In my MLIS studies, I have deliberately sought out examples of design thinking adapted for use in the classroom. In the Design Thinking: A Problem Solving Framework video from Edutopia, a teacher describes design thinking as giving her second graders a chance to address “real-world problems in real-world ways.” The comment emphasizes the absolute importance of making lessons relevant for your learners.
Michael Roush hints at something similar in his 2016 TED talk, Five Rules of Design Thinking to Reach all Students. In the talk, Roush talks about the impact the background music of our lives can have on a student’s readiness and ability to learn—a valuable reminder that in our work, we are not simply dealing with the person we can see in that moment, but with a complex mix of social, emotional, medical, and environmental stresses that we are not always able to see. This insight is why I am a firm believer in the efforts at community colleges nationwide to implement wrap-around services to address the financial, housing, mental health, transportation, childcare, and food insecurity challenges that make up the background music of many students’ lives.
Rachel Krumpe and I investigated how using design thinking can deepen the learning involved in a grade 7 historical inquiry unit in "Stories Across Civilization: An AI-Powered Design Thinking Project."
References cited on this page
Edutopia. (2018, Sept 19). Design thinking: A problem solving framework [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=kfBa2AdjRB4
Roush, M. (2016, April). Five rules of design thinking to reach all students [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAV08bn5uEo
Additional resources informing this philosophy can be found on the References page.