From Prep to Year 6, Flinders guides students through bespoke curriculum and immersive events to learn the design thinking cycle: Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test.
The goal is to empower each student to develop the skills, knowledge and dispositions to empathise with real-world problems and create innovative and viable solutions by the time they enter Secondary School in Year 7.
Beginning in Prep and Year 1 at Flinders, students learn through the I-care program and then strengthen their learning from Year 2 to Year 6 through the i-Impact program.
The two bespoke programs integrate Humanities, Science and Technologies subjects from the Australian Curriculum while using human-centred design thinking to empathise, ideate and prototype innovative solutions to cultural, social and environmental issues.
There is also Flinders’ Wonder curriculum, which builds students’ capacity to be curious, question, research and problem-solve, and to design and pitch ideas.
Design thinking to improve the world
Mrs Trudi Edwards, the Head of Primary at Flinders, said it was important to future-proof students for a complex and evolving workforce while ensuring they seek to make a difference in the world.
“Our aim at Flinders Primary School is to inspire and equip students to be confident and capable future thinkers who can empathise with problems and develop solutions,” Mrs Edwards said.
“We want our students to be aware and empowered people who don’t just get the job done, but push boundaries and constantly strive to do well by ‘doing good’ in the world,” she said.
“Our two bespoke programs, I-care and i-Impact, and three immersive design events certainly provide a context for our students to do just that.
“Design thinking is not a bolt-on subject at Flinders, but an underlying ‘bolted-in’ methodology; it is powerful in supporting students’ academic outcomes and character development.
“The immersive design events we provide in Years 1, 3 and 5 are a chance for our students to collaborate and connect with industry experts while putting their knowledge into practice and tapping into their curiosity, creativity and enterprising spirits.”
Flinders students at Design for Impact summit
Year 6 students showcase their design thinking journey
As evidence of the exciting outcomes students achieve through the I-care and i-Impact programs, Flinders was the only Primary School in Australia to make the 2024 Activate Grand Finals, an entrepreneurship competition for high school students run by Future Anything.
All Flinders Year 6 students pitch their social enterprise ideas to the Activate judges as the final task in their culminating Year 6 semester-long i-Impact project. The project enables them to be self-guided and leverage all aspects of their design thinking expertise journey established from Prep.
At the 2024 Activate Grand Finals, Flinders was represented by eight students in Year 6, with two of the students, Jesse and Jack, winning Runners Up for their “Safe Surf” prototype, an innovative inflatable rash vest and a GPS wristband that boosts surfer and swimmer safety at the beach.
The Activate award prizes include funding and mentoring support to help students launch their innovative, scalable and sustainable social enterprise ideas out of the classroom and into the real world.
The Year 6 teaching team at Flinders was inspired by the positive outcomes every student experienced through i-Impact, including enhanced engagement, agency and social-emotional competencies, along with a boost in entrepreneurial and enterprising dispositions, skills and knowledge.
Immersive design events at Flinders
Along with an embedded design thinking curriculum in the classroom, students experience three milestone design immersion events.
DESIGN BASE CAMP, YEAR 1 STUDENTS (1-DAY EVENT)
Students explore their foundational knowledge of design thinking and learn the value of teamwork. Last year’s event challenge was to design a farewell cake for the retiring Primary School Counsellor, Dr Alec, and his adorable sidekick, Cooper, the school dog.
DESIGN ASCENT, YEAR 3 STUDENTS (2-DAY EVENT)
Students dive deeper into design thinking and use their creativity and imagination while putting their collaboration skills to the test. The challenge is to create a playground prototype that supports young people’s emotional, social and physical development while also being exciting, challenging and safe.
DESIGN FOR IMPACT SUMMIT, YEAR 5 STUDENTS (3-DAY EVENT)
Students act as future thinkers and design the environments they want to live in while connecting with industry mentors. This year’s Summit challenge is to repurpose the infrastructure from the 2032 Olympic and Paralympics on the Sunshine Coast to benefit the community beyond the events.
ACTIVATE, YEAR 6 STUDENTS (SEMESTER-LONG UNIT)
Year 6 students leverage all aspects of their design thinking journey from Prep to Year 6. The unit concludes with all students pitching their innovative prototypes to industry experts in an attempt to qualify for the National Activate Grand Final event.
To learn more, visit www.mfac.edu.au/discover
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