(2012-04-15) Boss McIntosh Problem Finding

Suzie Boss agrees with Ewan McIntosh that Problem Finding is the key to effective Project Based Learning. Design Thinking provides a better framework for learning that emphasizes defining the problem at the outset. Before diving into solutions, students might first conduct focus groups, do user interviews, or conduct other research to fully understand an issue. That means they develop empathy along with ingenuity as they work through the Iterative process of generating ideas, prototyping, testing, getting user feedback, and refining solutions... "Design Thinking is not a project that one does on a Wednesday afternoon once the 'serious' learning has taken place. It's a change of Culture throughout a school that leads to better learning," he says. Before schools start making the shift to design thinking, McIntosh encourages them to conduct Action Research to fully understand the problems they want to address. Essentially, teachers and school leaders use design-thinking methods to figure out what's working in their school and what isn't.

I Commented: Great post. My only nudge is whether "Problem Finding" implies there's a nice platonic-ideal project sitting out there in the field, vs whether it's better (esp in a Complex System) to recognize that you're making a choice when you define a problem. And that the most common outcome of a project working in a complex system is to end up with a "better" problem definition (Wicked)...