Design Thinking, Literature & First Grade Part 2

First Grade Fairy Tale Design Thinking: Define and Ideate

My first grade students had spent several weeks diving into fairy tales. Students studied several different versions of the stories to gain as much empathy and understanding about the characters and the elements of the stories. We document all of our thoughts and thinking on a large board throughout the process. The next step was to take some time to look at our thinking and recalling different elements of the stories to define the issues that the characters were dealing with so they could design a solution.

Students spent time talking through and organizing our notes and thinking to better define the challenges of the characters. Students worked in small groups and we talked about it and sorted the ideas into different categories to help better narrow down the challenges. For the different stories the students noticed and defined many different challenges.

Students in the Goldilocks and the Three Bears group defined the challenges as entertainment, security and manners. Students felt that if Goldilocks has more things to do she would not have broken into the three bear’s house. They also felt if the three bear’s had better security at their house then Goldilocks would not have been able to break into the house. The final challenge that the students identified was manners, they felt that if Goldilocks and the three bears had better manners then they would all have been able to be friends.

The Three Little Pigs class defined three challenges that the characters faced including manners, a food source for the wolf, and security for the pigs. Students felt that if the pigs and wolf had better manners they would have been able to be friends. First graders defined access to food as an issue they believed that the wolf had a right to eat food and if he had an alternative food source then the wolf and the pigs could live in harmony. The final challenge the students defined was security for the pigs, students felt that if the pigs had been security at their houses they would be protected from the wolf.

First graders in the Little Red Riding Hood group defined five challenges for the characters including a safer route for Little Red, an alternative food source for the wolf, friendship and community for Little Red, meditation for the wolf and the wolf and Little Red needed better listening skills. Students felt that Little Red needed a safer route to get from her house to grandma’s house. They also decided that if the wolf had another food source he would leave Little Red alone. They also decided the if Little Red and the wolf had a chance to be friends and live in the community together they could live in peace. Students also felt that if the wolf was calmer and practiced meditation he would not try to eat Little Red and her grandmother. Finally they felt that Little Red needed to work on her listening skills because if she had listened to her mother and stayed on the path she would have arrived at grandma’s house safely.

The next stage was the Ideate step. Students were organized in small groups and picked a challenge that they wanted to focus on to solve. Students were reminded of our collaborator qualities that we defined at the beginning of the school year so that they would work as a team. First graders were given time to sketch out, draw, and write out ideas to solve their challenge. The next step was for students to share out their ideas with their group, talk about their plans, merge their ideas and find a solution to focus on as a group.

First graders did a wonderful, focused job defining the challenges that the characters were facing in the stories. Students recalled details from all the different versions of the stories that we read and were thoughtful about defining and determining the challenges that the characters faced based on their understandings. They did a great job ideating their solutions and working as collaborators to combine their ideas to focus on one solution to prototype.

Next step; Prototyping!