Episode 141: Design Thinking Unleashed — From Classroom Theory to Community Action

Ever wondered how students can develop the skills they need to thrive in our rapidly changing world? Design thinking might be the key we've been overlooking. This powerful approach to creative problem-solving isn't just changing how students learn—it's transforming how they engage with real challenges in their communities.

What makes design thinking particularly powerful is its focus on abductive reasoning—exploring possibilities rather than asserting truth. This approach has led to remarkable student achievements: fifth graders helping refugees access healthy food, third graders shutting down drug houses, and high school students tackling dropout rates on Native American reservations. These aren't hypothetical exercises but real impacts that demonstrate how young people, when equipped with design thinking skills, can create meaningful change.

As parents and educators, we can support this approach by asking schools about their problem-based learning strategies and reinforcing these concepts at home. When students begin to see that everything from choosing what to wear to planning their day involves solving design problems, they develop a mindset that serves them well in all aspects of life.

Ready to help your child develop the creative confidence and problem-solving abilities they'll need for tomorrow's challenges? Subscribe to K-12 Education Untangled for more insights on how to navigate the evolving educational landscape and give your children the advantages they need to succeed.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to K-12 Education Untangled
• 3:29 Understanding Design Thinking Fundamentals
• 8:29 Benefits and Mindsets of Design Thinking
• 12:44 Learning Through Abductive Reasoning
• 16:14 Building Lifelong Learning Skills
• 18:54 Real-World Examples of Student Impact
• 20:34 Action Steps and Key Takeaways

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:56

Welcome to another episode of K-12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr Kim J Fields, former corporate manager turned education researcher and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the microaggressions that I faced as an African American mom raising my two kids, who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their educational progress. This battle-tested experience is what I provide as action steps for you to take. It's like enjoying a bowl of educational research with a sprinkling of mother wisdom on top. If you're looking to find out more about current information and issues in public education that could affect you and your children, and the action steps that you can take to give your children the advantages they need, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K-12 public education trends and topics is important to you, so keep listening. Give me 30 minutes and I'll untangle the latest trends, issues and topics pertaining to this constantly evolving K-12 public education environment.

Speaker 1: 2:45

In this episode, I'll be discussing how design thinking impacts learning in K-12 classrooms. We're living in an ever-changing world and sometimes it's difficult for young people to find their place in this world and to make sense of it all. While they may want to do good or hope to do good, it's hard for them to know where to begin. How can students be equipped with the skills to interpret, problem solve and think critically about the information they encounter? This is where design thinking is one way to address these concerns. Thinking is one way to address these concerns. It's important that educators and parents create space for your children to think deeply about what they care about, encourage them to ask tough questions and to take action in a meaningful way. I discuss what design thinking entails and why it's relevant in today's K-12 public education classrooms in this episode. Let's untangle this. Design thinking is essentially creative problem solving. Design thinking isn't new, however. Design thinking isn't new, however. It's been around since the 1960s, although it's changed in both name and shape over the last 60 years.

Speaker 1: 4:17

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem solving that encourages empathy, innovation and creativity within students, with the purpose of helping them solve real-world problems. It is a necessary function of how to prepare students for the complexity of the 21st century. The basic steps of design thinking are empathize, define, ida, prototype and test. The goal is for students to lead with empathy, to identify and define the problem and then develop a realistic solution to that problem that can be tested and refined with feedback. The process basically pushes students to engage with skills like critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, education, empathy and problem solving Skills that have been identified as extremely important for successful functioning in the workplace and daily life in the 21st century. The use of design thinking can foster a healthy relationship with failure for students. It frames failure in a positive way by encouraging students to look for ways to enhance their work through feedback. Design thinking also has a positive impact on the overall motivation and engagement of students. It supports overall academic performance by developing critical thinking, teamwork skills and social awareness.

Speaker 1: 6:00

Design thinking is a type of thinking that's used by students when engaging in design-based tasks, like cognitive activities such as analyzing the situation, defining the problem, modeling ideas, designing solutions, predicting results, questioning unexpected outcomes and managing the design process. These are the types of activities that are typically involved in STEM classes, all the types of activities that are typically involved in STEM classes. Design thinking can entail several different mindsets, such as human-centeredness, bias toward action, collaboration, experimentation, optimism and mindfulness of process. Design thinkers are typically one empathetic toward people's needs and context. Two collaboratively geared toward embracing diversity. Three inquisitive and open to new perspectives and learning. Four mindful of the process and thinking modes. 5. Experientially intelligent. 6. Take action deliberately and overtly. 7. Consciously creative. 8. Accepting of uncertainty and open to risk. 9. Have the desire and determination to make a difference. And. Ten critically questioning. Design thinking has proven to be useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown. Design thinking is a cyclical process. There are more than 12 design thinking models utilized by educators to facilitate students' engagement with the design thinking process. These models include IDEO Discovery, interpretation, ideation, experimentation and evolution, and the double diamond model, which consists of discover, define, develop and deliver.

Speaker 1: 8:21

Design thinking employs a form of reasoning known as abductive reasoning, which is distinct from traditional deductive and inductive logic. Which is distinct from traditional deductive and inductive logic. Deductive reasoning operates from a general to specific framework, determining what necessarily must be true, while inductive reasoning moves from specific observations to broader generalizations, focusing on what actually is. Abductive reasoning is concerned with exploring possibilities as opposed to asserting truth. This type of reasoning doesn't aim to declare that a solution is definitely true or false, but instead seeks to uncover a range of potential outcomes or scenarios. This allows for various possibilities and innovative solutions that may not be immediately apparent.

Speaker 1: 9:21

The multidisciplinary, collaborative approach utilized in design thinking lends itself to diverse perspectives, leading to multiple creative solutions and innovations. The essence of design thinking is a human-centeredness through intrinsic motivation. Another key attribute of design thinking is reiteration. Reiterated learning is necessary to build efficacy and mastery, as well as creative confidence and perseverance. Reiteration enhances the ability to think about the student's own thought processes, as well as to adapt, strategize, monitor and reflect on his or her learning. Design thinking has the potential to build lifelong learning characteristics in students. The design thinking approach has the potential to elicit curiosity in students so that they develop creative solutions that can be applied in the workplace, for example, for companies to maintain their competitive edge. This requires a competitive and creative approach.

Speaker 1: 10:37

Design thinking can help students build the skill of asking strong and relevant questions instead of how does it work or asking what would happen if, instead of what I have seen happened before. Specifically, questions should encourage serious thought about the user experience. This entails understanding the people who use products, who they are and what motivates them. The challenge for middle school and high school teachers is to find a way of developing a robust question-asking culture in the classroom. Learning to ask the right question is so critical for student learning that it's been listed as the foundation for six of the 10 quote-unquote future skills in the 2018 World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report. Developing strong and divergent questions remains an area of weakness for many middle school and high school students. Their focus currently tends to be on solution-finding activities rather than on question-asking activities.

Speaker 1: 12:03

Giving young people the space to think deeply about what they care about and encourage them to ask tough questions as well as put their ideas into action in a meaningful way, takes a new approach. How do you go from theory to the actions taken by fifth graders in North Carolina when they helped refugees settle into their new homes and access healthy food? Or when you see third graders shut down drug houses in Texas? Or when you watch high school students combat a 70% high school dropout rate on their Native American reservations in South Dakota? This transition from theory to action requires commitment and passion on the part of both adult supporters and young people. It requires time, tools, trust and the creation of intentionally planned opportunities and experiences.

Speaker 1: 13:04

One of the most powerful tools to catalyze young people to do good is design thinking. Young people to do good is design thinking. Design thinking encourages curiosity and engagement with real-world problems. Students can use design thinking to determine the problems they'd like to solve in their community, work in teams, brainstorm solutions, investigate ideas and critically analyze the ones that they'd like to do. This teaches them to incorporate multiple perspectives and effectively communicate their ideas to others. Design thinking embraces failure and encourages the iteration of solutions, while creating opportunities to learn key 21st century skills. One takeaway about design thinking is that those that participate in the process are transitioning from designing for someone to designing with someone, and this is how students can solve problems more effectively. This shift in thinking can be used in all aspects of their personal lives.

Speaker 1: 14:18

One of the positive effects of design thinking is that it shows students the powerful role that design plays in the world around them. Design is everywhere. It's in the chair you're sitting in, the way a cell phone feels in your hand, the arrangement of desks in the classroom, or the curve of a mouse. When you get up in the morning, you're designing what you're going to wear. When you go to work, you're designing your route to work. When you're doing an activity where you create something like a project plan, you're designing that, and if you see it as a design problem and you're aware of it, you think about it a little differently. Students become more successful when they realize everything they do is solving a design problem. The principles that design thinking nurtures include empathy, problem definition, iteration and the tolerance of experimentation.

Speaker 1: 15:23

The question becomes how can educators reimagine a culture of school that deeply values the tenets of design thinking? Schools should use design thinking because design thinking is a fun, optimistic and hopeful way for teachers and administrators to work together to make their schools better and students learn more when they work with teachers, administrators and parents to actively and openly solve problems. Teachers use design thinking with students by helping them apply the skills being taught to solve problems or to present information in ways that make sense for the students. Design thinking gives students a deeper experience in their classroom work. Researchers and professional development leaders are looking to push more design principles into K-12 education as a way of engaging students, creating environments that inspire learning, enhancing instruction and bringing relevance to the curriculum.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Now let's move from listening to this discussion to applying it. So what can you do about this topic of design thinking? Here are the action steps you can take regarding this topic. Design thinking is a great tool for understanding the role of design in our lives, and it's a tool that your children can learn and utilize to solve problems in their communities. Being aware of this teaching tool can help you ask pertinent questions of your child's teacher or principal as far as how they are going about providing students with skill sets that extend beyond the classroom. Are they utilizing place-based education, problem-based learning or design thinking? Their answer may be eye-opening for you. I'm a big proponent of reinforcing the concepts that children learn in school with supplemental materials and activities at home. A tool that you can use for activities for your child to develop and jumpstart their design thinking skills is the PBS Kids Design Squad website that walks you through the steps of design thinking and lets you select a design project. Again, that's the PBS Kids Design Squad website. Check it out. Here are this episode's takeaways.

Speaker 1: 18:11

Design thinking is essentially creative problem solving.

Speaker 1: 18:17

The principles that design thinking nurtures include empathy, problem definition, iteration and the tolerance of experimentation.

Speaker 1: 18:28

One key takeaway about design thinking is that those that participate in the process are transitioning from designing for someone to designing with someone, and this is how students can solve problems more effectively. This shift in thinking can be used in all aspects of their personal lives. The multidisciplinary, collaborative approach utilized in design thinking lends itself to diverse perspectives, leading to multiple creative solutions and innovations. The essence of design thinking is a human-centeredness through intrinsic motivation. The goal of design thinking is for students to lead with empathy, to identify and define a problem, and then develop a realistic solution to that problem that can be tested and refined with feedback. The process basically pushes students to engage with skills like critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, education, empathy and problem solving, skills that have been identified as extremely important for successful functioning in the workplace and daily life in the 21st century.

Speaker 1: 19:56

If you don't want to miss out on any of the content that I've provided or what I will provide next, then be sure to subscribe to my podcast, on whatever platform you're listening to this. If you enjoyed this episode, why not listen to another episode from my library? It could take as little as 10 minutes of your day, and remember, new episodes come out every Tuesday. Thanks for listening today. Be sure to come back for more K-12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untangle. Until next time, aim to learn something new every day.