Design Thinking Experience Reflection

REFLECTION ON DESIGN THINKING EXPERIENCES

When we began the envelope activity, I really wondered where it might be going. Of course, I realized it was a demonstration of a way to involve ESL/ELL (or any students really) in using all their senses and creativity in a simple way with more complex results while interacting and learning with a classmate. A peer activity such as this is likely to be non-threatening versus having the student do this alone or just for the teacher as an assignment, thereby lowering the affective filter, using it to engage in speaking and writing English words to describe an object, such as the marker, and then thinking of ways to improve it. It would also arouse curiosity and perhaps lead to problem-solving if the activity were to be carried out to making an improvement to the marker for themselves. In looking at the SIOP model, it would allow the students to build on what they already know and promote higher order thinking skills. A teacher could easily observe what concepts and terms they were already familiar with during an activity such as this and build upon it in future instruction.