Rajinder Santos   Design Thinking for Innovation    Final Assignment     Challenge and Selection 

 My challenge as a middle school coding and a robotics teacher is my district ’s goal to 

 design and implement curriculum that enables students to cultivate solutions to authentic   problems .   As a district , we try to stray away from “ busy work ” and develop curriculum that is   meaningful in the real world .   I am passionate about design thinking and do my best to foster a   classroom environment that encourages purposeful experimentation and reflection . Fortunately   for me , the nature of my content area allows for a culture of making tinkering . This course   offered a variety of tools to implement in the design thinking process , however the concept of   “ storytelling ” had a direct connection to my own practice . As expressed   in the video   “ Storytelling Tool ” ( 0:57 ) , “ storytelling is the difference between solving a problem and creating   a cause . ”   Much of the success attributed to the design thinking process is centered on empathy   and authentically understanding the needs of consumers .   As I am currently working on a   project that requires students   to design a product that serves an authentic need , I found   storytelling to be an effective tool in motivating my students and igniting their creativity for this   project .      Application 

 I carried out this application by bridging design thinking to an innovation project that I 

 am working on with my   seventh and eighth grade students . ​In groups of 3 and 4 , students use a   GrovePi and Raspberry Pi to create a physical prototype of a product   that serves a need of their   choice .   A Raspberry Pi is a credit - card sized computer that can run various software , whereas a   GrovePi is an electronics board that can connect to various sensors or inputs . Each group is   given a variety of inputs and sensors including LED lights , LCD displays , buttons , buzzers , light   sensors , sounds sensors , distance sensors , and temperature and humidity sensors . While each   group receives the same materials , it is up to them to decide what kind of product they will   develop and what need it will serve . Students then create a physical enclosure of their prototype .   They also create a brochure , website , or flyer which they present to an audience as they pitch   their product.​ Throughout this entire process , students document their progress in an   engineering design notebook .   As you may now see , this project has several components , but all   must connect to one driving propose - the need that their product will serve . Hence , practicing   design thinking is crucial in carrying out this project . 

 I find that students are often overwhelmed by the idea that they will be creating a 

 product that serves an authentic need .   The final product is a long term goal and is often hard to   imagine at the beginning stages of the process .   Hence , applying storytelling to this process helps   students ease into where they should begin . Storytelling works to create an emotional   connection and highlights the importance of understanding the needs of a target audience .   It is   through intense research that students choose a cause they want to work towards . Hence , 

 understanding the causes behind why some of the most successful products were made can   inspire students and help generate creativity . Specifically , I will   share stories from well known   companies that created common products such as the Swiffer and Pull - Ups by Huggies .   Hearing   the stories of how and why these products were developed helps students empathize with the   target audience . Empathy is so deeply rooted and design thinking and it begins with storytelling .        Insight and Approach 

 Scheduling is very structured in my district .   I would have liked to spend more time on 

 teaching students about how to apply design thinking in various projects .   I think that it would   be valuable to create common language centered around design thinking .   While this project was   time consuming , the projects that students produced demonstrated authentic learning and their   use of the design process was evident . I found that by commencing this project with sharing   stories from other companies , students   made sure to empathize with the intended user of their   own prototypes .   When they presented their products , I found that they articulated why the   created what they did .   One prototype that students created was called “ Who Let the Dogs Out ” ,   a dog walking alert system that used a distance sensor to detect when a dog was by the door and   then set off a buzzer and an LCD screen that displays the message “ Take Me Out ” to the owner .   Another product was called “ The Clothing Scrambler ” , a device that uses a temperature sensor   to offer appropriate outfit selection based on current weather conditions . 

 Creativity was very evident in their products and I think that storytelling did help with 

 developing empathy in this project .   However , I would like to do more work centered on   understanding consumers using other tools such as mind - mapping . Moving forward , I hope to   encourage teachers in core academic classes to design lessons that incorporate design thinking .   There is great transfer value in design thinking and if students gain exposure in multiple classes ,   it will naturally influence how they approach their own learning . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Rajinder Santos
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Rajinder Santos   Design Thinking for Innovation    Final Assignment     Challenge and Selection 

 My challenge as a middle school coding and a robotics teacher is my district ’s goal to 

 design and implement curriculum that enables students to cultivate solutions to authentic   problems .   As a district , we try to stray away from “ busy work ” and develop curriculum that is   meaningful in the real world .   I am passionate about design thinking and do my best to foster a   classroom environment that encourages purposeful experimentation and reflection . Fortunately   for me , the nature of my content area allows for a culture of making tinkering . This course   offered a variety of tools to implement in the design thinking process , however the concept of   “ storytelling ” had a direct connection to my own practice . As expressed   in the video   “ Storytelling Tool ” ( 0:57 ) , “ storytelling is the difference between solving a problem and creating   a cause . ”   Much of the success attributed to the design thinking process is centered on empathy   and authentically understanding the needs of consumers .   As I am currently working on a   project that requires students   to design a product that serves an authentic need , I found   storytelling to be an effective tool in motivating my students and igniting their creativity for this   project .      Application 

 I carried out this application by bridging design thinking to an innovation project that I 

 am working on with my   seventh and eighth grade students . ​In groups of 3 and 4 , students use a   GrovePi and Raspberry Pi to create a physical prototype of a product   that serves a need of their   choice .   A Raspberry Pi is a credit - card sized computer that can run various software , whereas a   GrovePi is an electronics board that can connect to various sensors or inputs . Each group is   given a variety of inputs and sensors including LED lights , LCD displays , buttons , buzzers , light   sensors , sounds sensors , distance sensors , and temperature and humidity sensors . While each   group receives the same materials , it is up to them to decide what kind of product they will   develop and what need it will serve . Students then create a physical enclosure of their prototype .   They also create a brochure , website , or flyer which they present to an audience as they pitch   their product.​ Throughout this entire process , students document their progress in an   engineering design notebook .   As you may now see , this project has several components , but all   must connect to one driving propose - the need that their product will serve . Hence , practicing   design thinking is crucial in carrying out this project . 

 I find that students are often overwhelmed by the idea that they will be creating a 

 product that serves an authentic need .   The final product is a long term goal and is often hard to   imagine at the beginning stages of the process .   Hence , applying storytelling to this process helps   students ease into where they should begin . Storytelling works to create an emotional   connection and highlights the importance of understanding the needs of a target audience .   It is   through intense research that students choose a cause they want to work towards . Hence , 

 understanding the causes behind why some of the most successful products were made can   inspire students and help generate creativity . Specifically , I will   share stories from well known   companies that created common products such as the Swiffer and Pull - Ups by Huggies .   Hearing   the stories of how and why these products were developed helps students empathize with the   target audience . Empathy is so deeply rooted and design thinking and it begins with storytelling .        Insight and Approach 

 Scheduling is very structured in my district .   I would have liked to spend more time on 

 teaching students about how to apply design thinking in various projects .   I think that it would   be valuable to create common language centered around design thinking .   While this project was   time consuming , the projects that students produced demonstrated authentic learning and their   use of the design process was evident . I found that by commencing this project with sharing   stories from other companies , students   made sure to empathize with the intended user of their   own prototypes .   When they presented their products , I found that they articulated why the   created what they did .   One prototype that students created was called “ Who Let the Dogs Out ” ,   a dog walking alert system that used a distance sensor to detect when a dog was by the door and   then set off a buzzer and an LCD screen that displays the message “ Take Me Out ” to the owner .   Another product was called “ The Clothing Scrambler ” , a device that uses a temperature sensor   to offer appropriate outfit selection based on current weather conditions . 

 Creativity was very evident in their products and I think that storytelling did help with 

 developing empathy in this project .   However , I would like to do more work centered on   understanding consumers using other tools such as mind - mapping . Moving forward , I hope to   encourage teachers in core academic classes to design lessons that incorporate design thinking .   There is great transfer value in design thinking and if students gain exposure in multiple classes ,   it will naturally influence how they approach their own learning .
### Output: 