Designing Better Systems

Overview

In lesson 6 of 8, students apply the design thinking process to food and fibre production. Through teacher modelling and guided practice, they develop empathy for people and environments, define a clear opportunity, and generate possible improvements to a managed production system.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• explain how food and fibre are produced in managed environments
• use empathy to identify the needs of people, animals and environments within a production system
• define a specific problem or opportunity for improvement
• generate and communicate several possible design ideas

Success criteria

• I can identify who is affected by a food or fibre production system and explain their needs.
• I can write a clear problem statement beginning with “How might we…?”
• I can generate at least three different ideas.
• I can explain how my ideas could improve sustainability, efficiency, safety or wellbeing.

Curriculum links

• Explain how and why food and fibre are produced in managed environments.
• Explain how characteristics and properties of materials, systems, components, tools and equipment affect their use when producing designed solutions.
• Investigate needs or opportunities for designing, and the materials, components, tools, equipment and processes needed to create designed solutions.
• Select and use suitable materials, components, tools, equipment and techniques to safely make designed solutions.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Retrieve and hook. Teacher revisits the unit question, “How do people produce food and fibre responsibly?” and displays contrasting images of a productive farm and a damaged or wasteful system using the hook and retrieval slides. Students complete a quick think-pair-share: identify one benefit and one challenge shown in the images.

2. 5–15 min · Explicit teaching: design thinking. Teacher introduces the three stages for today—empathise, define and ideate—and models a wool production example: a sheep farmer is concerned about water use, wool quality and animal wellbeing. Students listen, ask clarifying questions and record the three stages on the design thinking organiser.

3. 15–25 min · Model empathy and define. Teacher thinks aloud while completing the organiser: “Who is involved?”, “What do they need?”, “What is difficult?” and “What evidence do we have?” Model turning notes into the problem statement, “How might we reduce water waste while keeping sheep healthy and producing quality wool?” Students help improve the statement and identify whether it is specific, achievable and connected to a real need.

4. 25–38 min · Guided group investigation. Teacher forms eight groups of four and assigns or allows a choice of contexts: cotton production, wool production, vegetable growing, grain production, dairy farming or a school garden. Teacher circulates, prompting students to consider the producer, consumer, animal, plant, worker and environment. Groups complete the empathy and define sections of the design thinking organiser, using the question prompts in the guided investigation slides. Each group writes one “How might we…?” question.

5. 38–52 min · Ideate and share. Teacher models deferring judgement and encourages quantity before evaluation. Groups brainstorm at least three possible solutions, such as water-saving systems, composting, crop selection, safer equipment, improved fibre processing or reduced packaging. Students sketch or describe their ideas in the ideate section of the design thinking organiser and select one idea to explain in a 30-second group presentation. Remind students that ideas must respond to the defined need and may involve materials, tools, equipment or processes.

6. 52–60 min · Plenary and exit reflection. Teacher invites four groups to share their problem statement and strongest idea, then uses the class responses to connect design thinking to the next lesson’s research and planning. Students complete the reflection prompts template by recording what they learned, which stage was most challenging and one improvement they would make to their idea.

Resources

• the design thinking and production systems slide deck
• the design thinking organiser
• the reflection prompts template
• Images or photographs of food and fibre production systems
• Pencils, coloured pencils and erasers
• Whiteboard and markers
• Timer
• Group table signs or context cards

Assessment

• Listen for students accurately identifying stakeholders, needs and impacts during the empathy discussion.
• Check group organisers for a specific “How might we…?” question and at least three relevant ideas connected to food or fibre production.
• Use the reflection template to assess students’ understanding of the design thinking stages and readiness for research and solution development.

Differentiation

• Provide a word bank and sentence starters: “The ___ needs…”, “The problem is…”, and “How might we…?”
• Offer picture-supported production contexts and allow students to record ideas through labelled drawings, speech-to-text or scribing.
• Pair students strategically and assign group roles: facilitator, recorder, ideas monitor and speaker.
• Extend confident students by requiring them to explain a likely trade-off, such as cost, material use, environmental impact or effect on product quality.
• Check understanding after each modelled stage and provide a partially completed organiser for students requiring additional support.