Our Hungry Planet: Design Thinking Challenge

California Academy of Sciences

This activity is the last part in a series called 'Our Hungry Planet.' Students will use their understanding of food systems to choose a topic related to food system issues at different scales (classroom, school, city, extracurricular groups) and then design a solution.

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Notes from our reviewers

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Consider encouraging students to brainstorm metrics for success in order to challenge their scientific reasoning (i.e., how do you know that your solution worked? How long will it take to see results? Can this project be scaled up? How long do the benefits last? How can you measure this?). Where possible, support projects that involve other school members such as superintendents or groundskeepers to model collaboration. This project can be worked on continuously throughout a unit to allow for regular communication between parties. Consider focusing on class or school-wide solutions rather than individual steps. This will help avoid equity concerns.
This lesson focuses on design-thinking. It connects to science by helping groups consider solutions after they define a problem and research an issue. In order to connect the food issues that are the focus of this lesson to a broader scientific perspective, present the earlier lessons in this unit or show a few of the videos suggested as background information- [link https://www.calacademy.org/educators/our-hungry-planet-food-for-a-growing-population]. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
This activity is student led and requires students to work in teams and do independent research to design solutions. It serves as a solid resource for guiding students to consider how to approach solutions to food issues that they are familiar with. The lesson follows a design-thinking engineering-based approach. Pedagogical scaffolding is provided to help students move through the design process. This activity is the final lesson in a unit about food systems. Students will need background either through the previous lessons in this unit or through other activities to get the most out of the activities featured here. It is recommended to make sure students are familiar with the concepts addressed in previous lessons by watching videos in the "Our Hungry Planet: Food For a Growing Population" series before engaging in this activity.