DESIGN THINKING SERIES 1: What is Design Thinking?

Ms. Anne Sharkey, American High School Teacher and PYLP Training Facilitator

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“Design thinking is user focused; i.e. think about who you are trying to impact, and solution driven; what can you do to make a difference.”

Ms. Anne

Who is the presenter?

Anne Sharkey is a teacher at Huntley High School, specializing in World History, Global Citizenship, and Sustainable Development. Anne has been working with the Huntley High School Global Academy since 2016, focusing on developing student leaders and creating awareness on issues of climate, food insecurity, refugees, and other issues in the Sustainable Development Goals. Working with high school students to apply levels of design thinking to create sustainable projects has been a passion of Anne’s through the Huntley High School Global Academy and the Illinois Global Scholar program.

What is the Presentation About?

This is an introduction to design thinking, a solution-based approach to solving problems. When looking at sustainable development and dealing with environmental concerns, it is important to think about the ways that individuals will take part and be impacted to make sure you are creating a solution that works for others. Through the process of design thinking you will identify and empathize with your individual, define your problem, investigate the problem and solutions, brainstorm ideas, create a prototype of what could be made, and finally test and continue to make changes.

To do the tasks above and accomplish the learning outcomes, please watch this video presentation or watch via YouTube.

What are your tasks and the learning outcomes?

  1. On Your Own: To summarize the different components of and the process involve in Design Thinking
  2. With A Team: To design a tentative project plan integrating the components of Design Thinking
  3. With Your Community: To survey the needs and strengths of you community