Week 11 · Unit 5 Design Thinking (A): a text on thinking like a designer (reference only), stylish / creativity / point of view / prototype / schedule, listening to a blog about a design sprint (our own read-aloud text), sequence adverbs and imperatives, a text about understanding new students (reference only) · 3 lessons
1
Think like a designer: a text and its skills
English Preparatory 3 Term 1, Unit 5: pp. 72–77
GoalRead a text about how a designer works, name the five steps and the skills that a designer needs, and learn six key words.
New words
designer · a person who plans how something will look and workprototype · a first simple model that you make to test an ideacreativity · the ability to think of new and interesting ideaspoint of view · the way a person sees or feels about somethingcomfort · a pleasant feeling of being relaxed and free from painschedule · a plan or timetable that shows when things happen
Explanation
A designer plans how something will look and work, and a good designer thinks about the people who will use it. Design thinking has five steps: understand the people who will use it, define the problem in one sentence, brainstorm many ideas, build a simple prototype (a first model) and test it and improve it. To understand people you need to watch, listen and ask questions, so that you learn their point of view: the way they see and feel about the problem. Creativity means thinking of new ideas, but a designer also needs patience and care for comfort and for practical details such as a clear schedule. When you read a text about a process, underline each step and the skill it needs. Your book has a text about designers on page 73: read it after this lesson and underline the skills it mentions. Here we practise with our own text.
1 Understand the people→2 Define the problem→3 Brainstorm ideas→4 Build a prototype→5 Test and improve
Worked examples
A town needed a better bus stop, so the designer Maryam did not start by drawing. First she spent a week at the stop and watched the passengers. She saw that people stood in the sun, that older people could not sit comfortably and that the timetable was hard to read. She talked to some of them to understand their point of view. Then she defined the problem in one sentence: “Passengers need shade, a comfortable seat and a clear schedule.” Next she and her team brainstormed many ideas, even crazy ones. After that they built a small cardboard prototype and asked passengers to test it. Finally they improved the design, because the test showed that the seat was too high. Maryam’s creativity helped, but listening to people helped most.
Read the text. A grown-up can read it aloud first.
Find the steps in the text. Understand the people: she watched the passengers and talked to some of them. Define the problem: Passengers need shade, a comfortable seat and a clear schedule. Brainstorm: many ideas, even crazy ones. Prototype: a small cardboard model. Test and improve: the seat was too high, so they improved the design.
Skills of a designer in the text: watching, listening, creativity and the patience to test. The writer says that listening helped most.
Now you. Say one problem that you notice every day at school and who could help you to understand it.
Class activity
Design detective. Choose an object at home (a lunch box, a chair, a door handle). Watch a grown-up use it for two minutes and write three things you notice. Then write the problem in one sentence and one idea for a better design. Draw it quickly.
Practice
1
Put the five design steps in order: (a) test it and improve it (b) brainstorm ideas (c) understand the users (d) build a prototype (e) define the problem
c, e, b, d, a.
2
What did Maryam learn by watching the passengers? Give two things.
For example: People stood in the sun, older people could not sit comfortably, and the timetable was hard to read.
3
Complete with a word from the lesson: A first simple model that is made to test an idea is a ___ . (prototype / schedule)
prototype.
4
Complete: Maryam talked to passengers to understand their ___ . (point of view / comfort)
point of view.
5
Why did the team improve the design at the end? (a) The test showed that the seat was too high. (b) The bus stop was too small. (c) The passengers wanted a bigger timetable.
