Inquiry-based Learning and Design Thinking

Inquiry & Design Thinking Resources

Introduction to Exemplar Resources

Click on any of the links below to visit these resources on their home sites so you can explore in more detail! Please also click on the button below to navigate to our page on PBL for connections and additional resources.

Problem- and Project-based Learning

Inquiry taps into our natural curiosities and fosters critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity as we iterate through ideas and explore new paradigms.

Similarly, design thinking fosters these learning habits and puts the learner at the center by empowering her or him to not just engage in inquiry, but to innovate and solve.

When paired, inquiry-based learning and design thinking are powerful tools for both young and adult learners.

Design Thinking and its Impact on Education Innovation | Getting SmartHave you heard of design thinking? Are you using it in the classroom? Emily and Adam from the Getting Smart team dive into the topic to share what it is, how it can improve practice and how educators can rethink how they facilitate learning.

Check Out The Right Question Institute!

Source: The Right Question Institute (RQI). The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) was created by RQI. Visit rightquestion.org for more information and free resources.

Why We Love It

The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) is adaptable for all ages, including our adult learners. The RQI shares resources that will change the way you teach, including lesson plans, templates, videos, "QFocus" ideas, classroom examples, and more.

This process and these resources will keep the locus of control with the students, where it belongs!

Design Mindsets

Solving Interesting Problems With an Entrepreneurial Mindset | Getting SmartBy: Mason Pashia. As the workplace continues to shift, leadership and agility are becoming necessary for all members of a team. An entrepreneurial mindset consists of many of the most useful skills for the future. And no, it doesn’t mean starting your own company.

Solution Design: Mindsets, Practices and Systems | Getting SmartAdam Kulaas kicks off the first in a series of blogs that will explore the pitfalls and celebrations associated with designing large and small scale solutions. With emphasis on starting with self assessment and reflection, join him as he delivers a map to designing the future of learning.

Getting Started with Design Thinking from Getting Smart

(click to visit Getting Smart for access to the links they have curated)

Articles

Real-Life Examples of Design Thinking in the Classroom, Getting Smart
Things Are Getting Complex, Use Design Thinking to Simplify, Getting Smart
Integrating the Engineering Design Process and Challenge-Based Learning in STEM, Getting Smart
On Breaking Convention, Getting Smart (on considering unintended consequences)
Using Design Thinking to Create Culture Change Luke Battye and Hema Bakhshi, Sprint Valley
Design thinking, explained, MIT Sloan School
10 Steps to Design Thinking, MIT Professional Education
Design Thinking and Other Learning Priorities to Educate Today’s Students for the Coming Automation Economy
Early Learning Strategies for Developing Computational Thinking Skills

Videos

Rotman School (UToronto) Dean Roger Martin explains why business people don’t need to understand designers, they have to become designers.
Design Thinking by IBM
Design Thinking explainer from HBR

Podcasts

What’s Up With All the Design Focused Schools, Getting Smart staff
Design Thinking and Its Impact on Education Innovation, Getting Smart staff
Teaching Design Thinking to Hack School and Prep for Complexity, podcast with Sam Sidel and Laura McBain, Stanford d.School K12 Lab
Design Thinking as Pedagogy For Students and Educators, podcast with Sandy Speicher, new IDEO CEO
Design as an Act of Service, podcast with SYPartners
Project Based Engineering at Olin College (podcast with Olin College students)

Courses

Design Thinking Crash Course from Stanford’s d.School
Design Thinking for Leading and Learning from MIT Teaching Systems Lab and part of the Microsoft K-12 Education Leadership initiative
MIT’s Approach to Design Thinking from EMERITUS Institute of Management

Schools

An Innovative K-8 Human-Centered Approach at Design39 (Poway USD, San Diego)
Design Focused High School Builds Tech Talent in Indianapolis, Purdue Polytechnic High School,
Design Thinking, City as Classroom, Museum as Homebase, Grand Rapids Public Museum School
Using Design Thinking to Disrupt for Good, One Stone, Boise
Designed for Learning: At School and At Home, One Stone, Boise
Rethinking High School: Badging, Competency-Based and Real-World Work, Del Lago High, Escondido
Building Transferable Skills: Design Tech High at Oracle Campus, Redwood City
Making the City the Text at High Tech High, San Diego
South Fayette Schools: A Computational Carnival for Kids
How to Be Employable Forever, interview with Rick Miller, president of Olin College
Reengineering HigherEd: Olin Collaboratory
Reengineering HigherEd: Student-Centered Learning at Olin College