Mind Mapping Tool – Solving Extra Coaching Classes Problem

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Design Thinking and Innovation Tool Assignment – Mind Mapping

Challenge and Selection

My son is a 9th grader and is studying in one of the best schools in our locality. Most of the students in  his grade, including him go for extra coaching classes in spite of which they do not score high, struggle to  complete their school work, do not get enough time to perform sport activity and many of them are  getting excessively overweight as per their age and height. We have a What’s App group for parent’s of  9th graders and within the group many of us believe that if our child goes to the best school, then there  shouldn’t be a need for extra coaching classes and it is because of the time spent in the coaching classes  that there is dearth of time and the child struggles to perform extra-curricular activities.

I decided to collect a group of 8 mothers, one of them who was also a Parent-Teacher co-ordinator to  form a team in order to understand the reason for the above challenge mentioned and come up with  proposed solutions.

The tool that we chose to use was “Mind Mapping tool”, since we had understood that in our quest to  resolve the challenge there would be varied people right from school Principal, teachers, parents,  students that we would be interacting with. The data gathered due to the interaction would be large  and there would be patterns and insights that would have to be established from this large data.

Application

With the help of the mother who was a Parent-Teacher coordinator, we got a buy-in from the school  principal for the above challenge mentioned. Using the school database we selected the participants for  the Mind Mapping exercise and they were invited for a 3 hour workshop at the school. The participants  selected were as follows

1) Parents of children wherein both parents are working – 3 sets  2) Parents of children wherein only 1 parent is working – 3 sets  3) School Principal  - 1 number  4) Class Co-ordinator – Teacher for grade 9 – 1 number  5) Teacher of Maths, Science, because most of the students go for extra coaching classes for these

subjects – 4 numbers

6) Students who score 80% and above – 2 numbers  7) Students who score 70% - 79% - 2 numbers  8) Students who score 60% - 69% - 2 numbers  9) Students who score less than 60% - 2 numbers

The following procedure was followed.  1) 3 flip boards were arranged, one each for the Parent group, Principal and Teacher group and

Student group and provided post-its and green dot stickers to each of the participants.

2) Each group was given clear instruction not to converse within and across groups  3) The challenge was announced that each participant needs to provide their thoughts on the pain

area that “Why do students need to go for extra coaching classes”. The thoughts were to be

Mind Mapping Tool – Solving Extra Coaching Classes Problem

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written on the post-it and stuck on the assigned flip board. The time given for this activity was  20 mins.

4) Each group was then allowed to review the post-its of their group as well as across groups. If the

participant aligns to the thought of some other participant he/she can put a green dot on the  requisite post it. The time given for this activity was 20 mins.

5) The post-its that gained the maximum number of green dots was chosen as the design criteria

for the next stage. Some of the design criteria that were identified were as follows

a. Unable to apply the concepts while solving numerical in Maths and Physics.  b. Reinforcement of concepts missing.  c. Teachers rush with syllabus.  d. Teachers pay attention to the ones who are bright students and the average and/or shy

students are left behind.

e. Some of school teachers conduct coaching classes after school hours, where the

concepts are clarified better.

Insight

I have found Mind Mapping tool be an excellent tool to bring out unarticulated facts. It lets the  participants express their thoughts without being intimidated, influenced by the stature, age, sex etc. of  the other participants i.e. everyone gets an equal opportunity. For e.g. It was the student group and the  parent group who had voiced that the “Teachers rush with syllabus” which otherwise the students  would have feared to mention in front of their teachers.

Approach

For any future design thinking requirement I would continue to use the Mind Mapping tool to answer  the “What is ?” part of the design thinking process, because of its ease of use and unbiased output it  provides, in case the right set of participants are chosen. Another tool that I would experiment on is the  “Personas” tool. This tool I would use to gather data from the student group and organize the data to  identify students of particular set of characteristics. In order to identify the personas, I would ask  questions like

1) Why do you think you need to study Maths and Science?  2) Would you enjoy solving Maths and Science in the form of puzzle or straight numerical

questions?

3)  Would you want to have more practical/laboratory time or the current time slot provided is

sufficient?

Once the personas are identified then would move to identifying solutions for each of the personas.


Mind Mapping Tool – Solving Extra Coaching Classes Problem | 1 P a g e Design Thinking and Innovation Tool Assignment – Mind Mapping Challenge and Selection My son is a 9th grader and is studying in one of the best schools in our locality . Most of the students in his grade , including him go for extra coaching classes in spite of which they do not score high , struggle to complete their school work , do not get enough time to perform sport activity and many of them are getting excessively overweight as per their age and height . We have a What ’s App group for parent ’s of 9th graders and within the group many of us believe that if our child goes to the best school , then there should n’t be a need for extra coaching classes and it is because of the time spent in the coaching classes that there is dearth of time and the child struggles to perform extra - curricular activities . I decided to collect a group of 8 mothers , one of them who was also a Parent - Teacher co - ordinator to form a team in order to understand the reason for the above challenge mentioned and come up with proposed solutions . The tool that we chose to use was “ Mind Mapping tool ” , since we had understood that in our quest to resolve the challenge there would be varied people right from school Principal , teachers , parents , students that we would be interacting with . The data gathered due to the interaction would be large and there would be patterns and insights that would have to be established from this large data . Application With the help of the mother who was a Parent - Teacher coordinator , we got a buy - in from the school principal for the above challenge mentioned . Using the school database we selected the participants for the Mind Mapping exercise and they were invited for a 3 hour workshop at the school . The participants selected were as follows 1 ) Parents of children wherein both parents are working – 3 sets 2 ) Parents of children wherein only 1 parent is working – 3 sets 3 ) School Principal - 1 number 4 ) Class Co - ordinator – Teacher for grade 9 – 1 number 5 ) Teacher of Maths , Science , because most of the students go for extra coaching classes for these subjects – 4 numbers 6 ) Students who score 80 % and above – 2 numbers 7 ) Students who score 70 % - 79 % - 2 numbers 8) Students who score 60 % - 69 % - 2 numbers 9 ) Students who score less than 60 % - 2 numbers The following procedure was followed . 1 ) 3 flip boards were arranged , one each for the Parent group , Principal and Teacher group and Student group and provided post - its and green dot stickers to each of the participants . 2 ) Each group was given clear instruction not to converse within and across groups 3 ) The challenge was announced that each participant needs to provide their thoughts on the pain area that “ Why do students need to go for extra coaching classes ” . The thoughts were to be Mind Mapping Tool – Solving Extra Coaching Classes Problem | 2 P a g e written on the post - it and stuck on the assigned flip board . The time given for this activity was 20 mins . 4 ) Each group was then allowed to review the post - its of their group as well as across groups . If the participant aligns to the thought of some other participant he / she can put a green dot on the requisite post it . The time given for this activity was 20 mins . 5 ) The post - its that gained the maximum number of green dots was chosen as the design criteria for the next stage . Some of the design criteria that were identified were as follows a. Unable to apply the concepts while solving numerical in Maths and Physics . b. Reinforcement of concepts missing . c. Teachers rush with syllabus . d. Teachers pay attention to the ones who are bright students and the average and/or shy students are left behind . e. Some of school teachers conduct coaching classes after school hours , where the concepts are clarified better . Insight I have found Mind Mapping tool be an excellent tool to bring out unarticulated facts . It lets the participants express their thoughts without being intimidated , influenced by the stature , age , sex etc . of the other participants i.e. everyone gets an equal opportunity . For e.g. It was the student group and the parent group who had voiced that the “ Teachers rush with syllabus ” which otherwise the students would have feared to mention in front of their teachers . Approach For any future design thinking requirement I would continue to use the Mind Mapping tool to answer the “ What is ? ” part of the design thinking process , because of its ease of use and unbiased output it provides , in case the right set of participants are chosen . Another tool that I would experiment on is the “ Personas ” tool . This tool I would use to gather data from the student group and organize the data to identify students of particular set of characteristics . In order to identify the personas , I would ask questions like 1 ) Why do you think you need to study Maths and Science ? 2 ) Would you enjoy solving Maths and Science in the form of puzzle or straight numerical questions ? 3 ) Would you want to have more practical / laboratory time or the current time slot provided is sufficient ? Once the personas are identified then would move to identifying solutions for each of the personas .