Design in Schools: Using Design Thinking Process to teach concepts of Mathematics in the Preparatory Stage of Schooling


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Creator/Artist: Abhinav Bansal

Category: Interaction Design

Document: P3 Project

Batch: 2021-2023

Source: India,   IDC IIT Bombay

Period:  2019-onwards

Medium: Report pdf

Supervisor: Prof. Ravi Poovaiah


Detailed Description

The project aims to curate a framework for teaching mathematical concepts to elementary school students using the design thinking process. The project follows an iterative approach, where the engagement and learning outcomes of the process and designed activities are studied for subsequent development, culminating in a series of lesson plans for the identified topics. The activities are proposed as complimentary teaching methods rather than substitutes for existing mechanisms of teaching. Through the field study, we identified the current teaching methods and the conceptual difficulty the students face. We prepared a set of activities using the design thinking methodology and conducted a pilot study. The results were evaluated by domain experts, following which we designed our first draft of lesson plans and further tested them out using 3 different teaching methodologies. We found out that although traditional teaching mechanisms produced better overall results than a purely experience-based design thinking process, there were certain areas of application where the exploratory approach worked better. Based on the observations and another set of feedback, we designed the final lesson plan and activity workbook, combining theory-based teaching with experiential learning. Overall, we aim to enhance the teaching of mathematics by offering innovative activities and lesson plans, driven by research, testing, and expert evaluation.


Related Links:
https://www.dsource.in/case-study/design-schools