Typically, when it was time to create the product or presentation, we would ask students to take what they learned and apply it to the product. Even in the scope of a inquiry based projects, we assumed that in depth knowledge automatically transfered from understanding to creating. To compound things, when we ask students to interpret anything, we ask for what they interpret and stop! A common place for this occurs in the famous reading of charts, graphs, and data tables.
Another prime misuse of interpretation happens in the world of writing. How many times have we asked students to submit a piece of writing that starts with a "lets brainstorm what we can write"? What good is brainstorming if we have no insights to brainstorm?
Interpretation is making sense of what we have gathered, learned, and understood. Making sense and finding insights is the first major step in bridging the gap from learning to creating inspirational products and presentations. Finding creative methods to make sense of our learning is essential in the design process or any project. One such creative method is the use of the 2x2 matrix. On our current project, students created 2x2 on the effects of overpopulation. It provided a visual platform to launch the creation of powerful insights into the problem.
Once students developed insights into the problem, they were able to use a madlib to create a mission statement or point of view. This provides the focus for the rest of the project. The madlib we used was __________(user) needs to _______________ (verb) because ___________ (insight). Students posted their Points of Views on a large inspiration wall. This activity was extremely powerful and highlighted one of the best experiences in my year. The power of the mission statement is that it matters to the student and provides the "why" for their product creation.
Finally, we used the point of view statements to drive structured and intentional brainstorm sessions. Some students further processed their point of view statement into "How Might We" brainstorm questions while other students sketched out ideas. Spending time teaching the brainstorm session and having a mission statement that matters to the students dramatically increased the quality of the brainstorm.
While we get so excited to go and create we must take time to synthesize what we learn and make sense of all we gather. Being very intentional in the interpretation process and spending time improving our brainstorm sessions can go a long way in developing highly inspirational products and presentations.
Sources:
"The Bootcamp Bootleg (.pdf) - d.School." 2011. 27 Feb. 2013 <http://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/BootcampBootleg2010v2SLIM.pdf
Thanks for sharing Ted. I am inspired by the focus on the process. Sometimes we get so caught up in making something that our time and energy go there, leaving the process glossed over and the purpose of the learning lost. True understanding and growth comes from understanding the process so it can be repeated by the learner over and over, becoming stronger and deeper as they reflect.
ReplyDeleteTrue repetition is the next step... this has led to a lot of conversation for Bob and I...
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