Challenge and Selection  I am a kindergarten teacher who mainly teaches 2-3 year old students. I encountered

various difficulties having a productive class during this pandemic. Since all the

kindergartens were closed from February, we had to figure out a new way to ensure

all the students are able to learn new things constantly. We decided to adopt the

online class approach just like most of the school did. However, children at this age

could hardly concentrate for a long period of time, let alone asking them to sit in front

of a laptop and have an online class everyday. As a result, the students could be

talking at the same time, or they might even walk away from their computers. I find

this method to be comparatively less suitable and teachers would have no idea how

much knowledge the students were receiving or if they even paid any attention

during the online class.     So later I discovered a design thinking tool, Visualization, to achieve a better

outcome during this period of time. It is because when young kids are asked to be

seated for a certain period of time, they would soon be distracted by other things in

the surroundings. Therefore, they might lose interest to the class easily. By showing

the teaching materials in their face, and letting the students hold the same props as

the teachers do could arouse their interest better, and hopefully I could conduct a

more productive class.     Application  Because I often use different props when having a lesson with children. For

example, I use little puppets when telling stories, or I would prepare a solar system

model when showing them how the planets move in their orbits. So for the next

week, I asked the parents to come pick up materials for online classes, those

materials included pieces of paper and styrofoam models of different shapes. During

the class, I asked the children to observe and examine the models, then explain to

me the difference between them. Finally, I asked them to cut out their favorite

shapes from the paper provided. Since the class required more interaction, and the

children got to have a closer look at the shapes, they showed more enthusiasm

towards my class, and responded more proactively.     Insight and Approach  Later when classes resumed back to normal, I asked them whether they still

remember the shapes that I taught them, most of them said they still keep those

styrofoam models at home and will play with it from time to time. This made me

realize that visualization is a really effective tool, when it comes to preschool

children. It was obvious that they were more focused when I introduced abstract

concepts to them, such as shapes, opposites, and numbers. As a result, it helps

reinforce their memory and even parents give positive comments.     In the future, I would continuously use visualization as a tool to help carry out my

classes. I found out that we can not just simply follow others’ footsteps and just

conduct online classes. Instead, adopting an appropriate design thinking approach

could lead to a much better result.


Challenge and Selection I am a kindergarten teacher who mainly teaches 2 - 3 year old students . I encountered various difficulties having a productive class during this pandemic . Since all the kindergartens were closed from February , we had to figure out a new way to ensure all the students are able to learn new things constantly . We decided to adopt the online class approach just like most of the school did . However , children at this age could hardly concentrate for a long period of time , let alone asking them to sit in front of a laptop and have an online class everyday . As a result , the students could be talking at the same time , or they might even walk away from their computers . I find this method to be comparatively less suitable and teachers would have no idea how much knowledge the students were receiving or if they even paid any attention during the online class . So later I discovered a design thinking tool , Visualization , to achieve a better outcome during this period of time . It is because when young kids are asked to be seated for a certain period of time , they would soon be distracted by other things in the surroundings . Therefore , they might lose interest to the class easily . By showing the teaching materials in their face , and letting the students hold the same props as the teachers do could arouse their interest better , and hopefully I could conduct a more productive class . Application Because I often use different props when having a lesson with children . For example , I use little puppets when telling stories , or I would prepare a solar system model when showing them how the planets move in their orbits . So for the next week , I asked the parents to come pick up materials for online classes , those materials included pieces of paper and styrofoam models of different shapes . During the class , I asked the children to observe and examine the models , then explain to me the difference between them . Finally , I asked them to cut out their favorite shapes from the paper provided . Since the class required more interaction , and the children got to have a closer look at the shapes , they showed more enthusiasm towards my class , and responded more proactively . Insight and Approach Later when classes resumed back to normal , I asked them whether they still remember the shapes that I taught them , most of them said they still keep those styrofoam models at home and will play with it from time to time . This made me realize that visualization is a really effective tool , when it comes to preschool children . It was obvious that they were more focused when I introduced abstract concepts to them , such as shapes , opposites , and numbers . As a result , it helps reinforce their memory and even parents give positive comments . In the future , I would continuously use visualization as a tool to help carry out my classes . I found out that we can not just simply follow others ’ footsteps and just conduct online classes . Instead , adopting an appropriate design thinking approach could lead to a much better result .