Design Thinking Lesson Plans combines inquiry, creativity, and technological knowledge in a highly rigorous methodology for producing innovative solutions, products, and creative services that clients will purchase. This practice is the cross-functional approach to development or service design. This theory is taught by Tony Buzan in his popular course The Anatomy of Design Thinking. His basic premise is that design thinking begins with an overview of the client’s goals and objectives. From there, designers seek to uncover the existing constraints or obstacles standing in the way of realizing those goals. Designers then consider their options in achieving those goals and establish the means and methods for doing so.
The key to successful design thinking is to use the tools of creative problem-solving. In a classroom environment, students learn to think critically and creatively, obtaining new and innovative answers to questions based on the answers they seek. Design Thinking is a process that encourages young minds to explore their intellectual potential. This can be accomplished through a combination of reading, writing, listening, and leading group discussions. In an elite group of schools, Design Thinking is incorporated into curricula almost from the beginning. Most Design Thinking Programs at colleges and universities offer classes in creative thinking, inquiry and design, visual communication, and applied software development.
A common problem-solving technique in classroom Design thinking is to design problem-solving sessions in which teachers invite their students to come up with a list of problems they face. Teachers then ask them to sketch their problem-solving sessions as they might see them. The diagram they draw is then displayed in class, or sometimes in a separate chart available to all students at each meeting. This allows all learners to see the basic problem-solving techniques and the benefits of using creative solutions. Some teachers also encourage students to draw their problem-solving sketches. These are then discussed in class, and other teachers and parents can view these sketches.
With Design Thinking Lesson Plans, students engage in problem-solving with other students, and they are engaged in their visual perception and creativity. In this way, teachers are teaching students how to use the visual imagery they already have – and that visual imagery can be used to help them create their conceptual vision for solving a problem, designing a product, or coming up with an idea. One of the most powerful ways to incorporate Design Thinking in the classroom is to allow students to exhibit and perform creative work.
