Engaging classroom activities with interactive screens: tips for teachers

Interactive screens have revolutionized classroom teaching, enhancing creativity, collaboration, and personalized learning. By combining design thinking with these technologies, teachers can encourage students to approach problems from multiple angles, fostering critical thinking, innovation, and solution-based learning. This blog outlines the top 10 classroom activities using interactive screens, integrating the famous 4Cs—critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication—and design thinking principles, while also touching on the role of AI in teaching.

What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is a problem-solving methodology centered around five steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. This approach encourages students to understand user needs (empathize), define the problem, brainstorm possible solutions, create prototypes, and test their ideas. By integrating design thinking into classroom activities, teachers can nurture creativity, analytical thinking, and innovation in students.

1. Collaborative Brainstorming Sessions with Design Thinking

Value: Collaboration & Creativity Interactive screens can be used for brainstorming sessions where students work through the first steps of design thinking: empathizing and defining the problem. Tools like Jamboard allow students to map out users’ needs, identify pain points, and share ideas with each other. This sparks creativity and collaboration as students collectively build on each other’s ideas.

2. AI-Powered Quizzes and Formative Assessments

Value: Critical Thinking & Empathy Using AI-powered quizzes like Kahoot! in combination with design thinking’s “empathy” phase, teachers can create assessments that align with student interests or real-world issues. Students are encouraged to empathize with users or scenarios within the quiz questions, building critical thinking skills by analyzing challenges from different perspectives.

3. Virtual Field Trips with Empathy Mapping

Value: Global Awareness & Communication While taking virtual field trips via Google Expeditions or similar tools, students can engage in empathy mapping. For example, after visiting a historical site, students can discuss how people from different cultures or eras might have felt, using interactive screens to create empathy maps that outline emotional and social needs, enhancing their global perspective and communication skills.

4. AI-Powered Writing Assistance for Iteration

Value: Creativity & Communication AI-based writing tools like Grammarly can be used in the prototyping stage of design thinking, where students continuously improve their written content. Students use these tools to refine their writing and communicate their ideas clearly, iterating drafts based on AI feedback and peer reviews.

5. STEM Interactive Simulations for Prototyping

Value: Critical Thinking & Iterative Problem Solving In STEM subjects, interactive simulations like PhET and Tinkercad serve as prototyping tools within the design thinking process. After students ideate solutions to real-world problems, they can test their ideas in safe, interactive environments, observe outcomes, and iterate based on results. This enhances critical thinking by allowing students to experiment and refine their solutions.

6. Interactive Storytelling with User-Centered Focus

Value: Creativity & Collaboration Incorporating design thinking in interactive storytelling, students can focus on the “empathize” phase by creating characters and narratives that address specific audience needs. Tools like Book Creator enable students to collaborate on creating stories that are empathetic to the experiences and challenges of their audience, promoting both creative and collaborative thinking.

7. AI-Powered Language Learning with Design Thinking

Value: Personalization & Communication AI-driven language learning platforms like Duolingo can be used in the “define” and “ideate” stages of design thinking. Students learning a new language can define communication challenges faced by non-native speakers and brainstorm ways to overcome them. Interactive screens can further help visualize language structures and solutions, enhancing communication skills and empathy for other cultures.

8. Gamified Learning Stations with Challenge-Based Learning

Value: Engagement, Critical Thinking, & Prototyping Using gamified learning tools like Classcraft, students can engage in challenge-based learning. Design thinking fits perfectly here as students tackle real-world problems within the game, moving through the phases of ideating, prototyping, and testing solutions. Interactive screens help create a visual, immersive experience that fosters engagement and critical thinking.

9. Project-Based Learning (PBL) with Design Thinking

Value: Collaboration, Critical Thinking, & Prototyping When students present their research and solutions through interactive screens using tools like Google Slides, they are engaging in the design thinking process. The “prototype” phase can involve creating interactive models or mock-ups of their solutions, and the “test” phase can involve peer feedback, allowing for refinement. This method promotes deeper collaboration and the continuous development of critical thinking skills.

10. Interactive AI Tutors for Feedback and Iteration

Value: Personalization & Continuous Learning AI tutors, such as DreamBox, can support the iterative phase of design thinking, where students receive personalized feedback based on their work. Using interactive screens, students can test different approaches, receive AI-powered insights, and refine their learning strategies. This fosters a continuous learning process, with the AI tutor acting as a feedback loop to encourage iteration and improvement.

By integrating design thinking into activities using interactive screens, teachers can inspire students to become innovative problem solvers. Through empathy, defining problems, ideation, prototyping, and testing, students engage with the 4Cs—critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication—on a deeper level. With the help of AI tools, these activities become even more personalized and engaging, empowering students to think beyond the classroom and apply their skills to real-world challenges.