THE DESIGN THINKING CLASSROOM: THE SKILLS AND DISPOSITIONS OF A STUDENT DESIGNER
The following two lists describe the skills and dispositions of a student designer. Both sets of ideas present something to work towards and they represent what the experience of using design thinking in a classroom can mean to the education of students. The two lists also provide an educator-designer with a perspective of what they should design learning experiences to accomplish.
SKILLS: what you can do as a learner. The list below identifies those skills that are required to be successful as a designer. You’ll notice that the nature of the design thinking process requires active engagement and participation by learners. A design thinking experience also provides a context for a learning experience that provides students with the opportunity to develop a rich set of skills.
Organization
Planning
Self-direction
Collaboration
Research
Listening
Asking questions
Probing/Redirecting Questions
Observing/Noticing
Recording
Managing Data
Finding Patterns and Trends
Synthesizing/Distilling Information
Developing and representing Ideas
Developing representations of solutions
Using Technology
Communication
Dispositions: the qualities that you exhibit as a learner and person, dispositions are ways of acting and being.
Curious
Imaginative
Empathetic
Collaborative
Passionate
Persistent
Resilient
Non-judgemental
Perceptive
Generative
Reflective
Adaptive
Open
The relationship between skills and dispositions: as an example, educators teach students how to read. Reading is a skill. Establishing a love of reading that occurs over a lifetime is a disposition. We can teach students the skills of collaboration, but that won’t matter unless they choose to be collaborative. So, skills and dispositions are uniquely related, and in my opinion, helping students to develop the dispositions of being human and being a learner is the most essential thing that schools and educators can accomplish.