Design Thinking in Education - Investing in a Generation of Future-oriented Talents
Education today is no longer about reciting poems or formulas. Schools are now doing their best to nurture future-oriented talents who can solve problems creatively. While some cities have already extensively employed design thinking in education, Hong Kong is just dabbling and starting to pick up speed. Many local teachers — especially those who want to improve students’ learning experience — begin to recognise the potential of design thinking in unleashing creativity and solving wicked problems of our world. They are eager to explore different types of pedagogy to inspire their students.
Institute of Design Knowledge (IDK) of Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) and Chief Executive’s Awards for Teaching Excellence Teachers’ Association (CEATETA) jointly organised a Design Thinking workshop for teachers in August 2019, to promote wider application of Design Thinking in education. The one-day workshop was attended by more than 40 educators who aspire to change the traditional way of education in schools. Through experience sharing and hands-on exercises, they went through the whole design thinking process from discovering problems, defining pain points, developing ideas, to delivering solutions related to learning and teaching in schools.
Novel Pedagogy to Engage Students
Coming first was some sharing by teachers who have been successful with design thinking. Mr. Henry Siu, Miss Elaine Pong and Mr. Joe Lam are Math teachers from Good Hope School. For many junior form students, Math lessons are boring and tedious. They re-designed the lessons with design thinking to motivate students. “To discover the problems, our first step was to interview 10 students. They told us that they wanted more competitions and preferred working in groups. Collaborating with companions in competitions are more satisfying than repetitive drills. We are happy to see that now they enjoy lessons more and their results have improved as a natural consequence.”
"When students enjoy lessons, their results would improve naturally."
"When students enjoy lessons, their results would improve naturally."
Mr. Peter Chung, former STEM teacher at Tin Shui Wai Heung To Secondary School, also had a similarly successful experience. He asked his students to solve problems they have met in school, such as long queue at canteen, tissue paper running out fast in washrooms, etc. Through solving these tiny daily problems and prototyping out solutions, the students’ confidence and empathy were strengthened.
The creative process can also be aided by small hacks. Mrs. Peggy Kwan, Visual Arts teacher at Tang Shiu Kin Victoria Government Secondary School, has developed a wonderful tool that helps students express themselves. She has prepared some laser-cut Chinese character components, so that students can assemble them to create makeshift characters. In the process, they learnt to clear up their thoughts and present logically to others. Mrs. Kwan even brought this tool to the workshop for the participating teachers to try. They created some intriguing characters to describe design thinking. Many groups put 'people' and 'heart' at the core, with 'listen', 'see' and 'talk' stemming out.
Soul-searching for Teachers
In the second session, the teachers identified the issues they were facing in schools and found ways to tackle them. They began by listing out 10 things they would like to bring into or take away from classrooms. Some said they wanted to bring along their bed - which can trace all the way back to the heavy workload and unnecessary administrative work burden. They eventually boiled down their challenges into three main innovation opportunities – flexible learning environment and setting, effective time management, and higher teacher autonomy.
"As teachers, what would you bring into or take away from the classroom?"
"As teachers, what would you bring into or take away from the classroom?"
The participants then went on to develop solutions for the pain points. To improve the mental wellbeing of the teaching staff, one of the groups prototyped a creative leisure space for stressed-out teachers to get recharged. Teachers can do yoga or play with pets inside to relieve stress. The participants approved of each others’ solutions. “It’s good that we as teachers can ideate for solutions that matter to us.”
Dr. Edmund Lee, Executive Director of Hong Kong Design Centre aptly summed up the imperativeness of design thinking in tomorrow’s education, “Bringing creativity to school requires across-the-board action. The management level should recognise the potential of creativity and provide a safe space or sandbox for teachers to experiment and pilot. The school should realise that we are actually nurturing a generation of future-oriented leaders. These future leaders are curiosity-driven and possess a sensibility to understand new challenges or navigate changes. These are the most sought-after assets in the world tomorrow..”