What is design thinking in education? And why is everyone talking about it? The main reason is that a person will get better results when trying to solve a problem for someone else when using design thinking methods.
What is Design Thinking in Education?
Students are being taught design thinking in educational settings because it is a very effective way to find solutions to problems. Designers, for instance, are told to design a new product. But they are not looking to fashion to design that product, like you might think. They are looking to come up with ways to make that physical product easier to use, more effective and then look nice. Designers go through a set of steps to try to solve the problem of designing a physical product.
The steps taken in design thinking are typically:
- Logic
- Imagination
- Intuition
- Systemic reasoning
So, simply put, they create the personality of the user in their mind’s eye and figure out what would make a product most useful to the customer. This requires the ability to empathize with the customer and use imagination in foreseeing what will happen when they use the product in its various possible incarnations.
Using design thinking methods by educators helps them effectively design projects, courses and facilitation strategies for their students. It also helps in brainstorming with fellow educators to solve problems in the classroom, with the administration of the school and create programs for students. By putting themselves in the shoes of students or administrators, effective solutions can be found that benefit all.
In short, design thinking in education is putting themselves in the shoes of the students to create educational programs and lessons that will vastly improve the benefit for the students and educators. So, walk a mile in their shoes.
