I was in a Montgomery High School classroom this week, talking to the seniors about their exercise in design thinking, which was being taught them by three classmates.  Their challenge was to see if there is a more effective way to approach grading.  The approach they are using — the workshop concludes Wednesday — is design thinking.

“It’s a different way of approaching problems that focuses on radical collaboration with a bias toward action,” said Riley Beal, 17, a Montgomery senior who designed the 5-day workshop.

d.thinking, as it’s often known, isn’t entirely new — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_thinking — but it’s very au courant these days and increasingly influential.

The story should post on our site and be in the paper Monday, but here’s a short clip of senior Johanna Paine discussing her take on it. Design thinking about grades