Making Design Practices Visible to Young Learners

TL;DR

This paper proposes a cognitive apprenticeship-based approach to teaching design thinking to young children, aiming to develop higher-order thinking and design habits of mind within embedded design practices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for integrating design education into K-12 learning using situated, context-rich experiences based on cognitive apprenticeship principles.

Findings

Embedded design practice enhances understanding of young learners' needs.

The approach fosters development of design habits of mind in children.

Contextualized design activities improve engagement and learning outcomes.

Abstract

The role of design in K-12 education has increased in recent years. We argue that many of these design experiences do not help develop important habits of mind associated with Human Centered Design (HCD). In this paper, we present an approach for developing higher-order thinking processes associated with HCD as part of embedded design practice - an approach for teaching design thinking to younger children using principles of cognitive apprenticeship. First, we identify fundamental design habits of mind, discuss why it is difficult for young learners to develop such habits, and then draw upon cognitive apprenticeship principles to propose a concrete approach for design education. Finally, we present an illustration of embedded design practice to show how the situated context offers opportunities for designers to learn more about the needs of young learners while providing learners with opportunities to learn more about design practices.