Design Thinking in the Classroom

Since design thinking gained popularity among business leaders in the 1990s, it has permeated a number of other industries including education. The conversation around design thinking in schools is often from the perspective of the instructor or the administrator, using the problem-solving framework to redesign elements of the learning experience. Design thinking has helped educators innovate new approaches to classroom spaces, curriculum, and support services, which collectively has yielded amazing results. Unfortunately, we less often think about how our students may benefit from utilizing the design thinking framework themselves.

When I was in the classroom, I began my engineering classes by teaching my students design thinking. Students learned how to use framework for project-based learning, where they began working on small projects and graduated to eventually working through complex, multi-level projects. Learning this process empowered students to think about problems differently and gave them the confidence to take on challenges without a well-defined solution. While content knowledge becomes less important in the age of information and connectivity, training students to solve complex problems is critical in preparing them to thrive in the innovation economy of our future.

Our student workshops are designed to teach design thinking and integrate it across several projects. We hope that, through our course, students can build a foundation to be creative thinkers and problem solvers. The next opportunity for your child to learn how to become a creative problem solver begins on May 28th. Follow this link to sign up today: https://forms.gle/g88eUEVCYEUfagwS9