The Design Cycle
This is a guest blog by my two MenTerns at Mezzacello Urban Farm. They have been tasked with explaining the design cycle to summer camp kids. I wanted this to be from their perspective.
Where Do We Start?
In the Design Cycle (and in design thinking) we can start anywhere. It is a cycle, not a path. There is no set direction in learning and exploring about the world, but there are ways to build on what we discover, and that is where the Design Cycle shines.
The arrows are just a suggestion…
If we start at share we should expect that we will naturally progress “forward” to revisit. But we can also see that we could just as easily jump “back” to brainstorm or design — or even modify. We do this all the time in our daily life. We just don’t state where we are on this cycle as a matter of course: We intuit it.
Sometimes, we get overwhelmed. This is where having the Design Cycle is a blessing. Rather than give up in frustration, we can reframe the real problem and break it down into smaller chunks.
Building Resilient Systems
Resilience is a critical life skill. Resiliency is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to adversity or change. The magic of the design cycle is that it gives us a framework to adapt to that adversity and change that is already defined to allow for success.
Like any challenge the first step is understanding the challenge, and the next step is identifying the solution to that challenge. The Design Cycle is the key to mastering that ability to respond and adapt to change, adversity, or setbacks.
Practice Makes Perfect
Like any skill, it MUST be practiced. This is the heart and soul of Mezzacello Urban Farm’s mission: Allow the public, especially students, schools, and communities to consider how we can adapt our vision of sustainability, applied STEM concepts, and ecologies to better meet the challenges facing our world.
We do this by empowering young minds to see new patterns and condider new pathways and innovations to solve age-old problems and new challenges alike with science, character, and confidence. Join us on our Design Cycle Journey.
