Becoming a Design Thinker: Assessing the Learning Process of Students in a Secondary Level Design Thinking Course

Design thinking is a collaborative problem solving and human‐centric approach that fosters innovation by elevating participants’ creative thinking abilities. Design thinking techniques and practices have been implemented into different curricula in secondary and post‐secondary education to address the need for new skills to be learned for the twenty‐first century. However, little work has been conducted to clarify how to evaluate the students’ design thinking skills gained in these courses. This study reports on a successful evaluation of an interaction design thinking curriculum in secondary level education. Several types of data sources, including participant observation, open‐ended questions and document analysis were employed to gather extensive data on students’ skills gained during the course. The results of the study inform design thinking researchers about how to evaluate design thinking skills of students in a secondary level design thinking course.     

Investigating the synergy of critical thinking and creative thinking in the course of integrated activity in Taiwan

The relationship lying between critical thinking and creative thinking is opposite or complementary, results of previous relevant researches have not yet concluded. However, most of researches put the effort to compare the respective effect of the thinking methods, either the teaching of creative thinking or that of critical thinking. Less of them showed the interest to investigate the combined effect of these two thinking skills teaching, especially its synergy. Therefore, present study aimed to discuss the synergy of critical thinking and creative thinking, and investigated the joined effect of these two methods of thinking in the courses of ‘Integrated Activity courses’. Not only the separate influence but also the synergy would be our interests. Moreover, the outcome would also be compared with the learning result of single creative thinking skill teaching. Participants were 147 male students and 118 female students of ninth grade from 8 intact classes in a public middle school in Taiwan, the number of total participants were 265. Experimental design was ‘nonequivalent control group pretest/post-test quasi-experimental design’. Participants were assigned into three groups, three intact classes for creative thinking teaching group (EG1), three intact classes for ‘critical thinking and creative thinking combined teaching group (EG2)’ and two intact classes for regular teaching method group (watching video, control group). All participants took the assessment ‘The New Creative-Thinking Testing’ and ‘The Critical-Thinking Testing, Level 1’ after receiving the courses as post-test. Data were analysed statistically by one-way ANCOVA. The results showed that:

1. Regards to the performance in Integrated Activity courses, no significant difference was found among students in EG1 and those in EG2. However, the students in both experimental groups got higher scores than those in control group did.

2. As for the ability of critical thinking, students in EG2 got higher score than those in EG1 and CG did, but no difference was found among the students in EG1 and those in CG.

3. In respect of originality, students in EG2 got higher score than those in EG1 did, the influence of critical thinking was significant.

Theoretical and possible applications of the results were also discussed. Present study not only manifests the correlation between creative thinking and critical thinking, but also provides the empirical data for synergy in actual pedagogical situations.     

‘Females Don’t Need to be Reluctant’: Employing Design Thinking to Harness Creative Confidence and Interest in STEAM

There is great gender gap in mathematics and science among countries around the world, but the gender gap is one of the largest in Japan. In order to address this issue, we evaluated an educational intervention to empower the next generation of female youths by employing design thinking to ignite their interests in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) fields. In this article, we explain the rationale for the intervention, describe the unique three‐day curriculum employing design thinking, and share the results from the intervention. There are four key findings of our study. After participating in the workshop, the middle school female students showed greater interest in STEAM fields, demonstrated increased levels of creative confidence, cultivated a greater sense of empathy for others, and exhibited greater appreciation for collaboration. This study highlights the possibilities and opportunities for using design thinking to encourage female youths to become more interested in STEAM fields.     

The Different Learning Outcomes of High School and College Students on a 3D-Printing STEAM Engineering Design Curriculum

To enable high school students, especially those interested in art and design-related careers, to improve their ability to integrate knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in their creative design practices and to be familiar with auto manufacturing, the development of a bridging curriculum, known as STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) using digital tools such as 3D printers, has been increasingly recognized as emergent and vital. As a bridging curriculum, it is essential to examine the curriculum with respect to high school and college students to highlight the differences in their knowledge and skills for improving curriculum development. Hence, we conducted a teaching experiment using a CO₂-car engineering design curriculum in this study to analyze the learning outcomes of four groups of students (three 3D-printing groups: 108 high school students, 12 design college students, and 12 engineering college students; one handmade group: 36 high school students) to assess their competencies. The results of the present study highlight significant differences in creativity, forecast accuracy, race outcomes, and learning outcomes. Suggestions based on the results were generated to improve the curriculum. The findings in this study serve as a reference for the future design, development, and implementation of STEAM curricula.     

指向创造性思维:PISA 2021的启示与借鉴

创造性思维是人类发展所需的必要能力,可以帮助人们适应不断变化的世界和应对充满挑战的未来。经济合作与发展组织确定在PISA 2021中增加对创造性思维能力的评估,其发布的《PISA 2021创造性思维评估框架草案(第三版)》明确阐述了创造性思维的内涵、表现形式和促成因素,以系统的通用框架、科学简易的"三维度四领域"能力模型向公众提供了一个操作性强的评估系统。通过此次评估,各参与国家和地区可获得学生创造性思维能力的可比数据,为未来教育政策的制定和教育实践的改进提供支持。基于PISA的经验,为了更好地评估和培养学生的创造性思维,我国可借鉴创造性思维能力模型,细化学科核心素养的考查;构建创造性课堂,加强学校创新氛围的建设;在课堂教学中以真实情境和实际问题为载体,培育和评价学生的创造性思维。     

Integrating philosophy into English curriculum: The development of thinking and language competence

Abstract

This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) program in developing English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for two English teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 4 ESL students during English lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the English curriculum. Also, PIS was found to play an important role in promoting the students’ critical and creative thinking and enhance the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the English curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking, and English language proficiency in ESL students.     

Investigation of effective strategies for developing creative science thinking

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of the creative inquiry-based science teaching on students’ creative science thinking and science inquiry performance. A quasi-experimental design consisting one experimental group (N?=?20) and one comparison group (N?= 24) with pretest and post-test was conducted. The framework of the intervention focused on potential strategies such as promoting divergent and convergent thinking and providing an open, inquiry-based learning environment that are recommended by the literature. Results revealed that the experimental group students outperformed their counterparts in the comparison group on the performances of science inquiry and convergent thinking. Additional qualitative data analyses from classroom observations and case teacher interviews identified supportive teaching strategies (e.g. facilitating associative thinking, sharing impressive ideas, encouraging evidence-based conclusions, and reviewing and commenting on group presentations) for developing students’ creative science thinking.     

Teacher–Artist Partnership Framework Within School Makerspaces to Foster Students’ Creativity

Creativity is a fundamental skill to prepare individuals to work and live in a changing world. Educators have recognised its value and advocate that schools can provide an environment for fostering the creative thinking skills of students. Makerspaces are emerging in school contexts, and they carry great opportunities for engaging students in creative thinking processes. The school makerspace also offers a professional learning space for teachers and artists to collaborate to support students’ creative potential through making activities linked to the curriculum. This paper proposes a teacher–artist partnership framework within the makerspace to support mutual professional growth and opportunities to foster a learning environment conducive to creative expressions. The framework consists of three non-linear and iterative processes, namely (a) developing craft knowledge, (b) co-constructing knowledge, and (c) reflection and researching, supported by a community of practice and internal and external communities. Expected outcomes from the partnership for students, teachers and artists, and recommendations are discussed.     

PISA2021:创造性思维的测量维度与评估示范

回顾了PISA2021创造性思维背景、内涵与维度,分析了PISA2021创造性思维在课堂教学中的影响因素及表现,阐述了PISA2021创造性思维的评估目标、领域设计、创造力测试设计及样例。创造性思维能力是学生适应21世纪发展的必备核心能力,需要组织多领域专家开展创造性思维的理论研究,学校要秉持促进学生创造性思维发展的理念,教师要成为学生创造性思维的促进者,通过课程与课堂教学培养学生创造性思维能力。     

The implementation of a geospatial information technology (GIT)‐supported land use change curriculum with urban middle school learners to promote spatial thinking

This study investigated whether a geospatial information technology (GIT)‐supported science curriculum helped students in an urban middle school understand land use change (LUC) concepts and enhanced their spatial thinking. Five 8th grade earth and space science classes in an urban middle school consisting of three different ability level tracks participated in the study. Data gathering methods included pre/posttest assessments, daily classroom observations, daily teacher meetings, and examination of student produced artifacts. Findings indicated that content knowledge about environmental issues associated with LUC and spatial thinking skills involved with aerial and remotely sensed (RS) imagery interpretation increased for all learners. In most content and skill area clusters, effect sizes were larger for lower and middle track learners than for upper track learners. Achievement for spatial thinking items increased for all ability level tracks. The curriculum implementation appeared effective for enhancing spatial thinking skills involved with RS image interpretation to identify objects and investigate ground cover features. Learners at all ability levels had difficulty interpreting time‐sequenced images. Influencing learning contexts including curriculum design principles and instructional strategies are discussed. The findings from this study provide support that spatial thinking can be learned, can be taught formally to all students in an urban middle school, and can be supported by appropriately designed tools, technologies, and curriculum. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 281–300, 2011     

初中数学发散性思维能力培养策略

《初中数学课程标准(2011版)》指出,数学课程能使学生掌握必备的基础知识和基本技能,培养学生的抽象思维和推理能力,培养学生的创新意识和实践能力数学的发散性思维能力是"问题解决"的基础,是培养数学推理能力和创新意识前提要求。数学发散性思维作为用学科自身的品质陶冶人、启迪人、充实人。"问题解决"是人的高级数学思维。高级思维的学习,可以使学生充分享受思维的快乐,可以让思维自由飞翔。本文就初中数学发散思维的培养谈几点体会,通过创设问题情景、设置开放性试题、发挥学科优势等教学策略,着力培养初中学生的数学发散性思维能力,实现有效教学。     

Purposely Teaching for the Promotion of Higher-order Thinking Skills: A Case of Critical Thinking

This longitudinal case-study aimed at examining whether purposely teaching for the promotion of higher order thinking skills enhances students’ critical thinking (CT), within the framework of science education. Within a pre-, post-, and post–post experimental design, high school students, were divided into three research groups. The experimental group (n = 57) consisted of science students who were exposed to teaching strategies designed for enhancing higher order thinking skills. Two other groups: science (n = 41) and non-science majors (n = 79), were taught traditionally, and acted as control. By using critical thinking assessment instruments, we have found that the experimental group showed a statistically significant improvement on critical thinking skills components and disposition towards critical thinking subscales, such as truth-seeking, open-mindedness, self-confidence, and maturity, compared with the control groups. Our findings suggest that if teachers purposely and persistently practice higher order thinking strategies for example, dealing in class with real-world problems, encouraging open-ended class discussions, and fostering inquiry-oriented experiments, there is a good chance for a consequent development of critical thinking capabilities.     

Thinking about “design thinking”: a study of teacher experiences

Schools are continuously looking for new ways of enhancing student learning to equip students with skills that would enable them to cope with twenty-first century demands. One promising approach focuses on design thinking. This study examines teacher's perceptions, experiences and challenges faced in adopting design thinking. There is a lack of empirical research on the adoption and implementation of the design thinking process in educational context from the teachers’ point of view. This paper fills this gap and also provides insight on a recent initiative adopted in Singapore schools. Qualitative case study research was carried out in a school using teacher narratives. Data includes in-depth face-to-face interviews and participant observation. The findings show that teachers perceive that design thinking holds the potential for enhancing skills such as creativity, problem solving, communication and team work as well as empower students to develop empathy for others within and beyond the community. The research also highlighted several challenges such as inadequate resources, time constraints, fear of poor grades and the difficulty of shifting to a new way of teaching and learning that differs vastly from the traditional approach. The findings reveal that a piecemeal approach towards curriculum redesign for adopting design thinking may not provide the desired outcomes.     

‘Photo-words’: promoting language skills using photographs

Abstract

This study, using a mixed methods design, examined the use of a photograph-based model to improve students’ language and writing skills. Classes were assigned to receive the photograph-based intervention (experimental) or to receive the regular language-based curriculum (control). Both second and fifth grade students in the experimental group significantly improved their language and writing skills compared to the control group. Second grade students improved significantly more than fifth grade students. The findings also enabled the research team to identify deficiencies that required specific modifications in language curriculum design.     

Assessment of critical thinking ability in medical students

In this study conducted with 80 first‐year students in a graduate medical course at the Australian National University, Canberra, students’ critical thinking skills were assessed using the Watson‐Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (Forms A and B) in a test‐retest design. Results suggested that overall subjects retained consistent patterns of ability in critical thinking over the year. Subjects aged 30 years and over were more likely to perform better on the tests than subjects aged under 30. However, there was a significantly lower group mean on Form B than on Form A. Subjects with an above‐mean score on Form A, or subjects aged 30 years and over, were more likely to be associated with a reduced score on Form B than were subjects with a below‐mean score on Form A, or aged less than 30 years. In motivational terms, it is suggested that subjects who had more highly developed critical thinking skills, and older subjects, conducted a more realistic effort/reward analysis before the administration of Form B, and were less willing to put effort into a test that was not an assessable component of their medical school curriculum, than were other students. For the design of assessment items in higher education, this would suggest that assessment weightings need to reflect accurately the size of the reward, or possible outcome, of completing those assessments if students are to work to their ability.     

关于《图形创意思维与表现》课程设计的探讨

《图形创意思维与表现》课程通过图形训练有效地解决平面设计中的视觉创意问题,培养学生形象思维的能力。课程设计为图形创意概述、图形创意思维方法、图形创意构成形式、图形创意表现方法、图形创意程序、图形创意应用六大模块。     

Cultivating divergent thinking in mathematics through an open-ended approach

The purpose of this study was to develop a program to help cultivate divergent thinking in mathematics based on open-ended problems and to investigate its effect. The participants were 398 seventh grade students attending middle schools in Seoul. A method of pre- and post-testing was used to measure mainly divergent thinking skills through open-ended problems. The results indicated that the treatment group students performed better than the comparison students overall on each component of divergent thinking skills, which includes fluency, flexibility, and originality. The developed program can be a useful resource for teachers to use in enhancing their students’ creative thinking skills. An open-ended approach in teaching mathematics suggested in this paper may provide a possible arena for exploring the prospects and possibilities of improving mathematical creativity.     

Enhancing fluent and flexible thinking through the creative drama process

The purpose of this study is to examine whether flexible and fluent thinking skills, two important elements in divergent thinking, can be enhanced through creative drama process. The research was conducted on 30 subjects, 15 in an experimental group and 15 in a control group. Each group consisted of 9 females and 6 males. All subjects were postgraduate students, and the average age was 25. Flexibility and fluency were assessed through “circle drawing” and “alternate uses of objects” sub-tests. Both groups were given an initial pre-test. Then the experimental group attended a 10-week creative drama course, 3 h a week. A week after drama process was completed, a post-test was applied to both groups. Determining the pre-test and post-test score differences of the two groups, the one-way MANOVA analysis with a 2 × 2 design was applied. The results show that creative drama process can help enhance the two important aspects of divergent thinking, fluency and flexibility, in adult groups.     

Impact of an inquiry unit on grade 4 students’ science learning

This paper concerns the identification of teaching strategies that enhance the development of 4th grade students’ experimental design skills at a public primary school in Argentina. Students’ performance in the design of relevant experiments was evaluated before and after an eight-week intervention compared to a control group, as well as the persistence of this learning after eight months. The study involved a quasi-experimental longitudinal study with pre-test/post-test/delayed post-test measures, complemented with semi-structured interviews with randomly selected students. Our findings showed improvement in the experimental design skills as well as its sustainability among students working with the inquiry-based sequence. After the intervention, students were able to establish valid comparisons, propose pertinent designs and identify variables that should remain constant. Contrarily, students in the control group showed no improvement and continued to solve the posed problems based on prior beliefs. In summary, this paper shows evidence that implementing inquiry-based units involving problems set in cross-domain everyday situations that combine independent student work with teacher guidance significantly improves the development of scientific skills in real classroom contexts.     

英语语言学在思维能力培养的作用

随着中国逐渐走进国际,使用英语的范围也越来越广,使得英语现在成为一门很重要的课程,新世纪对于英语人才的要求不仅体现在扎实的基本语言技能,更关注于思维能力的培养,二者同等重要,因此,思维能力的培养是英语语言教学的一项重要任务。本文针对目前学生在英语学习中存在的思维障碍,从教学大纲出发,提出了帮助学生克服障碍,探讨学生英语逻辑思维、哲学思维和创新思维能力的培养。