What Does ‘Design Thinking’ Look Like in School?

Jennifer Alfonso-Punzalan

ET
IL

K Schwartz.  (2013, March 4).  What Does ‘Design Thinking’ Look Like in School?  [Web log comment].  Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/03/what-does-design-thinking-look-like-in-school/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29

Design thinking is a way of learning such that students solve real-life problems with creatively thought-out solutions.  Students use multiple intelligences to solve problems.  The article uses the Nueva School in Hillsborough, California, a private K-8 school, as an example of a school where design thinking is incorporated in all the curricula and through all grades.  An example of design thinking is a project where 4th grade students use an LED light to make a light for the family member who needs a lamp the most.  The students must study how the person would use the light, research, and design a lamp.  Design thinking uses all sorts of intelligences, including empathy, visual, kinesthetic, and possibly other types of intelligence.

This is a good article to illustrate the real-life applications of what education should be doing for students in the 21st century.  Students are learning to identify problems, come up with and design solutions, learn how to collaborate and also be independent learners.  Design thinking fosters lifelong learning.