Design Thinking

Just came off a meeting on design for social innovation, and ran into an exhibition of the work of students at the School of Design.  All are very attractive.  Some are obviously addressing important social issues.   I am left with a strong impression of how important design thinking is. 

Some are obviously promoting culture and heritage. 

Some are tackling issues such as “priority seats” which have caused quite a stir recently. 

Some are tacking weighty issues such as whether animals should be used for testing. 

Some are addressing issues such as social isolation.

Although there are others that I cannot quite figure out what purpose they serve.  

In our service-learning projects, we often need to draw on creative design thinking.  We need to make STEM fun for primary and secondary school students.  We need to draw the attention of the elderly when we design games for them.  We need to find creative solutions in building zero-carbon community learning centres in developing countries such as Cambodia and Rwanda.  We need to make attractive graphics for e-learning.  

If only we know how to teach creative design thinking!  What we have learn so far is that creativity is often driven by necessity.  It is not something that we can teach in the classroom.  But it can be learned through practice.