Pumpkin Project: Design Thinking Challenge
Source/Author: Mrs. St. Amand
October 30, 2014
Kindergartners took part in a fun project in Technology with Mrs. Smay and Mrs. St. Amand.
The students listened to the book "The Biggest Pumpkin Ever," which has a theme of a large pumpkin that needs to get into a town for a contest, but has grown too big to move. The students were then presented with the problem of moving a very large pumpkin from the breezeway into their classroom without any help from adults.
- First the students each got to try to lift the pumpkin to see how heavy it was.
- Then they each drew an idea for all to see of how to move the pumpkin
- Everyone voted on the idea they liked. We used tally marks to count votes, and ruled out ideas that we didn't have the supplies to do
- The students then tried their idea. Using teamwork, communication and problem solving, the students worked together to move the pumpkin, hold doors and got that pumpkin into their rooms!
- We finished the lesson guessing how many seeds we thought the pumpkin had inside
- Next, we will carve the pumpkin, eat seeds and do a 100 number chart to see how many seeds we actually have.
Design thinking is a process of helping students identify a problem and understand the problem and how it relates to themselves and others in the world around them. It encourages critical thinking, empathy, problem solving, and creativity.
Photos and videos: 
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