The ability to engage in reasoning based on design and engineering to solve authentic problems has been identified as a critical 21st century skill (Mayes, Gallant & Fettes, 2018). Today’s teachers are preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist. While this is an oft-used phrase, we must consider what this reality really means for teachers and the skills that should be driving student mastery. School systems must foster innovative thinking and an ability to design unique solutions to real problems instead of relying on a traditional one-solution-fits-all problem-solving approach.
Design Thinking has emerged in the last decade as a powerful way to solve problems using innovation and creativity (Carroll et al., 2010). Beyond innovative problem solving, one of the great promises of Design Thinking is its ability to foster and support collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity (the 4Cs) in students. The 4Cs are considered essential skills for 21st century learners. Creativity is not often associated with problem solving, yet it is a vital part of the Design Thinking Problem-Solving Method. The Design Thinking model gives teachers a structured way to support students in approaching real-world problems, to foster creative confidence, and to encourage ideation, while improving their communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity skills.
Design-Thinking is a cyclical process. To begin the process, designers must identify the engineering problem, develop a plan for approaching the problem, identify the need for an engineering solution, research the problem, gain necessary background knowledge and identify constraints (Moore et al., 2014). Students will need to seek and find details about the problem and its context, the users, previous design solutions, materials, and variables and their relationships (Mentzer, 2014). This need for information seeking during design is even greater for novices, who lack the experience, resources and background in design thinking that might otherwise provide necessary information (Mentzer, 2014).
References:
Carroll, M., Goldman, S., Britos, L., Koh, J., Royalty, A., & Hornstein, M. (2010). Destination, Imagination and the Fires Within: Design Thinking in a Middle School Classroom.International Journal of Art & Design Education. Retrieved October 30, 2017, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-8070.2010.01632.x/full
Mentzer, N. (2014). High School Student Information Access and Engineering Design Performance. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER), 4 (1), 4.
Moore, T.J., Glancy, A.W., Tank, K.M., Kersten, J.A., Smith, K.A., & Stohlmann, M.S. (2014). A Framework for Quality K-12 Engineering Education: Research and Development. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER): 4 (1), 2.
Wertz, R.H, Ross, M., Purzer, S., Fosmire, M., & Cardella, M. (2011). Assessing Engineering Students' Information Literacy Skills: An Alpha Version of a Multiple-choice Instrument. Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. June 26-29, 2011.