Middle School Shoe Design

Students Put their Best Foot Forward

IB attributes: inquirers, knowledgeable, risk-takers

Discussing the iteration of the cardboard shoe

While acknowledging that the end products might not hold up too well in the snow and slush of our Montreal winters, grade 8 students demonstrated impressive research, design and analytical skills in their shoe design project. Tasked with creating shoes representing a particular culture, they followed the four steps of the IB design cycle, a model of thinking that encourages students to create and evaluate solutions in response to challenges. Here’s a summary of what they had to do:

+ Research the culture (Inquiring and analysing)

+ Sketch shoe ideas (Developing ideas)

+ Create shoes out of cardboard or recycled materials (Creating the solution)

+ Interview classmates about their final product, reflect on the process and document it in a journal, including what worked, what didn’t, and what was learned (Evaluating)

A project with depictions of the Tokyo skyline, Mount Fuji, the bullet train, and other Japan-related elements.

Theodore Etheridge-Dlamini ’25, Keifer Zhou ’25 and Olivier Nassiry ’25 chose to represent Japanese culture in their project (above), with depictions of the Tokyo skyline, Mount Fuji, the bullet train, and other Japan-related elements. In their final reflection, the students said: “We learned a lot about Japan, as well as how to design a cardboard shoe. But the biggest thing that we learned was how to work well as a team.

A finished product displaying American culture

“We said that our design would be successful if we could walk, jump, and stand for 10 minutes without damaging the shoe. We also wanted at least 80% of those interviewed to be able to tell which culture the shoe represented. All of our criteria were met.”

NOËL TREMBLAY, Social Studies Teacher IB Design Teacher

A stiletto prototype highlighting French culture through architecture and art