Of Dowels and Design Thinking

There’s no better way to build teamwork and cooperation than to work on a design-thinking project as our third, fourth and fifth graders recently did because the entire premise of design thinking rests upon communication and collaboration. The cross-graded challenge we gave to our students: construct a freestanding structure using only 40 dowels and rubber bands that can house all of your teammates comfortably.

Prior to the exercise, the teachers discussed the social goals of the activity with the students and explained that the process of working together outweighed the end result. Most importantly, the students had to include everyone in the activity and listen to everyone’s ideas, even the ideas that were far fetched.

The students set out to the school field armed with dowels, rubber bands and plenty of enthusiasm.  Before they got started, the teammates huddled together and whooped a cheer. Each group was paired with a teacher/moderator to facilitate the brainstorming.

And then the ideas flowed:

“What about an airport?”

“I want something really tall!”

“Let’s build a castle with a moat!”

“Where are we going to get the water?’

“Listen!" one chimed in, " There are no bad ideas.”

“Everyone’s talking at the same time!”

“I like the idea of the moat, but maybe we should focus on the castle first.”

The facilitator gently steered and directed to keep the conversation positive as

students talked over one another and grappled at times to stay on task. Nonetheless, the students pulled each other along – the reticent student to the take charge one - to create their concept.  That’s teamwork.

Whereas some groups drew a prototypes of their design, other groups jumped right in on constructing their piece Students self- selected their roles as some worked on building a base, and others wrapped rubber bands to secure the dowels together which required a special technique. Elements of some structures collapsed and the students stepped back to discuss solutions. Where one student struggled, another offered a suggestion.

After discussing their group projects, each individual student reflected on their ability to cooperate by filling out a questionnaire: How well did you cooperate with your group? What does cooperation mean to you? What specific advice would you give other team members to improve their cooperation?

Through the exercise students demonstrated not only cooperation but assertion, responsibility, empathy and self-control. Design Thinking requires not only a great idea but also the social and emotional intelligence to see that idea to fruition.