Dear Richland community,
Design class at Richland Academy has taken on an exciting new shape this year, and no one explains it better than Francial, one of our enthusiastic Grade 7 students. With ICT shifting into the broader and more creative world of MYP Design, students are now exploring innovation, problem-solving, and hands-on idea development in dynamic ways. In the blog below, Francial shares his experience navigating the four Design criteria, experimenting with playful toy concepts, and discovering what it truly means to bring an idea from sketch to reality. His reflections capture both the challenge and the fun of this evolving subject—showing just how engaging learning can be when creativity takes the lead.
The paragraphs below are written by Francial:
Hello everyone,
This is Francial from the grade 7 class, have you ever looked at the time schedule this year and noticed that there’s no more ICT for MYP? Well, obviously it’s not gone but it’s actually changed to Design! This year and next year instead of focusing more on digital footprint and simpler things, Design focuses more on creativity and ideas. Design classes are on Wednesdays and Fridays after lunch recess.
In Design, our assignments are separated into Criterions A, B, C, D where each criterion focuses on things like inquiring and analysing, developing ideas, creating a solution, and evaluating. One example is where we developed our own design ideas when Ms. Kraft asked us to sketch three toy designs of the same theme that expresses playfulness through its appearance and features. I sketched a crazy deer that glows when it’s shaken and a cross between a hot dog and a deer. Then we all did a gallery walk where we placed our sketches down and gave everyone meaningful feedback so they can improve their work.
During this criterion, I learned people need to think about and consider when making a toy or other entertainment products. For example, what type of audience does this appeal to? Will a tiny detail affect the entire creation? and do I need to make multiple designs so more people will buy it?
What I will remember is how fun and interactive Ms. Kraft makes our Design classes by putting all these fun assignments and giving us choice in our projects! Even though this can be tricky and hard to understand sometimes I think switching to Design was a super cool choice because I love how it leans more towards student opinion and giving them more choices for assignments instead of giving set rules to follow.
I hope you’ve learned something about making your ideas come to life and how awesome some subjects can be. I’m looking forward to our next Design class!
