Design thinking as an advanced model of teaching is used in many places, most often unknowingly. Teachers are not even aware that they are working according to this model. If teachers became aware of that model, they would help students even more in solving more complex problems. With this model, they would teach them that there is nothing wrong if the solution is not successful in the first attempt, but it is important to try several times until they find successful solutions.
In the master's thesis, we were interested in design thinking as an advanced model of teaching students from 6th to 8th grade of primary school. In this thesis, we relied on various research that has already been done in this direction and on Dosi’s questionnaire, which he designed together with his colleagues. This questionnaire is disaggregated and one of the most suitable for use in self-assessment of the design thinking of students in the last three years of primary school.
In the theoretical part, we emphasized the design thinking, the prevailing definitions, historicity and the development model. We gave some different types of design thinking and described the design thinking model developed at Stanford University (Hasso Plattner Institute). We researched the target model in the field of education and placed the design of the user experience as the starting point for design thinking. We dedicated special attention to the creation and measurement of design thinking and defined the profile of the designer.
The main purpose of the thesis is to determine the widespread of design thinking and how it intertwines with the development of ideas in students.
A quantitative approach was used for empirical research. Questionnaire was completed by students from 6th to 8th grade of six primary schools. Participated schools in the research were both from urban and rural areas. The total number of students included in the survey who completed both questionnaires was 168, of which 71 were boys and 97 were girls. In the 6th grade, 73 students completed the survey questionnaire, 63 in the 7th grade and 32 in the 8th grade. An additional 46 students completed the idea development questionnaire, a total of 214 students, of which 88 were boys and 126 were girls. In 6th grade, the survey questionnaire was completed by 95 students, in 7th grade by 79, and in 8th grade by 40. We used a questionnaire on design thinking designed by Dosi and a questionnaire on developing ideas designed by Runco. We wanted to show the possible connections between design thinking and creativity for the purpose of sharpening design thinking in the teaching of techniques and technology.
The design thinking of 6th to 8th grade students is mostly below average. 8th graders, unlike 6th graders, are more inclined to deal with ambiguities. In the general development of ideas, students in all three classes slightly exceed the average value, which is set at a value of three. In the case of a mental leap, however, only 6th graders exceed the average value. In the general development of ideas, a major leap between individual classes is not observed, while in the mental leap, 6th graders deviate slightly. In terms of gender, boys have a slight advantage, especially in team work, cooperation with the wider environment, practical work as well as more empathy with the needs and desires of the consumer or user of technical and technological products. The effect of gender is perceived as weak. The influence of design thinking on the general ability to develop ideas was detected in only one area, namely the area that speaks to the human centeredness. We found that the better we do in the area that speaks to the human centeredness, the less successful we will be to develop ideas or divergent production. Influence of design thinking on the ability to develop ideas with an emphasis on the ability to jump mentally found a statistically significant impact in the following areas: embracing risk, human centeredness, mindfulness and awareness of the process and creative confidence.
The master's thesis is intended primarily for teachers of technic and technology to actively include a model of design thinking in their work and so allow students more freedom in making a product or solving a problem. These students will be able to solve more complex problems faster and better, as they will not be intimidated by the challenge facing them.
The results of the research will also be a good guide and starting point for researchers in the field of technical education, so that they can articulate only the domain of design thinking even more precisely.
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