Using design thinking to explore teaching problems in Chilean schools

ABSTRACT

Educational systems face increasingly complex demands, confronting teachers with multidimensional people-centred problems rarely solved by linear or standardised solutions. Nevertheless, teachers must juggle multiple variables simultaneously in their daily work. This can lead to routine and unreflective decisions that do not consider unique situations. Considering that designers’ abductive reasoning could support problem-framing skills, this article discusses how a design thinking approach can contribute to developing reflective teaching practice. This case study explores how 20 Chilean teachers define, frame, and re-frame their pedagogical problems in a design-based teacher professional development programme. Findings revealed three problem-framing triggers that support teachers’ reflection: (a) collaborative discussions, (b) awareness of people and their context, and (c) visualising, making, and testing ideas. Combined, they articulate action and promote reflection, demonstrating the value of a design thinking approach in supporting teachers’ pedagogical decisions.

KEYWORDS:

• Reflective process
• reflective teaching
• problem framing and reframing
• design thinking
• Chilean teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. According to Simon (1996), all professionals ‘design’ when carrying out actions to change existing situations into preferred ones. Drawing on Simon, Schön (Schön, 1998) argues that the concept of design has expanded from architecture, urbanism, engineering and product design to other professions also concerned with changing a current situation into preferred, future and imagined ones.

2. The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the British Council and Universidad del Desarrollo under grant Newton-Picarte Institutional Skills ISCL22015002.

Notes on contributors

Úrsula Bravo

Úrsula Bravo is an Associate Professor at the Design School of Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile. She has extensive experience teaching design methods in Design and Teaching undergraduate and graduate programmes. She has been a grantee from the Chilean National Research and Development Agency (ANID). She has led projects funded by the British Council, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage. She is a member of the Design Research Society and the Design Literacy International Network cofounder. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Base Diseño e Innovación, open access journal.

Catalina Cortés

Catalina Cortés is a professor at the Design School of Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile. She has received national and international funds to enhance knowledge in various design-related areas. These include design literacy for transdisciplinary collaboration, emergent spatial design thinking processes, design thinking for problem-solving in school education, and sustainable packaging design. Additionally, she holds a patent for a mathematics learning technology. Catalina is certified by The Index Project in Denmark and is an active member of the Design Research Society’s IAC.

Peter Lloyd

Peter Lloyd is a Professor of Integrated Design Methodology in the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at the Technical University of Delft. He teaches design methods, design thinking, AI and design, and design ethics, and his research looks at all aspects of the design process with a focus on language. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Design Studies, the former Chair of the Design Research Society, and Vice President of IASDR (International Association for Societies of Design Research). He was previously a Professor of Design Studies at The Open University, UK and a Professor of Design at the University of Brighton, UK.

Derek Jones

Derek Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Design at The Open University (UK) and part of the OU Design Group. Derek is the Convenor of the Design Research Society’s Education special interest group (EdSIG) and a qualified architect with 15 years of experience in the construction design and procurement industries. He is a co-lead for the new design degree and has developed online learning technologies in design education. His main research interests are: the pedagogy of design and creativity, embodied cognition in physical and virtual environments, and theories of design knowledge.