Design by TEAMS

I routinely use only systems thinking and I work backward from the "big picture" or the Project, not unlike the old system of guild or apprenticeship. For instance, any Design Project can be taught or accomplished as a team using the simple steps and roles in the Design by TEAMS Methodology.

Each Project uses systems science to design a Project that meets the minimum requirements for the grade level in a hands-on model of TEAMS Design.

The TEAMS consist of one or more of the following roles that are not assigned, but rather are chosen by the participants themselves according to their interests, both pertaining to the Project selection and to their preferred role within the team.

Note that larger teams might have several team members fulfilling the same role, also as a team or group with a common purpose within the group design process. These roles are always needed within the TEAMS, but a small group might have one member fulfilling several roles. For instance, a moderator might also become the secretary/documenter/videographer or the one who leads the actual Model's construction might also have to be in charge of Main Supply.

Here are the roles needed in the Design Grouping:

S ecretary or Videographer: Documents the TEAMS Formation and each STEP in the process through Final Project and helps Present the Portfolio if there is not a Presentation Leader.

M oderator: Makes the team follow the timeline and moves the team to the Next Step after feeling sufficient time has been spent on each Step.

A rchitect or Assessor: Designs Final Project and assists implementation by evolving Main supply.

E laborator or Builder: Elaborates hands-on Project Model Construction and builds Final Project. (Becomes the Re-Elaborator in the final stages of each Design Project, so that TEAMS are SMART!

T heme Presenter: In charge of Final Project Presentation to class and/or community.

By looking into the principles of backward design, one may observe the spelling of the word TEAMS in reverse in the above roles, in order to assist both understanding and retention of the TEAMS Design Group layout. When the evaluator leads the team in re-evaluating the final design before implementation of the Project in the hands-on methods, the anagram becomes the word SMART! This leads to the requirements of feedback loops so necessary to creating open systems within any organization or system in order to create Schools That Learn (Senge, 2000).

This Design Methodology is based on a class I took in Electrical Engineering at Loyola University from Assistant Dean Ritter. Introduction to Design was a required course for engineers, in which our team designed and built an educational toy retailing at under $20 dollars. We also produced a video on a closed loop monitor to accompany the working model of our Pattern Generator to the Detroit Science Fair with our teacher, (documenting briefly the Design Process we used to complete the Project) as well as the actual Project we chose. This TEAMS layout can assist anyone to learn the Design Process after a single experience using the layout I offer below, so that instant mentors are created to share this vision with others.

First, TEAMS form around Learning Centres that have predesigned projects of various levels of complexity and timelines, dependent on the length of the class and the nature and age or mastery level of the participants. A simple process may take only an hour to complete.

These Discovery Learning Centres can also evolve into new Projects once the Design Process is mastered using techniques imitated and learned through hands-on or simulated learning experiences.

These Projects may include diverse and differentiated styles of learning. They will generally span several disciplines, even at the pre-school level, where the "big picture" will be given predominance. For example, each solar oven built out of cardboard and recycled materials, or each basket designed and woven by the child, may also teach Native culture, morality, historical and geophysical perspectives, etc. Given a more detailed or difficult Project implementation, several weeks or even a whole term may be dedicated to the production and presentation of the portfolio or Project Video, as the case may be. This form of action research may be shared anonymously online worldwide using computer-generated feedback loops.

Continually evolved and updated as each user, be it an individual or a whole school district, feedbacks in an ongoing and user/anonymous gathering of data that is already built-in to most computer software programs of the 21st Century, this form of action research promises great returns and benefits for the advancement of 21st Century education. For instance, if the children design, model, and build a code house just under the legal limit in order to learn every step of a process, this would involve taking many disciplines like Math, English literature and library review and research, budgeting, mathematics used in building, architecture, electricity, materials sciences, etc.

The finished Project may even span a whole year's worth of work. It also requires the class or TEAMS to learn by application each step in the Design Process.

The children pick their own Project and TEAMS PROJECT and they include digital photography, videography, digital editing, and computer skills like graphic design to document the Process. This means my research can also be considered as historical in the sense I have video diaries of many of my children's "Projects" over many years.

Second, TEAMS choose (or are assigned, in the beginning stage of learning the Design Process), one or more Roles.

The Documentation is ongoing and as important in the TEAMS Process as the Final Project Presentation or Portfolio.

Feedback both from the Teacher and within the team is continuous and evolutionary.

Then, TEAMS choose their meeting and group timelines and begin:

B rainstorming is the First Stage Step. Every idea is accepted without comment or prejudice and documented either on paper or in an audio or video mode.

E volving Dialogue ensues and all team members consider and ultimately discard improbable or inapplicable ideas. This is the Second Step.

Note:

The Moderator is responsible for keeping the TEAMS on timelines, without being pushy or bossy, but by gentle reminders and good-natured but leading questions.

(This next step of Dialogue produces interaction and feedback loops similar to Mental Models and teaching by example and group interaction both the ladder of inference and the tension of the rubberband that will implement the Vision Shared, also called the Portfolio or Final Working Model).

Selection and Assessment by TEAMS of Final Project Design is followed immediately with Main Supply and Building the Final Model, still as a team, but now led by Elaborator/Builder. This is Step Three and Four.

When the Evaluator leads the TEAMS to Re-Evaluation, the word SMART is written for memory retention.

All these roles and steps can interact and evolve, as well as overlap many disciplines through continued feedback and effective implementation.

Sample Final Model is constructed, tested, refined with further input and, finally, offered to

Presentation Team for Portfolio Completion and peer assessment through Sharing the Vision time.

This shows how the Design Process is a five-step procedure very similar to the fifth discipline model offered in the text by Peter Senge, Schools That Learn.

One may compare the Presentation Stage to the Shared Vision step.

The Final Project or Portfolio is also the TEAMS Formation and Assessment, and the Beginning Step of Choice and Brainstorming is similar to Personal Mastery.

The TEAM is created both by and because of the Process of Design Itself, a Systems Science Tool.

IT MAY BE USEFUL FOR RETENTION TO OFFER THESE STEPS AS A WORD:

B FOR BRAINSTORMING

E FOR EVOLVING DIALOGUE AND FEEDBACK LOOPS

S FOR SELECTION OF FINAL DESIGN

A FOR ASSESSMENT

M FOR MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

S FOR PRESENTATION OF SAMPLE WORKING MODEL

This says BE SAMS! The word stands for MahaSamatman, a Sanskrit word for GREAT SOUL. From Great Souls, we learn to become true sages engaged in a lifelong search for Truth and Beauty. GURU then becomes Gee, You are You! The Inner In-Formation of Music and Spirit directs the user in a creative attempt to master that does not need threats and/or grades to motivate or access the skill that will be allowed to be a poor try so that one may eventually master the skill or talent by applied research in the field. This is often referred to as mastery orientation.

I believe an online experimental "College of SYNTHESIS", using ongoing and current research in the field of educational psychology and technology, may be the next wave of creative and user-defined action research that will be necessary for creating an atmosphere of global acceptance for a new paradigm based on the musical and magical intelligence of peaceful co-existence with all species and the music of the spheres that sounds within each human soul.

Some Simple Things YOU Can Do to help the planet: as a WebQuest for Middle School or Teens