The College of Education and SCD have been collaborating on disrupting education since 2018.

Human-centered design (HCD) is defined as a problem-solving approach that relies on design thinking tools to understand the unmet needs of a population in order to develop solutions collaboratively and iteratively. Empirical evidence shows that when engaged in HCD, students can successfully develop six key mindsets that are essential to any 21st-century workspace. These mindsets are human-centeredness, collaboration, communication, metacognition, creativity, and experimentation.

As part of SCD’s efforts to spread the teaching and learning of HCD beyond the Illinois campus, the Assessment and Research team has been collaborating with local school teachers in Champaign-Urbana to explore and pilot different ways of integrating HCD into existing school curricula.

To support these efforts, in summer 2023, Saad Shehab, Ph.D. '19 Curriculum & Instruction, SCD’s associate director of assessment and research, and Gloriana González, professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the College of Education, won a $1.3M grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) prestigious Discovery Research PreK-12 program for the project Engaging teachers in integrating human-centered design for geometry problem-based instruction.

The grant aims to use a combination of lesson study, a collaborative professional development model, and human-centered design to prepare high school teachers for designing and implementing problem-based geometry lessons that integrate design to address social justice issues in their communities. The work on the grant was kicked off in summer 2023 by putting together a team of talented undergraduates Jane Pak, Michelle Heredia, senior mathematics majors and secondary education minors, graduate students Roya Attarian, Sourabh Garg, Ph.D. student in Curriculum & Instruction, and academic professional Ted Powers, Ed.M. '18 C&I.

González and Shehab wanted the team members to experience some processes of design thinking and human-centered design themselves. They gave the team a hypothetical design challenge centered around geometry, design, and social justice. The challenge was to create a fashion design for a runway show using upcycled textiles. The theme of the show was “Living and Loving our Planet Earth.” The prototypes had to showcase or apply geometric concepts.

In order to complete the challenge and engage in design thinking and human-centered design, the team met biweekly over the Spring 2024 semester and applied some HCD processes and practices in the five HCD spaces: Understand, Synthesize, Ideate, Prototype, and Implement.

For example, the team did multiple visits to SCD’s shop and met with the shop manager, Neil Pearse, who explained to the team members how the different shop tools and equipment work and shared inspiring examples. Later, the team members met at SCD’s Sunrise Studio, where Shehab led a brainstorming session that started with asking the team members to reread the design challenge and jot down any design ideas.

Then, the brainstorming rules were shared with the team. They were reminded to defer judgment, encourage wild ideas, build on the ideas of others, stay focused on the topic, have one conversation at a time, be visual, and go for quantity. Following these rules, the team members shared their ideas for designs. This was followed by grouping the designs into different themes based on their characteristics and purposes. Five themes emerged: pattern revelation, convergent designing, math and nature, shapes in design, and visualizing 3D shapes. Subgroups were formed to continue ideating and prototyping designs per each theme. 

The subgroups showcased their final prototypes by walking on SCD’s runway. Three judges evaluated the designs during the Fashion Show: Juan Salamanca, assistant professor of graphic design and design for responsible innovation at the College of Arts and Design and SCD Affiliate; Emily Bear, programs and experience manager at SCD, and Karen Mortensen, associate director of graduate studies at the Department of Mathematics and Director of Illinois Mathematics Lab.

At the end of the show, different team members commented on the importance of the experience in helping them better understand HCD, the goal of the grant, and the tasks associated with collaborative design. The team was inspired by the experience and hopes that in the future, students and teachers will apply their creativity to design challenges.

The Siebel Center for Design originally published this story. Read the full article and see pictures of the designs at the SCD website.