I highly recommend to listen to this Stanford podcast episode: “School’s In“ with Dan Schwartz and Denise Pope:
“Thinking Creatively Using Design Learning w/ guest Shelley Goldman“.
These three experts discuss and acknowledge the advantages of teaching Design Thinking to children of all ages. Shelley’s experience and research show that Design Thinking has huge benefits in multiple different ways for all children. Children who are designing learn to come up with innovative and creative solutions for complex and ”sticky“ problems. For many tasks, for example, building a puzzle or solving a math problem, there is only one solution. Either you solve it or you fail.
In the real world, we face other kinds of problems, called “sticky“ problems, which can have various solutions. Using Design Thinking children can learn how to create their own unique solutions for various types of problems. The Design Thinking process is so multilayered that children will have to learn to handle constructive criticism and keep on working, modifying and enhancing their design until they are satisfied. They will learn to be persistent in many ways.
Shelley Goldman calls it: failing forward. Failing is a valuable part of the process which leads to future success. Every single “failure“ will help you to enhance your outcome and take it to the next level.
The most important lesson for children is that you have to take action! You have to start to move with your own motivation and you have to keep on going forward no matter what complications show up in the process. With Design Thinking, you make sure that your children will take responsibility for whatever the world requires you to do. Design kids will know how to adapt and how to find unique innovative solutions for future problems.
Unfortunately, most schools are not teaching Design Thinking as part of their educational program. And of course, not every family has a professional designer at home.
This is why I developed an online Creative Design Thinking program for children and families. Feel free to contact me to get more information about my courses and services.
Let’s teach Design Thinking to our children now, so they will stay creative and have a successful future!
You can listen to this Stanford podcast episode here:
