9 Module 2 – Human-Centered Design
Learning Objectives
- Explain how curricular problem-solving differs from problem-solving in the real world
- Define Human-Centered Design
- Apply Empathy, the first stage in Human-Centered Design in understanding a problem
When we look at the nature of problems, there are two main elements, including Structure and Complexity. The complexity of a problem is related to the number of variables involved. For example, if you are in a STEM field, then you are used to solving problems in which there is one unknown variable, and you use everything you know to find that variable. But with complex problems, you are working with many unknown variables and so it becomes a lot harder to pin down a ‘solution’. Essentially, the less that is known, and the more variables there are, the more complex and difficult the problems become.
The second core element of a problem is structure. You can measure structure with the coherence of the variables. So what do I mean by that? If you and a friend and working on a problem, the problem would be well-structured if you can both look at the information provided and agree on the interpretation of the information and what needs to be done to arrive at a solution. The problem would be ill-structured however, if you disagree on the interpretation of the information, the goals, what the next steps would be and even the constraints.
Let’s dive into some examples.
An example of a well-structured and less complex problem would be simply converting temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit. It is less complex because there only one unknown variable, Fahrenheit, and it is well-structured because the process to convert degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit is a known equation.
Moving up, a well-structured but more complex problem is solving a Rubiks cube. It’s structured because you can all agree on what the objective of the game is, but what makes it complex is that you cant change any single tile without changing at least seven others.
Moving down to the right, a poorly structured but less complex problem is attempting to explain what justice looks like. What makes this less complex is that it’s only referring to one variable, and that is Justice. But, to now explain what Justice looks like, depending on your background, values, morals, justice can look very different. You could probably go in the dictionary to DEFINE justice, but to explain what it LOOKS like can be a downright contentious topic to discuss, making it a very ill-structured problem in that there may very well be differing ideas of the how to arrive at an ‘answer’ and even what the ‘answer’ would be.
Finally, the hardest challenge here, is starting a small business. What makes this a very complex problem is that there are so many variables involved to do so. From financing, base location, logistics, to marketing, and more. And what makes this a poorly-structured challenge is that there is no hard and fast rule to starting a new business. Typi