Collaborative Design Project with Visitors from Taiwan

 

We were thrilled to work in conjunction with Twin Oaks, in collaboration with our whole 7th and 8th grade classes to sponsor a Design Project for 21 visiting students (and a handful of teachers) from BTS in Taiwan (BTS stands for By the Student). Thanks to John Laakso, Hannah Schafer, and Maz Abdallah who worked their Newman magic, we were able to run a novel program that aligned perfectly with our school's mission and core values. Guided by our Cor ad Cor motto, Newman students and our visitors stretched themselves, let their hearts be their guides as they learned about each others' cultures and collaborated on student-created social media projects. While Hannah and John worked together to implement the day-to-day logistics, Maz was a major help with some of the fun events! The trio also credits their entire middle school team for facilitating the program during long-block "Focus Sessions" in classrooms throughout the school. And perhaps most impressive was the effort and enthusiasm from our NEWMAN BUDDIES—the teachers couldn't have done the project without the help from the students! It was awesome to see how kind and welcoming they were to our guests, going out of their way to help these visitors navigate the school and collaborating on their research projects! 

 

In terms of design content, John, our MYP design teacher led the creation of the learning portion. 

While John teaches mostly science at Newman, he also loves teaching design because he gets to see how creative our students can be. The 7th grade design class he taught first semester engaged students in solving problems using the structured, yet cyclical MYP Design Process. Students begin by identifying a problem, justifying the need for a solution, and conducting research. Students then brainstorm ideas, create design specifications, and produce detailed plans. Using their creativity, they devise solutions and make adjustments as needed. Students then evaluate their designs, measure their success, and suggest improvements. Throughout this course, students will reflect on the impact of their solutions and how to apply this process to real-world problems.

 

The BTS/Newman project was similar to our MYP design course in that students were tasked with identifying problems, conducting research, and ultimately designing their projects.

 

One of the initiatives the students took on was to do a survey of Newman students about their use and relationship with social media. The results were awesome and informative!