Backwards
Thinking™
Backwards Thinking
starts with the highest level of thought: asking for creativity, originality
and invention.
Students begin
by inventing new ways to do things, or by trying to predict how things
will be done in the future. Learning begins by designing a Never-Before-Seen-_______
(a continent, a city, a village, a business, a house, a government,
social institutions for educating, for caring for etc.). Students
are given the chance to show what they know - are trusted to use their
intuition and to be creative. They set design criteria for what is
needed. After an initial design is created it is analyzed for how
well it met the design criteria. At this point, the research begins,
new information that the student encounters is placed in a usable
context. They go back and refine their design. Afterwards, when all
the creating is done, the results are analyzed. "What worked?
What didn't? Why or why not? Let's find out, Let's fix it".
The 6 1/2 Steps
of Backwards Thinking™
Transformations
and Change
The things that
designers do to change one thing into another is often regarded as
the special province of artists, inventors, and great thinkers, but
it is inherent in the mind of each individual. All creative work requires
an ability to transform that which is given and familiar into something
new and original. Students select existing categories and manipulate
them. They use a Menu of Change™ - taking something, changing
it and using it in another context or domain (see "Change and
Creativity" a guidebook for teachers, Doreen Nelson and John
Steinmetz for Apple Computer, 1993.
Simulations:
The Context referred
to as the "Story" or the Giant Game Board
A physical vehicle
for unifying the curriculum. Designing, building and running a city,
a business, a project for the community that creates the basis for
contextualized learning. A game board, a three-dimensional model,
provides physical proof of collaboration. Students design the roles
of individuals, objects and organizations as they learn how everything
operates togehter to make a community.
Parts
& Wholes
Ownership and
partnership. Each student owns a piece with a vested interest in a
larger design challenge. They operate in many different roles simultaneously.
As owners, citizens, politicians, bankers, business people, experts,
etc. The parts fit together to make a recognizable whole.
IV
Phases/the organizational structure
I. Me, who am
I, where am I
II. Objects, the
relationship between me and the things around me, the objects that
fill the world and my perception and use of them
III. Organizations,
the relationship between objects and organizations
IV. Community,
the relationship between me, objects, and organizations
Constructivist
Learning
Hands-on learning
- projects that vary from resolution to replication of the past.
Powerful
Ideas
Powerful Ideas
are used to unify the curriculum as compared with: -Opinions, -Truths,
-Topics, -Wishes, -Instructions, -Incomplete Ideas
Tools
and Techniques
Graphic Organizers
Rough model & Drawing
Symbolic Representation
Menu of Changes
Matrices
Maps, charts & diagrams
Simulations and
Role Playing as Organizers Government Economy Social Structures Physical
Structures
Assessment
To make a reference
point for proposing change "Don't Wants" and "Needs"
lists are made-to set criteria for the critique The criteria:become
the Constant Organizer as students respond to a challenge
Rubric for evaluation
(self, peer, teacher)
"Don't
Wants":
-controlled by students
-tell what they don't want
"Needs":
-controlled by teacher
-rubric for grading
-where solution gets named
