Destination, Imagination and the Fires Within: Design Thinking in a Middle School Classroom

Abstract

The purpose of the Taking Design Thinking to Schools Research Project was to extend the knowledge base that contributes to an improved understanding of the role of design thinking in K‐12 classrooms. The ethnographic qualitative study focused on the implementation of an interdisciplinary design curriculum by a team of university instructors in a public charter school. Three questions framed the study. How did students express their understanding of design thinking classroom activities? How did affective elements impact design thinking in the classroom environment? How is design thinking connected to academic standards and content learning in the classroom?

Shoot For The Moon! The Mentors and the Middle Schoolers Explore the Intersection of Design Thinking and STEM

“…Promise for design thinking has been shown in several projects (Carroll, M. et al, 2010); (Hmelo, Holton, & Kolodner, 2000). Work in mathematics (Goldman, Knudsen, & Latvala, 1998), science (Kolodner et al, 2003), and technology (Kafai & Resnick, 2002;Todd, 1999) suggest that design thinking skills are not merely extras, but can in fact aid students in core subject areas as well as building cognitive and social skills.…”

“…Designers are fluent in several vehicles of thought (images, words, numbers) and methods of communication, storing and recombining experiences for future use.' ' (p.2) It is critical to focus on creating learning environments that teach the fundamental mindsets and processes of design thinking and are entwined with content learning (Carroll, M. et al, 2010). This is particularly relevant to STEM education and the Diamond Afterschool Program.…”

Research as Design: Developing Creative Confidence in Doctoral Students Through Design Thinking

“…Institutes like the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) at Stanford University teach design thinking for a wide range of realworld problems (Dunne & Martin, 2006;Plattner et al, 2011). The framework has been applied in management education (Zupan, Svetina Nabergoj, Stritar, & Drnovšek, 2013), information and communications technology (Lindberg, Meinel, & Wagner, 2011), medicine (McDonagh & Thomas, 2010, social entrepreneurship (Cohen, 2012), and K-12 education (Carroll et al, 2010).…”

The Stages of Student Mathematical Imagination in Solving Mathematical Problems

“…In addition, the imagination has been implicated as the key to mathematical creativity in generating and manipulating images (Abrahamson, 2006). In the process of mathematics learning or mathematical problem solving, the ability to imagine has no limits and constraints (Carroll et al, 2010). Egan and Steiner's perspective claim that children between the ages of 5 to 14 years learn best through imagination, because this is a natural mode and strongest when they are involved with knowledge (Van Alphen, 2011).…”