Hugarflug: Design Thinking for the Classroom by Arite Fricke
About a workbook that aims to become an inspiring tool for elementary school teachers and their students.
This project is a collaborative social design project that aims to encourage elementary school teachers to apply the human-orientated problem-solving approach design thinking in a playful way to their schedules. The workbook I am creating, and have tested during actual workshops, communicates the approach with the example of kite making and kite flying. My goal with this project is to open up the possibilities design thinking offers teachers who want to enrich their methods and enhance the learning experience, interaction and participation of their pupils.
The conceptual background and design process behind Hugarflug can be seen as a loop, starting with a group of design students and myself facilitating a kite-making workshop in a public elementary school. The aim was to tackle social isolation of children who live in poverty. The collaboration made me passionate about social design as well as all aspects regarding the making and flying of kites. I continued by researching cases of design projects that aimed to respond to or solve societal issues. I read about the phenomenon of play and its impact on our private and professional lives, which brought me to investigate design thinking as it is taught in the Iceland Academy of the Arts, yet through the lens of a parent and with my professional future role as a designer in mind.
Design thinking starts from a human need connected to a product or a concept, which must or can be improved. In the beginning the issue is clearly identified and information regarding the topic collected. Through storytelling, fieldtrips and other activities the participants empathise, get inspired, see opportunities and are therefore motivated to seek a solution. During ideation, they then throw out their wildest and unthinkable ideas, which often lead to unique outcomes. Next, the group makes quick and cheap prototypes, which are tested, presented, and discussed. Ideas are then combined and improved towards implementing the best possible outcome in the real world, keeping the user and resources in mind. Through regular feedback, the design thinking loop goes on and the product or concept is adapted to changing circumstances.
Making and flying kites to illustrate the process is strategic as an example of a design process, which children are familiar with and usually enjoy. It can therefore be used to demonstrate diverse subjects such as mathematics, geometrics, history, physics, art and design. Most important in Hugarflug is the social aspect since kites are preferably made and flown by two participants:
Kites are ideas, which can get wings. The sense of making a kite is to design, construct, and fly it together. The message on the kite says something about you and me sharing a passion. To have a kite means having a friend.
With my workbook I hope to provide teachers with an inspiring tool that helps children to improve their creative problem-solving abilities, and hence make them confident in approaching any subject in school as well as the many challenges of their lives ahead. I believe that my project, Hugarflug, has the potential to positively impact the teaching and learning environment in public elementary schools.
