DESIGN THINKING CHALLENGE WORKBOOK

ACTIVITY 1: THE PROBLEM STATEMENT

WHICH DESIGN CHALLENGE DO YOU CHOOSE?

Which design
challenge do you want
to solve?

When you think of the

challenge, who do you
have in mind?
Choose 1 of the challenges from
the CPT outline OR choose one
of your own (with approval from OPTIONAL
What options are
teacher) available today to
help them with their
need?

What is their greatest

need related to the
challenge?
 ACTIVITY 2-1: YOUR PERSONA
EXAMPLE PERSONAS

Meet Jodi Meet Andrew

• Jodi is a science teacher at St. Elizabeth CHS. After seeing • Andrew is a grade-10 student at St. Elizabeth and while he's
students online and wearing masks for the past couple of done reasonably well when studying from textbooks, he
years, she really wants to run more classes outdoors. prefers to work with his hands.

• She's had conversations with other teachers from various • For example, in grade 6 he had a teacher who often asked
departments about what aspects of their respective them to build physical models for math class and grow plants
curriculums could be taught outside instead of relying on at home for science class. Those classes were a lot of fun and
textbooks. Andrew felt like he learned a lot.

• Jodi has some initial ideas but is having trouble visualizing how • As pandemic continued, Andrew has been feeling more and
entire lessons could be facilitated outside and meet more that he's tuning out and his mind is wandering off in
curriculum requirements. class.

• He's trying to focus but TBH there's been a lot of online

content....
 ACTIVITY 2-1: YOUR PERSONA
WHO ARE YOU HELPING?
Who are they? What are they using the design challenge What do they need most?
solution for? Why are they using it?
Age? What other options exist today that could help your
Examples: persona? What is missing from those solutions?
• Wind turbine: for a small town located far away
OPTIONAL
from other energy sources; for a factory as a
backup power source
Location? • Water filter: for a community of 923 members; for
a family in a household
• Outdoor learning space: for a grade 9-12 school of
1600 students; for a grade 7-12 school of 900
students
Any aspects of their identity that are • Mission to Mars: to mine resources; to develop
important in the context of this challenge, new technologies
such as gender orientation, culture, race, • Pizza oven: for a restaurant; at home
religion, physical abilities, or other traits?
Thinking about everything your design could do, have or
include, what is most important to your persona?
 ACTIVITY 3-1: NEEDS ANALYSIS
WHAT DOES YOUR PERSONA NEED MOST?
How might we…
Related to your design Rephrase your persona’s top need to start
challenge, what does your with the words "How might we...?"
persona want to accomplish?
Example: How might we design an outdoor
learning space that is properly equipped for
Biology 9 classes, that is also easy to set up,
OPTIONAL clean up and maintain?
What options does your
persona have today to reach
this accomplishment?

OPTIONAL
What is missing in those
options? How do these
solutions fall short of what
your persona needs?

What does your persona

need, want or expect most
from a solution?
 ACTIVITY 3-2: BRAINSTORM SOME IDEAS
SKETCH SOME IDEAS/SOLUTIONS
Use this space to sketch an initial drawing of your design
Considerations:
IDEA #1 IDEA #2 IDEA #3
• How does your
persona use your
solution?

• How will you meet

your persona’s top
wants, needs or
expectations?

• How is your solution

serving your persona
better than what
already exists?

• What could go wrong

when your persona
uses your product?
How could you
prevent this from
happening?
ACTIVITY 3-3: YOUR UVP (Unique Value Proposition)
WHY WOULD YOUR PERSONA PICK YOUR SOLUTION?
Complete this statement to explain your UVP:

What problem does

our persona want to “Our persona would choose our
solve or overcome? design because our design…”
What do they want to
accomplish?

What options are

available today to
help our persona, and
how does each fall
short of what our
persona wants?

OPTIONAL
What would make our
persona choose our
design instead of any
of the other options?
Be specific.
ACTIVITY 4: BUILD A PROTOTYPE
WHAT COULD YOU USE TO SHOW YOUR SOLUTION?

Build a physical prototype – be economical and ecological

a) Arts & craft supplies
b) LEGO
c) other…

Create a list of materials along side your sketch of your solution/prototype you made previously.

All materials must be approved by your teacher prior to building your prototype.
ACTIVITY 5-1: TESTING YOUR PROTOTYPE
WHAT IS YOUR PLAN TO TEST?
Note: You must collect QUANTITATIVE DATA for analysis

How will you analyze your results?

Create an observation table to collect your
Briefly describe a test
data. Capture images of your tests each step
you would perform of the way. What graphical representation
will you use to show your results.

identify the
independent variable
and dependant
variable.

Make a step-by-step
procedure of your
test. How many trials
will your perform?

How will you know if

your test is successful
or not?
 ACTIVITY 5-2: REFLECTING ON YOUR TESTING
WHAT IMPROVEMENTS SHOULD YOU INCORPORATE
INTO YOUR DESIGN? Use this page to plan what you can improve in your design.

What improvements should be made to your design/prototype.

What was successful in your tests?

What was our solution not able to address?

What was unsuccessful in your tests?

What could have made our solution easier to use?

Were there any surprises in the feedback?

 ACTIVITY 6-1: PREPARING A PRESENTATION BUILD YOUR STORY OUTLINE
Your logo (if

ORGANIZE YOUR STORY: PERSONA AND DESIGN

you have
one)

Your team members’ names (and team name if you

have one)

The Challenge & Your Persona Your Solution Design & Feedback
Which challenge have you selected? What are you using to show your prototype?

Who will benefit from your design? What gap does

your persona want addressed by your design? How does it solve the gap for your persona? How does your solution design address the problem
better than alternative solutions?
 ACTIVITY 6-2: PREPARING A PRESENTATION BUILD YOUR STORY OUTLINE
Your logo (if
you have

ORGANIZE YOUR STORY: EVIDENCE AND SCIENCE one)

Your Plan to Test your Prototype Links to Science

How would you test your design? Describe key steps in an experiment that What elements of science (Sustainable Ecosystems and Climate Change, the
would test your prototype. Nature of Matter, Principles and Applications of Electricity or Space
Exploration) are occurring in your solution?

What would be your criteria to evaluate success in this test? What are 3 career paths that could potentially help build your solution?
ACTIVITY 8: BUILD YOUR STORY OUTLINE
SHARING YOUR SOLUTION DESIGN

• Create a bristol board outlining the information of your design

challenge

• Your group will set-up a station and the class will be given an
opportunity to walk around and learn about the different
designs/challenges
ACTIVITY 9: REFLECTION
WHAT WILL YOU TAKE AWAY?
What skillsets did
you use during this
challenge, and how
could you continue to
use these in the
future?

How could you apply

your learnings from
design thinking in
your life today?

What was your

biggest learning or
surprise from design
thinking?