Question
What strategies might students engage in during the ideate phase of the design-
thinking process?
thinking process?
Ask by Schofield Logan. in the United States
Mar 21,2025
Upstudy AI Solution
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Answer
Students use various strategies during the ideate phase, such as brainstorming to generate many ideas, mind mapping to visualize connections, asking “How Might We” questions to explore different angles, applying the SCAMPER technique to modify and combine ideas, sketching to create visual models, role-playing to understand user interactions, and engaging in divergent thinking to explore unconventional solutions.
Solution
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Brainstorming:
Students can engage in unrestrained idea generation, allowing all thoughts to surface without fear of criticism. The focus is on quantity over quality to encourage a wide range of possibilities, similar to generating solutions for an equation like. -
Mind Mapping:
Creating visual diagrams that connect different ideas helps students see relationships and spark new insights. This strategy resembles plotting nodes that interconnect, similar to a graph where each node represents a concept. -
"How Might We" Questions:
Framing challenges as open-ended questions (e.g., “How might we improve the user experience?”) encourages thinking from various perspectives to generate multiple approaches. -
SCAMPER Technique:
This involves applying a series of prompts to existing ideas using:- Substitute: Change parts of the concept.
- Combine: Merge two or more ideas.
- Adapt: Adjust the components for a new purpose.
- Modify: Alter the design or features.
- Put to Another Use: Consider different applications.
- Eliminate: Remove unnecessary elements.
- Reverse: Reorder or invert the structure.
Each prompt helps break conventional patterns of thought. -
Sketching and Visual Prototyping:
Drawing quick sketches or creating low-fidelity models allows students to visualize ideas. Conceptual illustrations can be seen as preliminary “models” of potential solutions, much like drafting a preliminary proof before refining it. -
Role Playing and Storytelling:
By acting out scenarios or constructing narratives, students can explore how ideas might function in real-world contexts. This strategy helps in understanding user interactions and emotional responses. -
Divergent Thinking Exercises:
Activities that deliberately push the mind to explore different, non-obvious alternatives beyond mainstream ideas. This can lead to innovative solutions by exploring a broad solution spacewhere .
Each of these strategies encourages open-minded exploration, creativity, and a willingness to take risks—core principles during the ideate phase of the design-thinking process.
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One fun strategy students can use during the ideate phase is “Crazy Eights.” In this activity, each student takes a sheet of paper, folds it into eight sections, and has just eight minutes to sketch eight different ideas related to their challenge. The pressure of time sparks creativity, leading to wild and unexpected concepts that can later be refined!
Another engaging approach is to have a “Yes, and…” session. Instead of shooting down ideas, students build on each other’s thoughts by starting with “Yes, and…” This technique fosters an open environment where everyone’s contribution is valued, allowing ideas to evolve into exciting new solutions without the fear of judgment!
