week 10

As we start to work on the final project of this innovation module I cannot believe how far I have come and how much I have learned about innovation, having began this module quite skeptical about what I would actually gain and develop from it. However, as I have went through the different stages and projects, my knowledge and understanding of what innovation is and the skills I have developed from this such as communication, creativity and teamwork have definitely been enhanced and I believe that the module has benefited me both personally and professionally.

Our lesson this week began with our tutor dividing us up into groups according to birthday months. This was a good strategy to use as it was a fair way of dividing up the class and allowed people from different countries to work together and this is definitely something I will use at home as one of the ways of dividing children into groups as it is quick and easy and allows children of different friendship groups and abilities to work together.

Our task was to make the tallest structure and place a marshmallow on top using a variety of different materials such as string, masking tape and spaghetti etc. It allowed us to be innovative and think of ways we could creatively make the tallest structure and also helped to develop our teamwork as we had to listen and communicate to each other our different ideas as to how we thought it would be best to go about the task. I think it was a good introduction to the lesson as it was a fun, engaging activity related to innovation and using skills we have been developing so far. As teachers, I think it is good to have warm up activities like these as it breaks children into the lesson encouraging involvement and engagement from the inset. However for warm up activities like these to be most beneficial I believe they should link naturally to the following work so that children can see the progression as they move from the warm up activity into the lesson.

Our winning structure!

Materials for the marshmallow challenge

Our tutor then explained the final part of the project which was to share knowledge and ideas about innovation. We were allowed to decide which project we would like to work on and I chose to work on the 'home group' which involved sharing knowledge about innovation at our home university. I really wanted to be involved in this group as currently in my home university there is nothing about innovation and I could see the potential for something there and I thought this would be a good chance to take everything which I have learned about innovation so far and apply it back home. I also felt this would be the best area for me as I could use my experiences and in depth knowledge about the consumers at my home university and use this to provide service possible.

As a group we started brainstorming ideas of how we might share innovation at our home university and came up during this with a variety of ideas such as having an intensive week, an extra course, Guest lecturers like Richard Branson or Bill Gates, competitions, the use of videos and online learning. We also looked at things that could go wrong, such as space, materials, time, permission and money etc. However, this did make us aware of the negatives and also helped prepare us for practical things we may come across when hosting our innovation session at our university, therefore we could look into getting grants from our university to host the day session and get materials etc.

Planning our initial ideas

We then decided to boil down our ideas and decided to have a one day session on innovation with the potential for people to sign up for an extra course on how to teach innovation in schools if they liked what they learned about innovation during the day. We choose this format as we realised there would be a challenge to share information both widely and deeply and this would be something that would satisfy both parts. We also decided we wanted the day to be a hands on, practical day as we wanted people actively involved as they learned about innovation as this is how we ourselves felt we most enjoyed and gained the most knowledge and understanding from. We also decided that we didn't just want our session for students but in fact also for lecturers as I thought that having lecturers at our session could increase and maximise the potential of having a module implemented within the university itself dedicated to teaching about innovation and this would have greater power if lecturers understood and saw the potential behind it. Indeed, our ideas hope to fulfil the aims and objectives of this part of the project.

Although, at this stage we only have initial ideas I am really looking forward to the next class where we get to make our framework and any resources we need to implement this within our home university and I hope to be as creative and innovative as possible when planning for this. I am also excited and enthusiastic of the potential of our tutor using our framework and structure of teaching innovation when he goes out to different universities as it gives this more meaning to our work as it could actually used in the future, so watch this space! 

week 9

This week we had the opportunity to go back to Stengardskolen to complete our teaching innovation lesson. This was a part of the program I had been most looking forward to and felt would be of much benefit to me as a future teacher myself as I was going to be able to adapt and use the model we had previously been working with in class and use it to teach children to be innovative themselves. This opportunity would therefore allow me to gain experience of teaching this concept to children should I want to use it back in my home country.

Feel Phase- collecting evidence from toilets!

My group was assigned a year 9 class consisting of around 12 pupils and initially I had fears about this as I am training to be a primary teacher at home to teach children up to the age of 11 and teaching 16 year olds is not something I am overaly confident or used to teaching. However with my group by my side I gained the boost in confidence that I needed and dividing up the lesson between the four of us meant that we could rotate roles throughout. Indeed, it was nice to see how the format and ideas we had planned for in our teaching plan were workable enough that we could use but also flexible enough that we could extend and adapt such as during the 'do' phase when they were making their prototypes. Indeed, this shows not only our professional abilities as teachers but also our ability to be innovative and decisive to know when and where to extend and adapt parts of the lesson you had planned.

Imagine phase- recording ideas

My best moment in the day was during the 'imagine' phase of the 4 step design thinking model which we had included in our innovation lesson. It was my favourite because the children we were working with were most engaged during this part of the lesson and you could see from their engagement and concentration that they were enthusiastic and wanted to get involved. As well as this I found it to be the best moment because the productivity from the children at this stage was very successful. Children quickly latched onto the idea of thinking outside the box by imagining how different characters and celebrities would think of solutions to the problem. The fast paced nature encouraged children to think of the first thing that sprang to their minds and helped keep their ideas flowing. indeed it proved very beneficial to have chosen characters that the children themselves could relate to as this meant that the children could identify with these characters easier and help them come up with solutions.

Sorting ideas using grid framework

Verbal feedback from the lesson discovered that the children found this part of the lesson most enjoyable and they appreciated the format of how we introduced and guided them through the imagine phase using characters that they could relate to. Indeed, it was clear to see not only from their verbal feedback that they enjoyed the lesson but also from their invovlement both individually and working working within their groups. As well as this children were immediately engaged and curious when we arrived together in our science lab coats! (A great addition which added to our lesson and concept and helped add more authentic feel.) Involvement was also visible in their engagement with us group members when we were interacting with them and asking questions as well as being visible when they were working together as groups making their prototypes.


Deadlines worked very well as it helped us to time and forced the children to work well under time constraints, encouraging maximum and continual input from the children. One thing I would change if we were to do this innovation lesson next time with children would be to check prior to coming whether or not the class had anything else on that day because whilst we were teaching throughout the lesson there were children constantly coming and going due to tests being on and this caused some minor disruptions to the general flow of the lesson as those who came and left early couldn't finish what they started and those who left before and came during the middle of the process didn't have a firm understanding and grasp of what was going on and found it harder to integrate themselves into the process with the other children. However, I know that this was something out of our groups control and we worked with the children ensuring a smooth a transition as possible.

Presenting prototyes

In the previous week my group had also decided it might be a good idea to do an experiment by dividing the pupils into a male, female and mixed group to see if this had any impact on how involved they were or the prototypes they came up with. Unfortunately in the class we were assigned we did not have enough boys to make a mixed group which resulted in having 1 male group and 2 female groups. However, it was interesting to obverse the involvement and interaction between the males and females. At the start the males were less focused on the task than the girls and often used humour and were quite talkative, however this changed when as the continued through the process and the remained involved and engaged at a similar level to the girls who remained constant throughout. Regarding the prototypes it was interesting to note that a male and female group came up with a similar prototype or designing and putting up posters in the school to promote and encourage hygiene. However the surprising thing was that the male group focused on punishment and using sanctions in their posters if the other pupils didn't keep the toilets clean whilst the females focused on rewards and bribes pupils could get if they kept the toilets clean. An interesting insight into the minds of boys and girls!

Discussing and giving feedback

Overall, I believe the lesson was very successful as ultimately the children achieved the success criteria which my group had devised in the previous week which was to realise the importance of hygiene, come up with an innovative idea of how to solve the problem of hygiene, communicate with each other and work together in groups.  Ultimately, the children were innovative in their solutions they came up with and some groups even were able to come up with such innovative and creative ideas that we ourselves hadn't even thought of when we were doing it!

Great Interaction with the kids!

Getting into our theme!

week 8

Having spent the last number of weeks gaining an understanding of innovation and design thinking through completing readings as well as gaining first hand experience through participating in the process myself it was finally time to put everything I had learnt into practice! This time, instead of the tutors facilitating and guiding us through the process it would be my turn to teach the children from Stengardskolen (the school we had been previously working with) how to be innovative.

Admittedly, I was daunted at the thought of this prospect as I had only just come through the process myself however because we are working in groups I feel like I can acquire the extra confidence needed and feel supported by the rest of my group as I take the lead. Indeed, this is one of the many positive aspects and benefits of this module as you can work collectively to source and build upon each others ideas and you never feel that you are on your own. This is a skill I feel I am developing greatly during this process and this skill will be needed throughout my teaching career back in Northern Ireland as I will have to work collaboratively with other teachers to plan work and teaching materials, similar to what I have witnessed whilst being out in schools in Denmark as well as working with their classroom assistants (pedagogues) and parents.

Throughout this innovation process my group and I have worked hard on trying to solve the problem innovatively which we identified in the school. Having always been aware that we would have to complete this next stage of turning round and teaching the children to be innovative themselves we worked with this in mind during the first stage of this program, trying to innovatively solve the problem identified but could also accommodate an environment for children to be innovative themselves. This proved to be very worthwhile and beneficial for my group as we realised that due to time restrictions in this program we would only have one class to plan for our innovative teaching episode!

Design for Change a 4 step process

Before any group work was done however our tutor introduced us to the design for change model which encourages children to identify issues which bother them and guides children through a  four-step process which allows them to take an active role in imagining and creating change for the better. 

Until now, I had never heard of this movement before however I was inspired by how powerfully it could be used. I defintely feel like this is something I could potentially use back in Northern Ireland as we teach through topics and as a teacher I could use the design for change model within my topic such as Africa to feel empathy towards people in 3rd world countries and thus do something about it and they could come up with innovative ideas themselves and share it with others. Indeed, I feel that because the 4 simple steps it is divided into it can therefore be used and adapted for a variety of age groups through the primary school system in Northern Ireland.

As a group we decided to make a flexible teaching plan due to the fact that we did not know what time we would have or the number or age of the children we would be working with. flexible teaching plans are good as they encourage teachers to adapt and go with the flow of how the children are learning and interacting. We decided to avail of many of the concepts and ideas that we had used ourselves when going through the innovation process. Although we did not use every single one, we decided to only use the ones we felt were the most beneficial and useful for the children and the ones that we also enjoyed participating in ourselves. As a group we decided on a time schedule for each of our activities during the day as we realised from experience ourselves that deadlines are needed to ensure that children remain focused and keep moving forward with their work and some of the best ideas are imagined and developed under pressure within deadlines.You can view our flexible teaching plan below which gives a rough idea of how we imagine our teaching episode to pan out!

Our flexible teaching plan

As you can also see from our plan we divided up the different roles within our group depending on our skills and abilities. We also made a list of resources we would need to complete our teaching episode which we emailed in advance to our tutor to ensure that we would be prepared for the day. As well as this we identified 'what ifs' which were a list of things we would do if something did not go to plan. This ensured that we would be prepared for the worst case scenario, a good back up plan for when you are a teacher! As you can see we also have chose to divide our children into unusual groupings, having a male, female and mixed group of children. We specifically chose to do this as we wanted to do an experiment to satisfy our curiosity and see for ourselves if there would be any variation in the ideas and concepts the groups came up and how well they worked together. As teachers we are interested in how children work together and can hopefully use this knowledge back home in our own countries.

A list of our Characters, resources and success criteria

Overall, I excited about the prospect of teaching the children to be innovative. Although at times before this I had questioned why we ourselves were participating in the innovation process I now see that we needed to do to gain a better understanding and use this first hand experience and knowledge to teach the children. I am hopeful for what the children can achieve during this time frame as I know from experience what can be achieved yet I am nervous at the same time as we have such a limited time with them and because of the fact that we cannot speak danish to them I hope that nothing gets lost in translation and they will be able to understand us fully and actively participate in the class and won't get tired listening and speaking English for that period of time.