Challenge and Selection

As a curriculum developer and teacher I use design thinking techniques to create engaging  courses for my students. In my history class, I chose “Storytelling” technique which align well  with the subject matter and design thinking as this subject needs high level of empathy hence  storytelling as an “essential human activity” for sharing experiences, explaining values, and  deciding on solutions through vivid verbal and visual accounts was the best fit for the class.  Storytelling technique helped to explain the interconnections among situations and settings  and the people in different epoch of history. It facilitated my class by teaching broad lessons  that engaged students. And as empathy was a key factor of understanding history hence  storytelling by improving the power of listening was an essential and fundamental  component in the process.

Application

I used the storytelling process by creating different Role Playing Games for specific events in  the history book and created stories for that to be read and apply in the game. This way not  only the students had fun playing game, engaged in deep learning and flow but meantime,  the power of storytelling through game helped the students to understand the events and  situations better and be able to visualize the condition of people in specific settings. As an  example:

For the World War 2 event I created the WWII role playing game by the help of the students  (characters and map) and all together we created a story of the whole event in order to be  able to play. It began by identifying the problem, in the case of narrative: what is the idea or  the meaning we were trying to convey? In narrative terms this is known as the Controlling  Idea was the hardest part of the process. We refined the complex event into an essence that  is simple and yet loaded with meaning. During the gameplay which lasted whole term (3  months) we developed the story based on ideas and events we later learned about WWII  event. As the first draft designed the way to have the space to grow, through stories questions  generated by the students that expanded the breadth and depth of story, leading to lots of  innovative thoughts and ideas. It became an important tool for feedback, which was the basis  of the iterative process of problem solving that lead to solutions. The story explained and  repositioned experiences through a multitude of potential interpretations, which allowed  students to test new solutions before committing exclusively to a particular move or decision  in the game.

Insight and Approach:

On the other hand, storytelling helped me to understand my students better by listening to  and empathizing with their difficulty to understand and empathize. I gained enormous  insights that helped me to navigate the academic challenges they faced from the time they  started the game till the end. My goal as a teacher was to bring my students to their profound  understanding in the most interesting way possible. What I realized was that in the process  of designing the story, they often reached a moment at the climax and this excitement often

distract them from the main purpose of the class which was understanding the event through  gameplay and storytelling. Hence the gameplay through story mostly lead to subjectively  analyze the event based on interpretation without really understanding the purpose. Due to  this issue for the next class I plan to objectify the narrative to make it easier to create stories  with intention, and easier to apply specific narrative devices in careful ways and keep the  ideas organized.


Challenge and Selection As a curriculum developer and teacher I use design thinking techniques to create engaging courses for my students . In my history class , I chose “ Storytelling ” technique which align well with the subject matter and design thinking as this subject needs high level of empathy hence storytelling as an “ essential human activity ” for sharing experiences , explaining values , and deciding on solutions through vivid verbal and visual accounts was the best fit for the class . Storytelling technique helped to explain the interconnections among situations and settings and the people in different epoch of history . It facilitated my class by teaching broad lessons that engaged students . And as empathy was a key factor of understanding history hence storytelling by improving the power of listening was an essential and fundamental component in the process . Application I used the storytelling process by creating different Role Playing Games for specific events in the history book and created stories for that to be read and apply in the game . This way not only the students had fun playing game , engaged in deep learning and flow but meantime , the power of storytelling through game helped the students to understand the events and situations better and be able to visualize the condition of people in specific settings . As an example : For the World War 2 event I created the WWII role playing game by the help of the students ( characters and map ) and all together we created a story of the whole event in order to be able to play . It began by identifying the problem , in the case of narrative : what is the idea or the meaning we were trying to convey ? In narrative terms this is known as the Controlling Idea was the hardest part of the process . We refined the complex event into an essence that is simple and yet loaded with meaning . During the gameplay which lasted whole term ( 3 months ) we developed the story based on ideas and events we later learned about WWII event . As the first draft designed the way to have the space to grow , through stories questions generated by the students that expanded the breadth and depth of story , leading to lots of innovative thoughts and ideas . It became an important tool for feedback , which was the basis of the iterative process of problem solving that lead to solutions . The story explained and repositioned experiences through a multitude of potential interpretations , which allowed students to test new solutions before committing exclusively to a particular move or decision in the game . Insight and Approach : On the other hand , storytelling helped me to understand my students better by listening to and empathizing with their difficulty to understand and empathize . I gained enormous insights that helped me to navigate the academic challenges they faced from the time they started the game till the end . My goal as a teacher was to bring my students to their profound understanding in the most interesting way possible . What I realized was that in the process of designing the story , they often reached a moment at the climax and this excitement often distract them from the main purpose of the class which was understanding the event through gameplay and storytelling . Hence the gameplay through story mostly lead to subjectively analyze the event based on interpretation without really understanding the purpose . Due to this issue for the next class I plan to objectify the narrative to make it easier to create stories with intention , and easier to apply specific narrative devices in careful ways and keep the ideas organized .