What Is the Design Process? DAIS Grade 5 Gives the Answer

On Friday, November 5th DAIS-E students from Grade 5 hosted the first Community Time of the academic year. Due to a COVID outbreak in Dalian, we have made the decision to close the event to outside guests. Our students performed for their classmates, and we recorded the whole Community Time for families and friends to enjoy the show remotely.

Grade 5 students guided us through steps of the designing process (Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Test, Share, and Repeat) and introduced Community Time performances along the way.

Pre-K and their music teacher Mr. Reyna sang a song in Spanish about a spider. Then kindergarten students performed a beautiful song in Mandarin and gave a shout-out to their families. Grade 1 presented about their home countries and diverse cultures around the world. 4th grade presentation was named “Stop Your Stinkin’ Thinkin’.” Students gave us some good advice how to turn your cannots into cans and stop your negative self-talk. Grade 2 students talked about how to solve problems on the playground and shared many good ideas. Next up, the awesome third graders presented a video about acquired and inherited traits.

The whole event was a huge success!

All Steps of the Design Process

The theme of this event was the Design Process:

1. The first step to the design process is to ask questions. Asking good questions will help you to imagine a way to solve a problem, which leads us to the next step of the process.
2. The next step of the design process is “Imagine.” Imagine is a way to brainstorm and find a solution to the problems you will have.
3. The third step is to plan. The procedure of planning includes drawing a diagram of what you want to create and finding all the materials that you are going to use.
4. Step 4 is “Create.” Your first creation is a prototype. If your prototype doesn’t work at the outset, you can revise and edit it. It should not be confused with a model – a smaller copy of your idea, which may not be used as a test.
5. Then you need to test and improve. You test something after you make it to see if it works. If your project doesn’t work, you can change things or add something to improve.
6. After creating comes revising. When you are done testing your prototype, you take note of everything that has gone wrong, then brainstorm how it happened and figure out how to improve your project.

You may want to repeat all steps of the design process to make sure your project is perfect and ready to go.

Design Showcase

This year DAIS and DHS elementary will be taking part in an exciting design and STEAM challenge. Students, their parents, and the teachers will have to use their creativity, their building skills, their science skills, and their critical thinking skills to be successful with Mr. Newton’s challenge.

The challenge this year will be our “Mission to Mars”. The details are top secret and will be revealed in class at the start of the ceremony. You will receive an invitation with the time and location for you to join us!

Click here to see more Community Time pictures.

Watch the full video here.