Design Thinking for Agriculture & Community

Overview

Design Thinking is a problem-solving methodology that helps people understand challenges, develop creative solutions, and take meaningful action. It works by putting people first — listening to their experiences, learning what matters to them, and building solutions alongside them. The process follows five phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Each phase builds on the last, guiding students from understanding a challenge to creating something they can put in front of real people and learn from.

This curriculum brings that process into FFA chapters, 4-H clubs, and classrooms through a hands-on student workbook and a complete set of supporting materials. Students apply design thinking to real challenges in agriculture, food systems, and their local communities. The approach is simple: think big, start small, and scale fast. Students choose a problem they care about, connect with the people experiencing it, and work through rapid cycles of building, testing, and improving. Along the way, they develop skills in empathy, collaboration, creative problem-solving, and community engagement that extend well beyond any single project.

This project is a collaboration between CDA, AIFARMS, and Illinois 4-H. For more information, email digitalag@illinois.edu.

➡️ Complete this brief form to download it for free: https://go.illinois.edu/dt4ag-form.

Questions about this curriculum?

Email the CDA Team at
digitalag@illinois.edu

Curriculum Materials

The free curriculum package includes a student workbook, an advisor’s guide, a completed example workbook, and a workshop-in-a-box kit with everything needed to run activities with minimal prep. Below is a brief overview of the materials provided.

Printable Student Workbook

The printable Student Workbook is a guided workbook that walks students through the full design thinking process. Students build personas, map user journeys, conduct interviews, brainstorm solutions, prototype ideas, and test them with real people. Each activity is time-boxed to keep momentum and teach that progress beats perfection.

Digital Advisor's Guide

The digital Advisor’s Guide is a companion guide for advisors and educators that covers the methodology, common pitfalls, how to spot and unstick struggling students, and four proven pathways for implementation. This guide offers comprehensive support, from a single 3-4-hour workshop to a full 16-week extended program.

Example Workbook

The Example Workbook is a fully completed version of the student workbook showing example responses for every phase. Paired with mock interview transcripts so students can see how raw conversation notes translate into completed workbook entries.

Workshop-in-a-Box Materials

The Workshop-in-a-Box is equipped with pre-built scenarios, mock interviews, quick reference cards, and getting started guides for five agriculture and community problems. Designed so that an advisor can pick a problem, hand out the materials, and run a workshop with minimal preparation.

Get the Curriculum

➡️ Complete this brief form to download it for free: https://go.illinois.edu/dt4ag-form.