Making to Make a Difference Curriculum

Making to Make a Difference

Design thinking curriculum design scaffolded and taught for elementary, middle, and high schoolers

Cover art by Flora Troy

Year: 2021-22

Role: Teacher & Curriculum Developer

Attributes:

Formal Learning

Curriculum Design

Design Thinking

Teaching

For Ages 5-16

Curious Cardinals: Making to Make a Difference

Curious Cardinals is a Stanford-founded startup that connects college students with K-12 students for personalized mentorship to build skills to follow their passions. Partnering with them for two years, I served many roles, teaching in a variety of context in a variety of subjects. One of my favorite curricula I developed was “Making to Make a Difference” scaffolded for three different age groups: elementary, middle, and high schoolers.

Lesson Example: Design Thinking with Phineas and Ferb

With an emphasis on design thinking and maker education, I focused on giving students practice with creative tools to solve problems they were passionate about. Below are examples of a lesson on Scratch storytelling to build computational thinking skills and using Phineas and Ferb as a case study on imaginative design. Students of all ages build incredible projects and explored a wide range of challenges in the world. The syllabus for grades 8-10 is below.