching methods continuously based on students’ response & engagement in class.
Teachers are available to clarify students’ doubts or questions for an extra 10 minutes, towards the end of class. Further students may reach out to us on the course email (which will be provided to enrolled students), for more questions/clarifications
The Mindful Learning Space ardently believes in continuous learning & practice, to this extent we share relevant exercises, activities, and resources for students to practice beyond class and session.
Please refer to the overall cancellation policy on the main FAQ page. A make up class is offered in exceptional cases, when the instructor is unable to conduct a scheduled class.
Courses like this
Related Resources
Check out these wonderful resources for more information: