Design Thinking in Math (1/18/15)

Jan 18, 2015, 6:26 PM by Ellen Crews   [ updated Jan 23, 2015, 9:56 AM ]

Almost every tine that I have gotten into a discussion about design thinking in the content areas, the excitement in the room is almost palpable. Teachers share their project ideas and stories of engaged students developing creative solutions to a variety of complex problems.  One content area, however, seems frequently to be excluded form this celebration of innovative teaching and learning. Math. How does design thinking work in Math? When this question comes up, the simple answer often is, “It doesn't.” How sad. As a member of the team designated to lead my school into the world of design thinking, it seemed almost unbearable to think that, because of my content area, I would not be a full member of the club. Shuttled to the outskirts where I could watch others bask in the glow of this enlightened approach while I continued to stress the importance of solving for x. Math teachers know that they have a long list of very specific skills that they need to teach, and often worry that former students will be the only ones in the room who cannot use the area model to multiply polynomials. The mere idea of deviating from our slog through the mathematical standards to engage in design projects is daunting, to say the least. Many of us agreed that it simply cannot be done. The solace offered by those more experienced than I was to pull in small components of the design cycle wherever I could.   I was preparing to teach a lesson that had proven to be engaging and meaningful for students in the past.  The idea was, if you are given the cost of a single, double, and triple cheeseburger, can you develop a linear equation that will allow you to find the cost of any burger? The final step was to calculate the cost of a burger with 100 patties.  As I was preparing the lesson, it struck me that the goal, teaching linear progression, could be met with less structure.  I showed students pictures of burgers of increasing sizes and asked them to find the problem. I was hoping that someone in the class would come up with finding the cost as a problem so that my students could reach my intended goal. The students worked in their team to develop problems and share them with the class.  The complexity, creativity, and relevance of the went beyond anything I had imagined. How many calories are there in large burgers? How does the sodium content compare to health recommendations? What percentage of the fat comes from the cheese? And yes, some wanted to look at the cost. Wow! Each group developed a “needs statement” defining who needed what information and why it was important. Students brainstormed about how they could solve their problem, and determined what data they would require. Without any direction to do so, students did online research and began solving their problem. Did all of them include a linear equation in their plan? Of course not! I had to walk from group to group and push their thinking until they realized that graphs and equations would be an excellent way of describing their work. It was a little contrived, but in the end students met my learning goal and engaged in a little design thinking.