Monash Tech School invites teachers and students to engage in Design Thinking; an innovative and creative way of thinking and communicating curriculum, beyond the confines of traditional teacher-led classrooms.
Design thinking is a mindset and an approach to problem solving that is human-centred as it focuses on empathy and understanding the needs of people; collaborative in recognising diversity and engaging multiple perspectives; optimistic in the unwavering belief that change can be created; and, experimental as it promotes creativity and innovation through experimentation, feedback and redesign.
To capture these ideologies, the Design Thinking process at Monash Tech School features five phases: Discovery, Interpretation, Ideation, Experimentation and Evolution. As students engage in each phase, they are challenged with an issue that requires resolution. They're invited to reframe the issue as opportunities to explore, create and refine ideas; then experiment those, make prototypes and collaborate through feedback. This culminates in the evolution of innovative yet practical solutions to real-world problems. During this process, teachers engage with their students through facilitation and thereby become transformational designers of their own learning.
Monash Tech School is currently running various programs providing schools with the opportunity to put Design Thinking in action including: Superhumans which combines materials science with advanced manufacturing; Superpowers which provides a new look at energy solutions; Superhealth where students can design solutions for health science; Superproblems where solutions are designed for real-world problems; and VCE: Superminds, which provides a masterclass for VCE students to enhance their understanding of relevant fields of study.
written by Minh Tran
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