Young minds get a taste of design thinking.

By Melanie Chalil Friday, 23 Mar 2018

Arsyad (left) and Hamidah at a design thinking session for parents and children. — Pictures by Firdaus Latif

PETALING JAYA, March 23 — You would think the last thing a bunch of kids want to do during their school holidays is to go to class... but this group did, and they had a blast. It was three days of creative learning for 15 children who had enrolled with Genovasi’s first-ever Design Thinking Juniors Programme.

The programme was held this week from Tuesday to Thursday to coincide with the school holidays. The children, aged between 10 to 12, were given the challenge of redesigning Zoo Negara’s patron experience by using the five design thinking steps — empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test. The syllabus follows that of the adult programme which is known for its human-centred approach to innovation.

A group of children take part in a storytelling exercise as part of Genovasi’s design thinking junior's programme.

It aims to instil strong creative reasoning skills from a young age, focusing on the areas of self-discovery, collaboration, reasoning, empathy and creativity.

On the last day of the programme, their parents were invited to witness the children’s presentation and storytelling skills following a visit to Zoo Negara. At the zoo, the kids were required to engage with patrons, identify an issue they were facing and generate ideas to solve their problems.

Facilitator Nazar Khalid, who has been teaching design thinking for the past two and a half years, said he and his team learned a lot from the pilot programme.

“We were surprised at how easily the kids could adapt to our curriculum. At first, we didn’t know if our programme was too simple or too complex, but they showed great enthusiasm,” he said.

Having never taught children prior to the junior programme, Nazar said the team of facilitators had to improvise along the way despite having a solid, well thought out curriculum.

Gheethabai says she loves how the programme encourages children to open up and ask questions.

“We realised the kids needed more attention and more experiential learning rather than just explanations so we replaced a lot of what we had planned with hands-on activities.

“Ultimately, the goal is for the children to leave the programme with the confidence that they can be creative in their own world,” he added. Hamidah Ayub Khan, the mother of one participant, is a fan of design thinking and wanted her 10-year-old-son Muhammad Arsyad Mohd Azmi to experience it first-hand.

“The experiential learning will benefit him, and I think he can apply this not only now but in all stages of his life. “Schools have programmes such as higher order thinking schools (HOTs) and design thinking really completes it,” said the 42-year-old who works for a government innovation agency. Hamidah was particularly impressed with her son’s storytelling skills.

“He sympathised with patrons at the zoo and asked questions that helped him identify what would be meaningful for them there,” she said. In the beginning, Arsyad did not know what to expect when his mother enrolled him into the three-day programme. “I felt a little shy on my first day but it got better because I got to make new friends.

Ten-year-old Priyana thoroughly enjoys the activities planned for her and her team-mates.

“My favourite part was when we got to build the prototype for our Zoo Negara visit – I feel proud to have attended Genovasi’s design thinking school,” said Arsyad. Lawyer turned stay-at-home mum Gheethabai Kunchiram loved how the programme encourages children to think better and more innovatively.

“They were asked to open up, ask questions and observe their surroundings like how their observation at Zoo Negara had the intention of improving the facilities and services.

“I was surprised when my daughter told me she interviewed visitors at the zoo which I never thought she could do,” said the 47-year-old mum of two.

Her daughter, Priyana Ramesh, 10 was excited to attend the sessions and would happily attend the programme’s next chapter. “I really loved the activities our coaches planned for us and particularly enjoyed the exercise we had at the zoo,” she said. Genovasi is Malaysia’s only design thinking school.