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"Our children don't know what responsibility is." Why teach children a new type of thinking - and what will it give them? How to help a child find himself if we ourselves do not know what to prepare for? Ekaterina Demina, producer of the track "Design Thinking for Teenagers" of the international educational platform "Design Thinking Center" tells.
Our children do not know what responsibility is: why it is bad
Today, more than ever, children need real activities. If we leave the child in relationships with the virtual heroes of games and metaverses, then the values will be set by relationships with artificial entities.
It turns out rather fragile structures, children grow up into emotionally unstable young people, experience difficulties in life and in promoting themselves in the labor market. Therefore, it is more important than ever to give modern children the opportunity to restore the psychological side of this process - the cycle of activity, the formation of motivation and, as a result, personal responsibility.
Activity, according to the approach of the Russian psychologist A. Leontiev, gives us the opportunity to understand the way of formation of responsibility, values, motivation of the individual. If there was overprotectiveness in the family tradition of the child, or if adults stopped - out of good intentions - his independent attempts to act, then he, of course, will not be familiar with the experience of immersion in "his activity". And even more so, he will not be familiar with the feeling of responsibility, because responsibility is a special personal experience lived by the child.
It is very important to restore this experience, live it, make mistakes and go back to the previous stages. As well as setting goals and changing them, because the situation has also changed. All this can be provided by design thinking - a concept that is extremely important to include in the educational and even educational process.
What is design thinking
In business terminology, design thinking is an approach that allows you to quickly create and improve products and services that are convenient and understandable to the user. This approach works well in a situation of uncertainty, when we do not know what result we will come to in the final. The sequence of stages has been tested on various types of products and services, including the development of portal solutions (for example, such as mos.ru) or the creation of a customer-oriented service for medical clinics - all this is also design thinking.
In a global sense, design thinking is a way of thinking that any modern person needs.
The rate of emergence and death of professions is now increasing, the trend for the survival of businesses and economies that are aimed at benefiting people (the vector of human-centeredness) is strengthening, which means that specialists are also needed who can easily adapt to new conditions and flexibly approach problem solving.
Children can be taught design thinking from the age of 12. At this age, a teenager already knows how to keep his attention on the process and link the individual parts into a single whole.
An important psychological effect of the inclusion of design thinking in the educational process: at the moment when the child made a mistake and continued to act further, his creative confidence is born. According to executives Tom and David Kelly, the essence of creative confidence is to be convinced of your ability to change the world around you. This is a direct road to innovation, and therefore the most accurate investment you can think of.
Stages of Design ThinkingTaking on a job when nothing is clear
Design thinking starts with empathy.
This stage helps to immerse yourself in the experience of the interlocutor and, starting from new knowledge, move on to active action. For example, figure out how to make something better and more comfortable.
We think we know our friends, relatives, colleagues, clients. But often this is not the case. It is human nature to project personal experience and past impressions onto the experience of other people and attribute to them feelings and desires that do not exist in reality. And in order to find out more precisely what this “other” (a child, a parent, a physics teacher, a boss - in general, anyone) needs, you need to ask him about it. But ask correctly, empathically, without interrupting and without offering your guesses and emotions. And then hear the answer and realize it, without thinking at this moment about something of your own. Focusing like this gives you a chance to figure out the important link around which you should build your product - and any relationship (relations in the family are also in this sense a “product”).
Manage a large flow of information
Design thinking technology is that each stage allows you to correctly analyze and distribute information. That is, so as not to deviate from the main goal and not miss the details. In our experience, guys quickly master design thinking canvases (a canvas is a ready-made discussion template) and include them in their work. An example of a canvas that allows you to cluster interview results from different respondents and highlight key points in a consumer portrait is shown in the figure.
Empathy map for product and service development. Even more examples.Work in a creative team
Without a team in the design thinking approach, it is impossible. Firstly, there is a lot of data in research and it must first be collected and then analyzed - this requires people. Secondly, creativity begins where there are different views on the task - and at such moments of discussion, children learn to express their opinion, but not to devalue the opinions of others, even if they do not agree with them, to participate in the common cause of co-creation.
It feels like a pleasure from the process, like a creative flow.
A team is a synergy of different people and different team roles. Understanding yourself and your inclinations gives the key to the success of the child in the future: if he realizes that he is the best at generating ideas, then he will correctly position himself in the team and not demand the impossible from himself, for example, super success in tasks for attention to details. Or - even worse - comparing yourself to others and constantly lowering your self-esteem.
Use different types of thinking to find the best solution
Thinking system #1 and Thinking system #2 are real terms. They were invented by Daniel Kahneman, author of Think Slow, Decide Fast. Thinking system No. 1 allows you to quickly grasp information and form judgments just as quickly. But make mistakes and distortions. And System of Thinking No. 2 is a long analytical processing, comparison, clarification of details. The process takes time, but there will be much fewer errors.
Design thinking includes both systems of thinking in turn. The creation of a new product or service turns into a very intellectually powerful process that, without this technology, would have to be deployed for months. And we need it fast: business usually does not wait for time.
Speed up your career by a few years
The benefits of design thinking at the training stage are more or less clear. But even at the stage of serious work in a large company, this soft skill will not be superfluous either. And that's why.
The skill of empathy and active listening is the main content of business training in all corporations. People who know how to listen and hear are valued much more and more often get promoted on the career ladder. If we have been developing this skill since the age of 12, can you imagine how much easier it will be for a child to navigate in new conditions and adapt to new people and teams?
Many adults are now looking for their own creative flow in order to enjoy life and not burn out.
And in design thinking, this flow simply exists - due to team synergy and variability of opinions.
Understanding the principle of team balancing and knowing your team role profile is what top managers and middle managers strive for. For the past few years, after training and personal consultations on team roles, the question regularly pops up among adults: “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this before? Why isn't this taught in school?"
Illustrations: StonePictures / Shutterstock / Fotodom
"Today's kids... Oh, it's very hard: they know a lot." How not to quarrel over upbringing?
– Maybe I allow her a little more than her parents, for which I later receive from them, of course, – laughs Alexandra Shestakova , grandmother and founder of the women's club Svoyaya Sreda. - When I say something to my son, he says to me: “Yes, yes, yes, so you spoil it!”
– I can watch serials with my grandmother until late, let's call it that, – says her granddaughter Ksenia Shestakova .
- I can eat some pack of chips, gummies, ice cream, which my parents do not buy because it is not worth as much money as they think.
“Modern children… Oh, it's very hard, because they know a lot,” sighs Tatyana Artimovich , grandmother of three grandchildren.
“A man of the old school”
– Mom is not used to adults not being an authority, says her daughter Elena Sudilovskaya, herself is a mother of two sons. - She, you know, as a person of the old school, she has her own opinion, again, we are very different in our views.
- I help my daughter in everything: both in everyday life and in education, - says Tatyana Artimovich. - In the same kindergarten - pick up, they arrive late. Mom can pick it up later, but I try to go early so that I can still go for a walk with the child.
- I live with my mother in the same apartment - she has been with her grandchildren since birth, - Elena Sudilovskaya explains.
- She, like all people of her generation, has certain postulates: you need to do this, this and that.
- When the first grandson was growing up, I didn't like everything, that's how she fed more with instant cereals, - says Tatyana Artimovich. - I thought that you can cook, they say, cook and feed.
– Mom told us that at two months old she was already giving us juices, – Elena Sudilovskaya gives an example. - I didn’t give my children anything until 6 months, except for formula or breast milk.
“For example, he sits on the same phone until the last minute, then he runs to do his homework,” Tatyana Artimovich gives another example. - I always tell him: please, do your homework and sit down, at least I don’t know what.
– Now authority needs to be earned. And you still have to try to do it, - Elena Sudilovskaya explains. “Why should I do my homework?” “Because I said so,” Grandma says. "And what?" Zhenya said. And here is a silent pause, as in Gogol's The Government Inspector.
- My daughter always says: “What am I going to beat him with a belt?” - says Tatyana Artimovich. - No, you don't have to hit him with a belt. You can punish in some other way. Take your tablet there for a while.
- I don't like the word "punishment" - well, in principle, I don't like it, - Elena Sudilovskaya explains. – If there is any conflict, if you want to show how big and powerless you are, punish. And if you want to get any positive result at all, then you will have to work very hard for this. And it won't be a punishment.
You gave your child a phone. This is his personal item. How can you take it? Well, I’ll come right now, I don’t know, to a neighbor’s and take her phone away. The action will be the same.
- Zhenya is already 11 years old. And I think that at this age the child should already have some responsibilities - for example, at home, - says Tatyana Artimovich. - He should make his own bed at least behind him. He must take his clothes away.
- "Zhenya, please put the books on your table." “Mom, but it doesn’t stop me from working.” But that doesn't stop him from working. He does his homework very well, - Elena Sudilovskaya gives an example. - And you think there: and what have you stuck to? Because "it is necessary that the table was in order."
- Before, you know, according to the principle: "I'm an adult, I'm in charge, I'm the leader of the pack - and you sit and shut up." Now, you know, today's children - it doesn't work like that with them, - explains Alexandra Shestakova. - And those parents who have retained this authoritarian style, they lose.
This is some kind of generation gap! Where did he even come from?
“Our children were already different,” says Tatyana Artimovich. “But our grandchildren will be completely different.
– For the generation of my parents, who survived the famine years during the war, post-war, what was the task before our generation? Feed, - explains Alexandra Shestakova.
– Our generation already had the main task in relation to our children – to educate.
The current generation has a somewhat different task in relation to their children. They grew up in the 90s, they saw how parents - that is, we - were killed at 2-3 jobs, how there was a shortage in toys, how to buy something - it was a holiday, starting with children's tights. They have a different motto - just not the same as ours.
We were brought up that we should. We must help our parents, we must love the Motherland. For the current generation, brought up by modern psychologists, the main thing is what? We don't owe anyone anything.
– Now the amount of information is changing so much… in a short time that perhaps we haven't changed as much in our entire life as children change now, maybe in a month, says Alexandra Shestakova.
“They ask a lot of questions,” says Elena Sudilovskaya. – Not just “why does the sun shine?”. They ask a lot of questions: in principle, why do this? What happens if I don't? They have a different mindset.
They are not ready to concede such boundaries. And it is right. Because they will grow up worthy, free people.
It can be difficult for grandparents to accept the new way of thinking - they are used to raising their children differently, and they are not ready for quick changes. But if anyone helps parents with children, it is grandparents. According to a study of Belarusian family relations, those who receive assistance in raising children, in two thirds of cases receive it from the parents of the mother or father of the child. That is from grandparents. So you still have to agree on education.
“It seems impossible to me. We just fight all the time!”
– The most important thing a grandmother should have is her love for her grandchildren. Everything else will follow,” says Elena Sudilovskaya. - When, you know, mother and grandmother begin to swear, the grandchildren at first do not understand anything, and then they learn to use it. And this is absolutely not a useful experience for their life.
