Developing design skills and applying them to real world contexts, as well as students' lives, is an important part of our MYP Design program. We want to see our students develop as designers and become more self-aware of how design thinking approaches can be used across disciplines. In addition to having a goal for the outcome of the project, such as the development of skills or techniques, we also want our students to develop their design mindset.

To that end, every unit includes a set of SMART goals that students write and then follow throughout the unit. They are not assessed on these goals, but they do guide our one-on-one discussions, and they are asked to refer to them as they make their design decisions.

I'm seeing some development of students' design mindset as they are making explicit what they how to develop and grow as a designer.

Student Resources

Student resource: SMART Goal slide (Google Slide to be imported into design portfolio)
Student resource: What are SMART Goals for Designers