This entry is the first in a series of articles where we will look at the challenges and variables involved in designing learning opportunities for early learners and their families. The Covid-19 pandemic has created a situation where we cannot just continue school as usual, so it is imperative that we begin finding new ways of keeping students intellectually active while they are at home.
This is going to be complex work; there are no easy answers. Families are under immense stress and cannot be expected to replicate the instruction that happens in school. But I believe that we can use Design Thinking strategies to build a framework for creating highly effective home learning strategies.
We will be addressing this challenge systematically through four lenses:
- First, we will look at the mission of this particular work. This will help us examine the Why? We will spend time defining terms, and understanding desired outcomes.
- Next, we will spend time understanding the stakeholders in this project. It will help us address the question of Who? Here we will look at the resources and values of our intended audiences, with an eye towards co-creation.
- How? It is important to do an honest assessment of your organization’s resources, and have thorough understanding of the cost of ongoing delivery of services. This exercise is not intended to limit our creativity in ideation, but to plan ahead for ongoing success.
- Often we want to jump right in to answering the What? What activity will we provide? What supports can we offer? It is only after the previous work is completed that we can begin creating and testing ideas that are effective, relevant and sustainable.
To get the best use out of this series, be sure to stop and do the exercises as they pertain to your organization. Let’s get started!
Where do you want to go?
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
Alice in Wonderland- Lewis Carroll
While this is a lovely idea, and I enjoy the surprises that accompany serendipitous wandering, I think we all agree that we don’t want to just end up ‘somewhere’ with a big project. We want to end up in a place that is both aligned to our mission and respects and brings value to our audiences.
Many organizations will start their planning with their mission statement. This is a nice place to begin because it grounds our work and acts as our North star keeping us headed in the right direction. However, because mission statements need to be both concise and inspiring they are often simultaneously complex and vague. I find it helpful to develop a mini-mission statement for each project, answering the question:
Which Mountain Are We Going to Climb?
Just as it’s impossible to climb all of the mountains at the same time, we cannot meet ALL of the needs of our audiences.
Later, we will be doing work to better understand the families we serve and their values because everything we do must be grounded in that reality. There is no use building ‘amazing’ resources if no one ever wants to use them! But today we are thinking about what we are bringing to the table. What value do we have to offer our community? What do we want to do, and why do we want to do it?
Action Item: Write your mini-mission statement
If you need help getting started, you can answer these questions:
If we do this project well, we will see _______________________.
We will know we succeed if _______________________.
Next step…
Now that you have your statement, it is time for us to BLOW IT UP!
A Case Study Example
I will be using a modified version of a mini-mission statement from a non-profit institution that I once worked for. When they were creating an early childhood space within the museum, they created a statement that would help guide their work. I will paraphrase for instructional purposes; their organization wanted to create a space
“where young children and their families can experience science through play”
That sounds good, doesn’t it? Here are a few problems that they ran into:
Defining “young children” The team decided that young children included anyone between the ages of 3-5, so most of the interactives were built to sustain the forces that someone in that age group could be expected to generate. This exhibit was extremely popular with school age children, resulting in a lot of broken elements.
Defining “families” It won’t surprise you to learn that 3-5 year-old children rarely travel alone! More often than not they come with a 1 year-old sibling, an 8 year-old friend, a 16 year-old cousin and a large variety of aunties and uncles and grandparents. Lacking age-appropriate activities, older children were very adept at finding ways to entertain themselves…to the detriment of the safety of younger visitors.
Defining Science and Play I once attended the grand opening of a local Children’s Museum. They had undergone a several million dollar renovation, and had added beautiful and engaging interactives for children. When I was outside waiting to get in, I watched a small group of toddlers beating a porta-potty with sticks. Believe me, this was science and play in action! But what sort of play do you want to see in a indoor public space? Running and climbing and throwing are most definitely play-based ways of experiencing science, and when your space is designed in a way that signals these behaviors, you will see a lot of it.
You can see how it is important to ask yourselves, what do we mean when we say ____________?
Action item: take your mini-mission statement and clarify all terms.
The Benefits of Being Very Specific about your WHY
Now, no amount of planning can help to avoid all potential problems, but thoughtful analysis of purpose and mission can help to reveal where more thought needs to happen. It is also true that throughout this process you may gain new information about the values and resources of your audience which will require you to pivot in your goals. But the benefits of up front planning greatly outweigh the pitfalls. Here are a few:
- Helps you prioritize. While we can’t climb ALL of the mountains, we can climb a few. Which ones are most important? Which ones are within our scope of expertise? Which ones do we have the staff and resources to climb?
- Helps you focus your plan. We aren’t going to the beach, or touring wine country or visiting Paris (though wouldn’t that be lovely?) We are climbing some mountains. If we know where we are headed and we can avoid detours.
- Helps you identify variables. The equipment you need for a day-hike is a lot different than what you might need for a week-long back country adventure!
- Allows you to measure success. Knowing what your goal is allows you know whether you have accomplished it or not. Did we climb the mountain? Did we make it half way? Did we find out that the trailhead was closed? Did we find out that no one accepted our invitation to go hiking?
Thanks for starting this journey with me. In the next installment we will be examining what we know about the families we are serving.
0 Comments