Design Thinking Experience: From Apathy to Agency

The Challenge:

Teachers and principals from across the district in came together to tackle what students had self-identified as "apathy" towards their studies. These educators rolled up their sleeves to discover, build, and test ways to spark students’ learning from apathy to agency.

The Process:

Educators built empathy for their students to understand what sparked students’ curiosity and how they learned best.

Students highlighted that close connection between their studies and related career paths was especially motivating. Through building experiential prototypes and trying small experiments around the halls of the school, educators and students co-designed many ways to integrate real-world experiences into their studies.

The Outcome:

Four months later, students and teachers transformed their gym into ‘Titan Memorial Hospital.’ That day, instead of backpacks, they donned doctors' scrubs to perform surgery on paper mâché bodies they built themselves. In preparation, students studied surgery videos, interviewed patients, and networked with professionals to deeply understand their selected pathology. 

Beyond an incredible hands-on learning experience for the students, this project resulted in exciting discoveries:

• Students found their voice in leadership and learning, and how to utilize it.

• Teachers saw benefits of leading with vulnerability: learning alongside their students.