Eyeyah!’s Design Thinking Teacher Training at West View Primary School

In collaboration with Design Singapore Council, under the Learning by Design initiative, EYEYAH! designed a whole-school teacher training programme  to equip teachers with the knowledge to facilitate and design their own design thinking lessons, from Primary 1 to Primary 6.

The first training session of 6hrs introduced teachers to the core principles of design thinking.

EYEYAH! facilitators guided teachers through the ‘double diamond’ design process. The first day covered the ‘Discover’ and ‘Define’ phases, where teachers gathered and synthesised information. They worked in groups, chose teaching challenges to tackle, explored these issues deeply through interviewing techniques, and used empathy maps to better understand the perspectives of those involved.

On the second day, participants moved through the ‘Develop’ and ‘Deliver’ phases, engaging deeply in collaborative innovation. Through brainstorming, they enhanced and refined their ideas, selecting the most promising ones via ‘dotmocracy’—a method where participants use dots to vote.

A highlight was the creative prototyping activity, where teachers depicted the process of making toast in just six visual steps. This exercise not only added a fun element but effectively demonstrated the importance of visual communication and simplicity in teaching complex concepts.

Post-prototyping, teachers present their concepts to their peers, who acted as ‘investors’ providing feedback using the supportive “I like, I wish, I wonder” format. This method ensures constructive criticism and fosters an environment of creative thought and mutual improvement, mirroring real-world feedback scenarios.

After the workshop, EYEYAH provided ongoing support through access to a collection of resources designed for P1-P6 students and by reviewing the teacher slides. A further two training sessions will focus on facilitating Design Thinking and designing DT lessons.