design thinking Archives - Page 4 of 5

Oct 16 2016

Why Duct Tape and Cardboard Might Be a Better Option than a 3D Printer

By John Spencer Creativity 6 Comments

A few days ago, I met Manuel Herrera at MORENet. He has an amazing maker space where students engage in creative thinking on a daily basis. It's a bastion of creativity and wonder and his passion for it is contagious. However, as we talked about…

Jul 27 2016

Treating Challenges as Design Opportunities

By John Spencer Uncategorized 3 Comments

I’m sitting on a plane right now writing this blog post. I just spent an hour working on a sketchy video and before that, I worked on another blog post. I’m nestled up against a window where I can look to my right and remember,…

Jun 27 2016

Brainstorming Is Broken. Here’s How You Can Fix It.

By John Spencer Creativity, Creativity Deconstructed 4 Comments

Brainstorming Is Broken Brainstorming can be fun. You get together and generate a massive list of ideas. Everyone is shouting all over each other. It’s exciting. It's passionate. But what if it's not all it's cracked up to be? That's a key argument in "Why…

May 16 2016

Believe It Or Not, Kindergartners Can Do Research

By John Spencer Literacy 5 Comments

When my oldest son was five, he asked me whether the leaves were falling because the air was getting colder or because the sun was setting earlier. We gathered leaves. We conducted experiments. We looked at maps of leaves and sunlight and temperature. He wasn't…

May 07 2016

Ten Things That Happen When Kids Embrace Design Thinking

By John Spencer Creativity, Design Thinking 5 Comments

I still remember the day. I was in my first year of teaching and I sat there holding my printed lesson plan. This was supposed to be my greatest lesson of the school year. I had planned it for hours, revising various aspects of it…

Apr 25 2016

You Don’t Need a Makerspace to Have a Space for Makers

By John Spencer Creativity, Creativity Deconstructed, Design Thinking 4 Comments

When I was a kid, my brother and I built a "roller coaster" in the backyard with a wagon, some scraps of wood, and tons of pipes. Was it safe? Probably not. Did it ever work properly? Not really. But it didn't matter. We were…

Mar 30 2016

Frequently Asked Questions About Design Thinking

By John Spencer Design Thinking 2 Comments

For the last 12 years, I've used design thinking as a teacher, an author, an educational technology startup founder and an artist. I've used in in the non-profit world in program development and I'm currently using it right now as I lead a team of…

Feb 15 2016

Curious About Design Thinking? Here’s a Framework You Can Use in Any Classroom with Any Age Group

By John Spencer Creativity, Design Thinking 6 Comments

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…

Nov 19 2015

How do we bring wonder back into the classroom?

By John Spencer Creativity, Creativity Deconstructed 2 Comments

A few years ago, I had the chance to teach science in a self-contained classroom (teaching all subjects). I scoured the Internet for examples of great demonstrations that would captivate my students’ attention. It worked at first. I did the typical experiments. You know, add…

Oct 10 2015

Why Creative Types Hate Selling (And Why This Matters for Teachers)

By John Spencer Creativity, Design Thinking No Comments

Initially, I cringed at the term marketing. I viewed myself as an artist who thought that my work would be discovered. I viewed marketing as trickery. However, over time, I realized that if the initial goal of the design thinking cycle involved solving a problem…