Written by Pahia Cooper- Step Up Communications Officer 

I reached out to place the marshmallow crown on the top of my team’s spaghetti and string tower as the buzzer sounded to end this fast-paced task. The marshmallow challenge was an exciting kick-off to our Design Minds workshop facilitated by Natalie Wright from the State Library, Queensland and Dr Chris Campbell, Step Up Academic.

I joined a mixed group of primary, high-school and pre-service teachers to complete hands-on, collaborative tasks which challenged us to use different techniques to explain our thinking so that we could look creatively at teaching science and mathematics in the classroom.

We had tasks where we got up and moved, tasks that had us throwing down on paper our wildest ideas and tasks where we were invited to visualise our ideas by making 3D structures. We explored the design thinking process, trialled new ways to work in groups, new ways to brainstorm and then pitched our ideas to others.

Some of the activities were quite creative/abstract and I felt that by participating in the design thinking process was the best way for me to fully understand the process. By experiencing the activities, you will directly see what the students would get out of it when replicated in the classroom.

The day made me see the methods and process we have for making decisions and to realise that they are not concrete. The design thinking process can be used on any problem similar to the scientific or engineering process. Teachers took away Design Minds packs which included lots of classroom activities to encourage teachers and students to think differently about the way they approach creative thought and play.

Working in a team with primary and high-school teachers, education students and academics, I was involved in an invigorating collaboration about new ideas and ways to approach teaching science and maths across disciplines.