Who knew that upcycling could be so fun? And create an ideal opportunity for assessment of presentation skills to boot? This semester I challenged my Speech students to design a product for an audience of their choice, which they would then pitch live at the end of the semester. But here was the catch--they had to upcycle materials from around the school to do it. (Shout out to local middle school art teacher and design expert, Beth Rogers Bundy, for the brilliant idea!)
The faculty and staff who joined us were highly impressed by the students' presentations--in fact, several of them commented that they hope the students' products actually get created.
If nothing else, this unit solidified for me the benefits of hands-on learning and design thinking for high school students. They saw the concept as relevant, and therefore spent significant effort on their products and pitches--quite the feat during the final month of the school year! For more ideas for bringing design thinking and challenges into your classroom, check out the following resources. Stanford Design School website Beginner's Guide to Design Thinking in the Classroom by A.J. Juliani Global Day of Design site "Learning by Design: The Idea that Moved a District" by ISTE Connects Eduotopia's resource page on Design Thinking
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