High School students learn Design Thinking from SLC professor and recent grad 

Submitted by Derek Davies, Professor & Program Coordinator, Community and Justice Services 

Jen Probert, a recent graduate of the Community and Justice Services program, and I recently visited a Grade 12 class titled, "Impact" at Ernestown Secondary School to speak about Jen's involvement in the Mayor's Innovation Challenge last winter where she and her team, Team Co-Labs, won the Mayor's Innovation Challenge.  

We also explored and discussed the Design Thinking Model with the students and how it can be used to explore social justice issues and real-world problems with the goal of coming up with innovative solutions to them.   

At the end of the collaboration, the students took part in a small group activity where they critically reflected on a problem, took some time to ask each other deep questions about the issues, and dug beneath the surface of the issue to learn more about it. 

The hope is that the Grade 12 students, along with their teacher, Rileigh Tilley, can use what we all explored to examine social justice issues in our communities, and work collaboratively to come up with some potential solutions. It is also anticipated that the Grade 12 students will be able to use the Design Thinking Model to support their high school’s various initiatives, and their local communities. 

Both Jen and I enjoyed this collaboration, and it was a pleasure and honour to see the students digging deep into the content and thinking critically, while finding meaning in the possibility of coming up with innovative solutions.