DESIGN THINKING IN ACTION: Design Tech High, San Mateo Union High School District, Redwood City, California
Design Tech High School’s website provides a great invitation into a learning experience. When you access the school’s website, this is what you see:
Become. Create the change you want to see in the world.
That’s a really good start...I’m in.
Design Tech High, or d.tech, was founded in 2014 and is part of the San Mateo Union High School District. Located in Redwood City, the current school is located on the corporate campus of Oracle, Inc. and was first occupied in 2018. The school works in partnership with the Oracle Education Foundation.
As the name suggests, the school operates on the intersection of design thinking and technology. The academic life at d.tech is an interesting mix- students take core academic courses and electives, participate in a student advisory course, and are required to participate in Design Lab to learn design thinking skills and competencies.
What’s interesting, and how does it apply to a design thinking-based classroom experience?
Design Thinking and Design Lab. When you explore what d.tech offers, it’s hard to miss the focus on design thinking. All students are required to take a four-year immersion course in design thinking (Design Lab), with a foundational class their first year and three more years where students deepen their skills, take on client-based challenges and develop fabrication skills in the school’s design realization garage (DRG),an 8000 square foot maker lab. These skills are directly related to producing products for their core curriculum classwork as well as the design experiences they engage in.
Exploratory Intersessions: Students participate in four, two-week intersession opportunities per year to study unique topics beyond the core curriculum. These often make use of and are intended to deepen design skills. These include “robotics, culinary arts, photography, coding, dance financial literacy, martial arts, sports psychology, modern art, and college knowledge.” (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NHyqGNMR2_QERjksT8GNMhlJ8z_V7PSAcU6_voxu_9k/edit). The intersessions are focused on building design thinking skills as well as connecting students with working professionals and so that they can explore new career opportunities and disciplines. Think of the possibilities of combining a focus on core curriculum but having the additional flexibility of designing specialized courses that trigger student passions and futures.
Personalized experience: In addition to the choices afforded by the intersessions, students, if they are on pace with their studies, can develop their own schedule for a period on every Thursday. These are called Lab Days, where students determine how they will spend that time. They can go to the DRG, work independently on course work, engage in a physical activity, plus other activities. Additionally, students participate in a small group advisory and may engage in internships and community college courses. There is even the opportunity to earn an Innovation Diploma if you complete an independent project focused on the United Nation Sustainable Development goals.
Student-Centered: Coursework is self-paced and self -directed and that contributes to a student-centered approach to learning. According to Teri Hu, an English teacher at the school, “It’s nice to hand the reins of the class over to students.” The school believes it is important for students to develop self-efficacy.
The Upshot: what can this mean for your practice and a design thinking classroom?
Like the previous two examples, d.tech’s foundation is represented by its core curriculum. If you were to look at their curriculum guide, you wouldn't be surprised by the courses it offers students. The upshot: it’s completely possible to build a new and unique experience even though there are traditional expectations, curriculum, or otherwise, for the courses you teach.
Greg Fenner, a Chemistry teacher at the school, believes the school “is a worthwhile place to be.” That’s a simple statement but incredibly insightful and powerful. What does it take to make a classroom a worthwhile place to be? How would you answer that question? How will you work to inspire your students and what will you create that makes their experience worthwhile?
Literature Cited:
"Design Tech High School - Wikipedia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Tech_High_School. Accessed 15 May. 2020.
"Design Realization Garage — Design Tech High School." 14 Nov. 2018, https://www.designtechhighschool.org/student-life-2/2018/11/14/design-realization-garage. Accessed 1 Dec. 2020.