Creating the Box Project
In the begining of this project and design challenge our goal was to create a product, experince, event, service, space or system for preschool through fifith grade to help with self-esteem and confidence issues. Along with one other student Alejandra Harrold and I created The Box Project; which helps fifth graders with self-esteem, confidence issues and prepare for middle school. The Box Project is a experience where kids can talk about there feelings and communictae with each other via pre-written questions. The type of questions we had were emotional cards are pink, physical and mental are the orange and green cards, and basic questions are the yellow cards. The specific type of questions we would have could help the teacher be able to talk about certain topics and not talk about others. By having different types of questions can help the students open up easier and connect with their classmates.
Box protoype one
Testing day One and two
Today was the first day Alejandra and I went to a school and tested our project. We went to John Muir Elementary School in San Bruno. At first it was very awkward and hard to relate to the kids. But later on after we started to talk about our project, empathy, and went over the questions the kids were really connecting. We both felt that all of them were realizing that everyone feels the same way they do and that their not alone. To keep the kids interactive we asked them to change up there seat and sit next to someone they usually don't talk to. This helped them a lot by coming out of there comfort zone and talk to someone new about the questions. After the activities and talking with the kids we asked them four questions, to help them reflect on their day with us coming and getting them to interact. In the end of this testing, I feel this project has helped out he kids at the school and that our project is helping them a lot better.
On our second day of testing we were in the gym. Alejandra and I's strategy was very different this time. We focused more on going into sixth grade and bullying. We gather the students int four lines and played the game telephone with them. After getting our results of what the end saying was in the beginning, we talked about how this is an example of rumors and gossip which can lead to bullying. After that we passed out the cards with the questions and gave them time to answer them. Once they answered the questions we went over them and expressed how we felt. We grouped the kids into pairs and in groups to talk about what they learned and how they felt about going to a new school next year. Our end results were great and the kids liked us talking about the topics they requested.
On our second day of testing we were in the gym. Alejandra and I's strategy was very different this time. We focused more on going into sixth grade and bullying. We gather the students int four lines and played the game telephone with them. After getting our results of what the end saying was in the beginning, we talked about how this is an example of rumors and gossip which can lead to bullying. After that we passed out the cards with the questions and gave them time to answer them. Once they answered the questions we went over them and expressed how we felt. We grouped the kids into pairs and in groups to talk about what they learned and how they felt about going to a new school next year. Our end results were great and the kids liked us talking about the topics they requested.
Going further
After Alejandra had some time to look over our feedback and go back to the drawing board we knew we wanted to re-brand The Box Project. We started to create a website, a logo, and reach out to other schools in the bay area. Our first step was to go back to the design thinking process and figure out how we can implement this for other grades instead of just fifth graders. While I was working on the website, Alejandra was working on contacting schools in the San Bruno area. Right now we have contacted three schools and have been going to two of them. The first school we are in Allen Elementary in San Bruno and Burlingame Intermediate School in Burlingame.
What the box project is today
The Box Project today is a way to help fifth and sixth graders to prepare for the future of their education. The goal of the project is to help students connect more with their classmates, learn confidence and self-esteem skills. They will also learn a crucial new way of thinking used by the Stanford D.School called Design Thinking. The Box Project is a organization that goes to schools and talks to individual classes. We use the input of students to educate them on what they feel they need to know in order to have a successful future in middle school or the next grade. Our goal for this project is to expand our range and to have ability and opportunity to go to schools around the country. We also to be able have classes for teacher so they do the program on there own all around the world. We feels this impact the way that children learn everywhere. We also created four spefici type of classes are Introduction to the Box Project, Open Session, The Wonderful World of Design Thinking, and Bringing it All Together.
Type of classes
Introduction to the Box Project
The purpose of this class is to talk about general topic and allow the kids to talk about topics and concerns that they have. They get the chance to get to know the instructors, about the project is and about Design Tech High School. They will get to do challenges that challenges their way of thinking and collaborating with each other. At the end, they will complete a pre-written survey for them to decide what they want to go over next time.
The purpose of this class is to talk about general topic and allow the kids to talk about topics and concerns that they have. They get the chance to get to know the instructors, about the project is and about Design Tech High School. They will get to do challenges that challenges their way of thinking and collaborating with each other. At the end, they will complete a pre-written survey for them to decide what they want to go over next time.
Open Session
Following the first class, the instructors will take the feedback of the students from previous class, to choose the topic(s) to go over. The instructors will also lead a simplified version of open session that, a regular activity done at Design Tech High School, that helps students work through their problems and connect with each other.
Following the first class, the instructors will take the feedback of the students from previous class, to choose the topic(s) to go over. The instructors will also lead a simplified version of open session that, a regular activity done at Design Tech High School, that helps students work through their problems and connect with each other.
The Wonderful World of Design Thinking
In this class the instructors and students will take the design thinking process to a whole new level while still making it understandable for the students. The students will learn how to use process in real world problems along with the use of empathy and why it is important. The students will play games that challenge them both mentally and physically, to collaborate with each other and learn the importance of trust.
In this class the instructors and students will take the design thinking process to a whole new level while still making it understandable for the students. The students will learn how to use process in real world problems along with the use of empathy and why it is important. The students will play games that challenge them both mentally and physically, to collaborate with each other and learn the importance of trust.
Bringing it All Together
In this class the instructors will take the same activity from the Open Session class with more freedom. During the first half of the class the instructors and class will redo the challenge that was done in the very first class to evaluate how each child has grown. During the last half of the class there will be another less simplified version of an open session, where the kids are given more freedom on the topics to write about what they want. This is the closing class and has the kids pre-paired with more skills for the future.
In this class the instructors will take the same activity from the Open Session class with more freedom. During the first half of the class the instructors and class will redo the challenge that was done in the very first class to evaluate how each child has grown. During the last half of the class there will be another less simplified version of an open session, where the kids are given more freedom on the topics to write about what they want. This is the closing class and has the kids pre-paired with more skills for the future.