Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Elementary Innovation Challenge

With the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVD-19) schools are preparing for possible impact from cases being identified in their community. Schools are also taking steps to prevent the spread of the virus locally.  The best way to prevent the spread of this type of virus is for students to practice good hand washing behavior at both school and home.  Yet, research has shown that most students do not wash their hands following the recommended practice (20 second washing with soap and warm water).

I have been encouraging schools to use this as an opportunity to have students solving the real-world problem of too few students washing their hands.  Students can design and test innovative ideas for increasing hand washing.  I have shared a Classroom Innovation Challenge for secondary students. The question arose the other day from Twitter colleague that essentially said, “Great, but what about my kindergarten students?”  Here is what I proposed in response. 

First, with young students you still want to tackle innovation as a process that is deliberate.  This means framing a problem, prototyping solutions, and testing these solutions to see if they work.

Second, scaffold the process with students through We Do process.  Start by diagnosing the root cause of the handwashing problem. Start with a simplified problem, why don’t students wash their hands? 

Third, use a root cause analysis tool to dig into the problem.  I recommend using a Problem Tree analysis.  In this type of analysis, the problem is the trunk of the tree.  Then, students name potential reasons why they don’t wash their hands following the recommended protocol.  These reasons become the roots of the tree.  The students also name consequences of not washing their hands.  These consequences can be immediate (we have dirty hands with germs) or indirect (e.g. we might get sick).  The consequences are displayed as the branches of the tree. 

Fourth, students can be empowered to decide what root cause they want to try to solve.  They can do this by putting sticky dots next to the reason they think should be addressed.

Fifth, either whole group or students in small groups have them come up with an idea that might get kids to wash their hands more often. 

Sixth, build a prototype.  Have the kids do a sketch of their idea.

Seventh, have the students describe the idea to their colleagues.

If you want a step by step guide for this innovation challenge you can download it here: