What is design thinking?
Design thinking refers to the process of forming, refining, prototyping and evaluating ideas to solve problems (Razzouk & Shute, 2012). According to IDEO (2012), there are 5 phases in the design process: discovery, interpretation, ideation, experimentation and evolution.
The design process is imperative to fostering creativity. The ideation phase helps scaffold students by allowing distinct time to unpack a problem, encouraging multiple innovative and valuable solutions (Wright & Jones, 2018). Creativity is fostered in the experimentation phase by allowing students to explore their ideas, build many different prototypes and refine them based on collaborative feedback.
Example of phase 3 and 4 of the design process to create a watering system during EDUC3620 tutorial CC BY Renae Cunningham.
How 3D printing supports design thinking
Digital technologies such as 3D printing can also be used in the classroom to support design thinking (Chen & Cheng, 2021).
There are various programs that could be used to create 3D designs including Tinkercad or SketchUp. SketchUp fosters creativity, as students are in control of designing their own unique prototypes. Students have the freedom to choose shapes from templates or draw their own, making it beneficial for a range of age groups.
360° view of house prototype designed in SketchUp CC BY Renae Cunningham. Could be used in Design and Technology classes to discuss prototyping (NESA, 2019).
Process to create different shapes using SketchUp CC BY Renae Cunningham.
There are also websites with pre-designed templates such as Thingiverse. A drawback of using pre-designed templates is that creativity is somewhat limited. However, rather than the design process being the creative aspect, the 3D printed item itself could foster creativity. For example, printing an artefact for a history project (ACHHK004 (NESA, 2012)) or as a prompt for an English story.
Examples of 3D printed objects shown in EDUC3620 tutorial CC BY Renae Cunningham.
Pedagogical issues
There are some negatives of learning by design. In particular, learning is achieved by doing, thus only limited instructions can be given (Koehler & Mishra, 2005). Too much scaffolding could hinder creativity. Students also need a basic understanding of 3D printing software before they can apply it in a creative way. Focusing on teaching technical skills limits the amount of time spent on fostering higher order thinking (Leinonen et al., 2020). Therefore, the age and prior knowledge of students needs to be considered before implementing this technology in the classroom.
*Updated 7/4/23 to add syllabus links and video on process using SketchUp after Announcement on originality.
*Updated 11/4/23 fix paragraph formatting issue
References
Chen, J., & Cheng, L. (2021). The influence of 3D printing on the education of primary and secondary school students. Journal of Physics. Conference Series, 1976(1), 12072–. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1976/1/012072
IDEO (2012). Design Thinking for Educators (2nd ed.). https://www.ideo.com/post/design-thinking-for-educators
Koehler, M. J. & Mishra, P. (2005). Teachers learning technology by design. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, 21(3), 94-102.
Leinonen, T., Virnes, M., Hietala, I., & Brinck, J. (2020). 3D Printing in the Wild: Adopting Digital Fabrication in Elementary School Education. The International Journal of Art & Design Education, 39(3), 600–615. https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12310
NSW Education Standards Authority. (2012). History K-10 Syllabus <https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/55f81fec-7312-45ff-b7a7-0a92a868c675/history-k10-syllabus.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=>.
NSW Education Standards Authority. (2019). Design and Technology Years 7–10 Syllabus. <https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/3adb11cc-5ff8-457a-9d82-a9107921d60c/design-and-technology-years-7-10-syllabus-2019.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=>.
Razzouk, R., & Shute, V. (2012). What Is Design Thinking and Why Is It Important? Review of Educational Research, 82(3), 330–348. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654312457429
Wright, G. A., & Jones, M. D. (2018). Innovation in the elementary classroom. Technology and Engineering Teacher, 77(5), 8-13.
Hi Renae,
What an insightful and well thought out blog post! I really like how you have gone into detail about design thinking and how design thinking fosters creativity. I also enjoyed how you have spoken about other programs which are similar to SketchUp as this shows that there are many 3D printing programs out there, therefore making it a great tool to implement into the classroom. For the future, I think it might be beneficial to add a limitation of SketchUp. Overall, I really enjoyed reading your blog and it made me look forward to implementing 3D printing in my classroom when I am a teacher.
Thanks,
Olivia Spanswick 09/04/2023
Hi Renae,
Your blog provided great information on how to incorporate 3D printing into the design process, but it would have been great if you could have included some more specific examples of how this technology has been or could be used in real-world projects. I did like how you included many references as well as examples to of the 3D printing from the classroom and your design on Sketchup. I have not worked with Sketchup but I have played arund with Tinkercad, which is similar but in my opinion a bit easier to navigate, and I do agree that these types of 3D design platform foster creativity. I also agree with your pedagogical opinion, that the use of…
Hi Renae!
Your blog post about design thinking is enjoyable to read! It was good to see a variety of design thinking materials as I believe that it's important for teachers to design their teaching around the different types of design tools. Due to accessibility, I believe that most classrooms would have the tools, used in designing a watering system.
I was entertained by your house design using Sketch Up! I agree to your statement that Sketch Up fosters creativity, as students are able to develop their own design and make it their own! I would have love to see photos of your process in designing your house in Sketch Up.
Overall, great work!
Regards,
Shekane
Hi Renae!
I really enjoyed your post on Design Thinking! I think it was great how you first provided a brief summary about design thinking as a concept before getting deeper into your content, as this was really helpful in giving the reader some background information! I also really liked how you linked design thinking with 3D pens and printing, as well as the class product creation to include different topics in your discussion! Well done :))
Bella Kaderavek (12/3/2023)