Design Thinking in Education as a Catalyst to Discover and Maintain a Sense of Hope, Agency, and Confidence for Students (67245)
Session Chair: Ann DuHamel
Friday, January 6, 2023 (15:10)
Session: Session 4
Room: 318B
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation
Learning about ‘wicked problems (WP)’ in sustainability such as pollution, urban waste, and food and water shortages could incur a sense of helplessness among students. WP is complex to understand and challenging to teach. Our experience suggests how these concepts are taught is as important for student learning as is teaching the concepts of WP. The following question guided our research: What pedagogical approaches do we need to ignite creativity and to foster hope of a sustainable future when teaching about WP?
This case study explores students’ perceptions upon taking the WP Design Thinking (DT) program at Leiden University College (LUC in Netherlands). Students’ creativity and desires for a positive change were examined using content analysis of their reflective journals, in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion. We specifically focused on a sense of hope leading to fostered emotional stability, proactive engagement (e.g. creativity or innovative solutions) and learning in a time of pandemic, COVID-19.
Based on our findings, students who applied the DT approach to tackling the WP of household urban waste, demonstrated readiness toward team cooperation, emotional resilience, and self-awareness of their own environmental behavior. Students found interdisciplinary and multifaceted approaches to learning helpful in clarifying personal priorities, concerns and values.
We conclude by sharing our lessons learned and a step-by-step guide for educators to innovatively connect active learning pedagogy such as DT into their curriculum content to encourage a sense of possibility in students to overcome hopelessness in university classrooms and beyond.
Authors:
Min Jung Cho, Leiden University, Netherlands
Ann Trevenen-Jones, The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Netherlands
About the Presenter(s)
Dr Ann Trevenen-Jones is a Independent Scholar at Leiden University College in Netherlands
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