Using the Design Thinking Process to Create an Interactive Educational Museum Experience

Purpose & objective

The purpose of our presentation is for participants to see the implementation of the design thinking process in a problem-based learning project. Participants will also see the use of innovative technology tools in order to present various perspectives on a specific topic.
Students were given the “problem” of an underused resource at our school, a Holocaust memorial museum that had originally opened in 2008. Students were challenged to design a new exhibit for the museum that encompassed an interactive component so that the museum would be better used for its intended purpose: to be an educational resource not only for our school, but for other schools in the community and beyond.
In order to complete this project, students moved through the steps of the Design Thinking process (Empathy, Defining a Problem, Ideation, Prototyping, and Testing of Products). Through this process students prototyped, tested, and implemented a variety of exhibits that utilized technology that included virtual reality, audio/visual immersion, presentation tools, hologram technology, and green screen technology. Specific tech tools used included CoSpaces and Firestorm (both virtual reality platforms), Oculus Go VR headset, DoInk green screen application, and ThingLink. Presenters will be able to show the examples of virtual reality platforms that were used as well as provide a virtual tour of the museum space so that participants can see the examples of the other tech tools used.
As a culminating activity to the museum project, our school hosted a “re-opening” of the museum space to unveil the new exhibits. The event was very well-attended and snowballed into continued funding and publicity for the museum. As a result of the work on this project, we have procured an additional grant to continue renovation of the museum space as well as community interest in both the Jewish community and outside the public school community. All serve as evidence of the project’s success.

Supporting research

“Destination, Imagination, and the Fires Within: Design Thinking in a Middle School Classroom”.
http://www.iimagineservicedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Design-Thinking-Concepts-at-School-K-
to-12-Article-PDF.pdf

Shuh, John Hennigar “Teaching Yourself to Teach with Objects” (article)

Jarrett, Kevin “Makerspaces and Design Thinking: Perfect Together!’ (article)

Jacobs, Benjamin M. and Yona Shem-Tov “History: Issues in the Teaching and Learning of Jewish History” (article)

Holocaust and Human Behavior: A Facing History and Ourselves Publication (book)

Stanford University D.School Website: https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources

Taking Design to School
http://stanford.edu/dept/SUSE/taking-design/presentations/Taking-design-to-school.pdf

Wujec, Tom The Future of Making (book)

Stevenson University Online Blog Post “Why Museums Are Still Relevant to Education”
https://www.stevenson.edu/online/blog-news-events/museums-relevant-education

Harvard Graduate School of Education, “Learning in Museums”
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/05/09/learning-museums-0