Experience Week Parent Info Session by Elizabeth

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Slide Notes

In our Middle School (grades 5-8), all students participate in our personal passion project (P3) program. This is the fourth year for our P3 program.

Experience Week Parent Info Session

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

2020-2021 P3

personal passion projects

In our Middle School (grades 5-8), all students participate in our personal passion project (P3) program. This is the fourth year for our P3 program.

Photo by amira_a

P3 GOALS

Why are we doing this?

The following slides explain some of the reasons we do P3.

Photo by amira_a

1. Determine what you are passionate about.

Determining what students are passionate about is often the hardest thing. In the past, we have let students choose anything they found interesting. It frequently proved difficult to keep student's attention on that topic all year.

This year, we are using the design thinking process to help students solve a problem they are passionate about. By connecting to a problem and breaking down the process, it helps students remain a bit more focused on their topic.

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2. Pursue a passion, chosen by you, for much of the school year.

Students focus on their P3 topic for the entire school year.
A P3 class, which all MS students take, meets once a week for 40 minutes throughout the school year. We also have one 4-day week dedicated to it in January, when all classes are suspended so students can concentrate on their projects.

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3. Improve your communication skills by working with a mentor.

A HUGE part of our P3 program is MENTORSHIP! We work hard to pair each project up with an adult mentor from our community. Here is a student working with a Roycemore parent on a comic book project.

Who are our Mentors?

Roycemore parents
Roycemore alumni
friends of faculty members
friends of parents
student-suggested

A HUGE part of our P3 program is MENTORSHIP! We work hard to pair each project up with an adult mentor from our community. Here are some of the ways we do that.

In the background are three students video calling an animator and Roycemore alum who lives in California.

4. Organize and complete a large project from start to finish.

Organizing a large project is an important skill, and a valuable part of our P3 program.

Photo by Andrew_D_Hurley

PROBLEM SOLVING
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DESIGN THINKING

We use the design thinking process and encourage students to work on solving a problem they care about for P3.

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mindsets

of design minded individuals

Why design thinking? We discuss the following mindsets with our students at the start of the year. This helps them understand the design thinking process better, and gets them to think about why we are asking them to think this way.

In fact, these are mindsets we hope to cultivate throughout our school.

These mindsets are adapted from Mindsets of Design Minded Intrapreneurs from SAP. See http://iplaysite.com/maren/DatB-Mindsets-booklet-online.pdf.

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human-centered

empathy
solve problems from the perspective of others
leave behind old ways of thinking
curiosity to understand a variety of perspectives
advocate for human needs unapologetically

We discuss the following mindsets with our students at the start of the year. This helps them understand the design thinking process better, and gets them to think about why we are asking them to think this way.

In fact, these are mindsets we hope to cultivate throughout our school.

These mindsets are adapted from Mindsets of Design Minded Intrapreneurs from SAP. See http://iplaysite.com/maren/DatB-Mindsets-booklet-online.pdf.

Photo by Tyler Nix

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confidently iterative

passion to craft delightful solutions
curiosity to imagine multiple approaches
ability to try a variety of approaches
courage to not get it right the first time
belief that all are creative

Photo by Sara Kurfeß

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courageously committed

willing to sacrifice own ideas
passion and stamina to make a solution a reality
learning from failure
courage to not get it right the first time
embraces ambiguity

Photo by comeonandorra

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Respectful problem finder

ability to be an insightful problem finder eager to change the status quo
willingness to try new things despite uncertain outcomes
start from a place of not knowing the solution
makes and tests solutions, instead of just discussing ideas

Photo by Samuel Zeller

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optimistic collaborator

understands what is important to the whole community
balances human needs, feasibility and viability
believes every problem is solvable
able to clearly communicate solutions
inspires action

Photo by Mimi Thian

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Our Process

Here is a general overview of the P3 process students follow. The process has been the same for both in-person and remote learners this year.

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Untitled Slide

Though there are many design thinking models, this is the one we have been using from our program (from Future Design School). Students start with a problem, brainstorm solution ideas, gather feedback, and prototype their ideas. They cycle back and forth through these steps.

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Choosing a project

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What do you wish was better?

To help them determine a topic, students participated in a brainstorming workshop. We asked them to think about this question.

Photo by Samuel Zeller

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What do you wish was better?

... in your home?
... in your school?
... in your community?
... in the world?

We asked students to think of as many answers to these questions as they could. They wrote each answer on sticky notes and put them all up on the wall.

Photo by Simon Ray

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Untitled Slide

Finally, we asked students to put together one problem with one passion. This (ideally) became their P3 topic.

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Remember the most important skill:
EMPATHY

Students then started going through the design thinking process with their chosen topic. The first, and most important step is Empathy.

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How might we?

Each student (or small group of students) wrote a How Might We...? question based on the topic they chose.

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How might we?

HMW reduce electricity shortages in developing countries?
HMW help people stop smoking?
HMW help dogs or cats that need a home?
HMW make maps more accurate?
HMW help teens get more sleep?

Each student (or small group of students) wrote a How Might We...? question based on the topic they chose. Here are some examples.

Photo by Infrogmation

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How might we?

How might we support the LGBTQIA+ youth?
HMW fight illiteracy with art?
HMW increase the amount of female animators?
HMW cut down on plastic use?
HMW stop animal abuse?

Each student (or small group of students) wrote a How Might We...? question based on the topic they chose. Here are some examples.

Photo by Infrogmation

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Untitled Slide

We encourage our students to "fall in love with the problem" not the solution. This is tough! Often we want to focus immediately on doing the thing we think will help, or on the first idea we have. But in order to truly design helpful solutions, we must first thoroughly understand the problem.

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Infographics:
Communicating the problem

To help them fall in love with the problem, each student or group conducted research, then created an infographic to explain the PROBLEM they were trying to solve.

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Untitled Slide

To help them fall in love with the problem, each student or group conducted research, then created an infographic to explain the PROBLEM they were trying to solve.

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Untitled Slide

Next, students tried to empathize with their users; that is, they put themselves in the shoes of the people who experience the problem they want to help solve. Students were encouraged to interview users, conduct research, and speak with their mentors in order to empathize.

A search for "empathy map" returns many options, but here is one that we like from #EducatedByDesign, a book by Michael Cohen, the Tech Rabbi.

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Ideation

During Experience Week, all students participated in an Ideation workshop, where they worked in teams to brainstorm possible solutions for their problem.

For more about our Ideation sessions, see these slides: https://www.haikudeck.com/p/01bb18a0ab/p3-ideation-workshop

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Storyboards: Communicating the solution idea

During Experience Week, students continued with their design thinking assignments at their own pace.

After their Ideation session, each student or group chose one idea to move forward with. They created a storyboard to explain that idea. This could take the form of a sticky note timeline, a poster, a slideshow, or whatever they chose.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema

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Feedback & Iteration

Students got feedback on their storyboards from peers, teachers, and family members. They made changes based on these suggestions.

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Elevator Pitch

Next, they wrote and practiced an elevator pitch, to be given at our Expo at the end of Experience Week.

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Prototyping

Our students are now in the midst of prototyping their ideas. We conducted a prototyping workshop during Experience Week.

The workshop began with making a quick prototype of a homework machine, based off the poem “The Homework Machine” by Shel Silverstein. This idea is from #EducatedByDesign, a book by Michael Cohen, the Tech Rabbi.

Several students started creating a prototype of their solution, which they shared at our Expo.

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The Homework Machine

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Prototyping

Here is a prototype of a solar powered energy generator to help people during blackouts.

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Mentors

Students are in touch with their mentors as often as possible throughout the process. Here is one of our 8th graders with his mentor at our Expo!

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Untitled Slide

We use Google Classroom to organize our design thinking assignments.

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When is the project due?

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P3 is not really ever "done" as students are encouraged to keep going as long as possible.

P3 is not really ever "done" as students are encouraged to keep going as long as possible. We ask them to keep working on it at least until the end of the school year, in some capacity. Sometimes this means expanding their question and explorations.

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How does my student get an A+?

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There are no letter grades for P3. Students complete a self-reflection and receive written reports.

P3 work does not receive a traditional letter grade. Students complete self-reflections, and there will be a written summary of their work on their final (4th quarter) report card.

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Try not to think of P3 as a traditional school project.

It may be helpful not to think of P3 as a traditional school project like science fair or a book report. Through P3, students learn 21st Century skills like critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity. Of course, we strive to teach those skills through the rest of our content here at Roycemore, but with P3, the content piece varies from project to project.

Photo by Dougal Campbell

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Experience Week

one week dedicated to P3

A lot of our P3 work is completed during weekly P3 classes on Friday mornings. But some of the most in-depth work takes place when we pause all regular Middle School classes and focus entirely on P3. This week is called Experience Week!

This year, Experience Week will take place March 15-19, the week before spring break. Wherever students are in their numbered assignments is where they start for E Week.

We will do our best to accommodate remote learners in all our activities during the week. Guest speakers and workshops will likely be virtual anyway, given that we don't want all the middle schoolers gathered in once place.

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Site Visits

Chicago-area museums
Evanston Animal Shelter
Respiratory Health Association of Chicago
Mentor's offices
Feed My Starving Children

One unique aspect of Experience Week is that we encourage and allow students to go off-campus during that week.

Here are some of the places students visited this year.

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Site Visits

Center on Halsted
Everyone Reading Illinois
Northwestern University
Pediatric Sleep Specialist
Google

One unique aspect of Experience Week is that we encourage and allow students to go off-campus during that week.

Here are some of the places students visited this year.

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Kickoff

EXPERIENCE WEEK

We started Experience Week with a Kickoff session, where we talked about how students might need to "unlearn" how to do a traditional school project, as well as practicalities for the week.

For slides from our 2020 Experience Week Kickoff, see this link: https://www.haikudeck.com/p/6f9e6bb206/experience-week-2020

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