It is almost time! Tomorrow, on April 26th, 2016, thousands of students from around the world will participate in the very first Global Day of Design.
Over 350 schools from 13 countries have signed up. There will be over 35,000 students designing, creating, and making tomorrow!
You are not too late to sign-up. Enter your details into the form at the bottom of this post and receive your “Create A Sport” Design Challenge for FREE. Go to the GlobalDayOfDesign.com and get access to 20+ design challenges that you can use or tweak/modify.
You can also fill out this Google Form to include your class/school and students in the official count for The Global Day of Design.
How Do I Share What My Students Are Doing on the Global Day of Design?
This year the Global Day of Design will take place on 4/26/16. We will be sharing students designing, building, making, and tinkering on Twitter, Facebook, Periscope, and Instagram using the hashtag #GDD16!
*Note: If your school can’t participate on 4/26 pick a date that works for you and still use the hashtag to share out!
Here are some examples of what is already happening in preparation for #GDD16:
— Jennifer Casa-Todd (@JCasaTodd) April 24, 2016
— Centre of Discovery (@dpslearningcomm) April 25, 2016
— Chris R (@ChrisR_2015) April 22, 2016
— Carla Anibaldi (@CarlaAnibaldi) April 22, 2016
— Laura Nogueira (@Mrs_Nogueira) April 20, 2016
— Kelly DeGaetano (@KDeGaetano01) April 15, 2016
— Tim Monreal (@Tim_Monreal) April 14, 2016
— CGES Media Center (@CGESMedia) April 13, 2016
— Susan Horowitz (@swhorowitz) April 9, 2016
What is Design Thinking?
Maybe you’ve heard the term before or even read some articles on Design Thinking. Here’s co-founder John Spencer’s description of Design Thinking from a K-12 viewpoint:
The term “design thinking” is often attached to maker spaces and STEM labs. However, design thinking is bigger than STEM. It begins with the premise of tapping into student curiosity and allowing them to create, test and re-create until they eventually ship what they made to a real audience (sometimes global but often local). Design thinking isn’t a subject or a topic or a class. It’s more of way of solving problems that encourages risk-taking and creativity.
Here is The LAUNCH Cycle video we created to explain Design Thinking to K-12 Students (watch it, you’ll love it!):
Where did Design Thinking originate?
So, it’s debate where design thinking originated. Some claim that it started in the sixties with The Sciences of the Artificial. Others point to Design Thinking, which focussed more on urban planning and architecture. Still others point to Robert McKim’s work in Experiences in Visual Thinking. My guess is that, like all great ideas, it has been an evolution, influenced by thousands of people. We know that our work around Design Thinking has been influenced by people like Tom and David Kelley, Tim Brown, John Maeda, Peter Rowe (as well as organizations like Stanford d.school and IDEO). Our goal is to continue to read some of these texts in-depth and watch the evolution of the idea.
Other Design Thinking Resources:
- FREE Design Challenge (just put $0 in for the amount)
- FREE Online Video Course – The Ultimate Guide to Design Thinking
- Can Design Thinking work when we don’t have devices?
- Curious about Design Thinking? Here’s a framework that can work in any classroom.
Get the Design Thinking Challenge
And Join the Global Day of Design!