YHS Students Shine in Design Thinking at ISABC Future Prize

On April 4th, Grade 6, 7, and 8 students from ISABC schools gathered at Collingwood School for Future Design School's Future Prize event. Teams of four (consisting of three students and a teacher) shared ideas, collaborated, and competed with the other schools in design thinking.

The journey began before Spring Break where our Grades 6, 7 and 8 teams met regularly with their teacher sponsor (Ms. Anthony, Mr. Collins and Ms. Kassissieh respectively) to define a “problem” of focus. The driving question of this year’s Future Prize event, “How might we address a meaningful challenge in our local community?” brought forward many creative opportunities for our students to discuss and consider. Groups worked diligently over the next few weeks to learn about their chosen problem by researching, interviewing stakeholders, and empathizing with potential users.

The focus question for each team was as follows:

 

Grade 6 - How might we ease the tension between drivers and cyclists on the city streets in Vancouver?

Grade 7 - How might we build a united confidence in safety when students commute from point A to point B?

Grade 8 - How might we grow empathy and create safe spaces for teens to report and handle uncomfortable situations?

With this work prepared, the students traveled to the North Shore on April 4th for an exciting day of design thinking. Teams were guided through the design cycle to come up with a solution to their problem of focus. Groups engaged in an ideation protocol and from that, decided on their best idea to address the problem. This solution was built upon and a proposal presentation was then pitched to a panel of judges. The diverse perspectives and innovative solutions presented by the other groups were both motivating and offered a wealth of insight into the variety of problems we face day-to-day in our local communities. While the judges were deliberating, we listened to a presentation by a university student and Future Design School alum who participated in a similar event when she was in middle school where she started a charity in Toronto that continues to run to this day.

Not only was it a fulfilling day, but the icing on the cake was that our Grade 7 team (Ellia, Alexandra K, Reese, and Mr. Collins) placed first in this year’s ISABC Future Prize event! They would be presenting their community problem and proposed solution in a Junior School Assembly, and share their experience with fellow Yorkies.