Building Critical and Creative Thinkers through
Design-Based Learning Environments
Teri Finn, Liesl Baum, and Phyllis Newbill
Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology
Virginia Tech
United States
Abstract: The NETS for students published by ISTE in 2011 name creativity and
innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, and
critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making at the top of the skills list. To
design is to rehearse each of these skills. Design is a skill that is relevant to students in all
disciplines. Designers identify problems in their immediate worlds and devise
meaningful, practical solutions to those problems. During this roundtable, participants
will explore the components of critical and creative thinking and the phases of design.
They will examine how designers use critical and creative thinking in each phase of the
process and then participate in a mini design challenge to experience the same. Finally,
participants will brainstorm ways to implement design-based learning in their own
classroom.
Introduction
The increasing complexity and connectedness of today’s world has led to a dynamic shift in the skills and
knowledge deemed relevant for students to master in their academic careers. We see evidence of this from a wide
range of sources calling for a new skill set in students. The National Educational Technology Standards for Students
(NETS-S) emphasize creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency,
and critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making as the skills needed in our next generation of graduates
(ISTE, 2011). Tony Wagner, an Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at
Harvard, identified five differences between schools creating innovators and schools that are not. Those differences
are: (1) collaboration versus individual achievement, (2) multidisciplinary learning versus specialization, (3) trial
and error versus risk avoidance, (4) creating versus consuming, and (5) intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation
(Wagner, 2012). Design-based learning environments offer educators the opportunity to foster the skills of a new
generation in the type of setting characterized by Wagner. When students design, they collaborate to create
solutions to problems. They discover the need for and seek out knowledge across disciplines. They take risks to
devise and test their unique solutions, and they are motivated by solving problems situated in the real world.
Through each of the phases of design, they practice the skills of critical and creative thinking outlined in the
NETS-S standards above.
As members of the Integrated Design + Education + Arts Studio (IDEA Studio) at Virginia Tech, the
authors explore methods to foster critical and creative thinking in learners of all ages. Our research began nearly
seven years ago with a comprehensive review of the literature on critical and creative thinking. Our findings through
this research and other projects on campus led us to begin exploring transdisciplinary, collaborative learning
environments as a means to foster these desired skills. As we collaborated with public school teachers, university
faculty, undergraduate and graduate students in formal and informal learning environments, we discovered the value
of design challenges in fostering the skills of critical and creative thinking. A summary of our current perspective on
the relationship between critical and creative thinking and design follows. Figure 1 illustrates a model of the two
processes and their relationship to one another.
Figure 1: The Relationship between Critical & Creative Thinking and Design
Critical and Creative Thinking
Critical and creative thinking is an integrated skill that involves four components: idea generation,
reflective judgment, self-regulation, and attitudes and dispositions (Baum, Cennamo, & Newbill, 2009). The idea
generation and reflective judgment processes are monitored and controlled by self-regulation. Throughout the
process, thinkers maintain the attitudes and dispositions that foster critical and creative thought. Each of the
components are described in more detail below.
Idea Generation
Many of the problems our students will be challenged to solve in the real world have no pre-determined
solution. Such types of problems are referred to as ill-structured problems (Jonassen, 2000). Effective problem
solving involves recognizing the existence of a challenge and identifying potential solutions. Idea generation is
about coming up with a multitude of solution ideas. During idea generation, nothing is too wild or silly or
impractical. Idea generation can be facilitated by working with new materials, visiting a new space, talking to people
with different perspectives, brainstorming, and using analogies and metaphors to compare problem elements to other
things. The more ideas that are developed in this phase, the more probable a unique, practical, and effective solution
will be found.
Self Regulation
As thinkers engage in generating and refining ideas, they should maintain the ability to monitor their own
learning and activity as well as the resources available to them. Self-regulation is the process through which
individuals plan for learning, set personal goals, monitor progress, and make changes as needed. The skill helps
build thinkers’ self-efficacy, confidence, attitudes, and motivation.
Reflective Judgment
Students’ worlds are full of access to information from a variety of sources. Their task is to not only find
relevant information but also determine its utility within the context of their current challenge. Reflective judgment
is about filtering and combining information and ideas to develop an effective solution. When using this component
of critical and creative thinking, problem solvers consider their personal experience, outside resources, and other
thinkers’ input as they organize, combine, and separate information. Through this analytical process, they determine
the best and most feasible plan to pursue.
Attitudes and Dispositions
Certain attitudes and dispositions are particularly helpful to thinkers working through a problem. The
ability to tolerate ambiguity, consider others’ perspectives, and avoid impulsivity are all key skills related to this
aspect of critical thinking. Motivation, flexibility, and confidence are also necessary for the development of and
continuous involvement in critical and creative thinking.
Design
Design is a unique form of problem solving that involves building solutions to problems that have no
correct or pre-determined solution (Jonassen, 2000). Designers work iteratively between the problem space - where
they narrow the focus, investigate the needs of their audience, and restructure the problem as they gather new
information - and the solution space - where they generate ideas for solutions, build and test models of those
solutions, and ultimately offer a solution to the challenge. In each of these spaces, critical and creative thinking
necessarily occur as the problem-solving process unfolds.
The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (d.School) suggests a five-phase model of
design that includes the following phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test (Stanford University
Institute of Design, 2013). Each of these phases is an important step in designing a meaningful solution to an
identified problem. The phases are described below.
Empathize
The empathize phase of design involves observing members of a target audience, interacting with those
people and conducting interviews to learn more about them, and/or immersing oneself in their world to gain insight
into their experience. In order to design a solution for a problem, you must understand the perspective of the person
impacted by the problem. A designer who fails to empathize may enter the design process with assumptions that
lead to incorrect decisions about the needs of the people for whom the solution is designed. Empathy work helps one
to uncover those assumptions and ensure that the right problem gets solved.
Define
During the define phase, designers utilize the knowledge they gained about their target audience during the
empathy phase to develop a point of view from which they frame the problem. This point of view is a “guiding
statement that focuses on specific users, and insights and needs that you uncovered during the empathize mode”
(Stanford University Institute of Design, p. 5). The define phase helps designers narrow a problem to a very specific
statement that they can use as a springboard for solution ideas during the next phase of design.
Ideate
Ideation is another word for brainstorming. During the ideate phase, designers generate as many potential
solution ideas as possible. The goal is not only generate a large number of ideas but also a wide variety of ideas.
While ideas will ultimately be judged for their value further along in the design process, judgment is set aside during
the ideate phase. Any and all ideas are welcome and encouraged, and obvious and routine solution ideas lead
brainstorming groups to push beyond the obvious to more creative options.
Prototype
Prototyping is a way of building physical representations of ideas to test their applicability and worth.
While prototyping often involves building a physical model of a potential solution, it can also be a physical
representation of another form such as a storyboard, a sticky note brainstorm board, or an object representing a
metaphorical analogy of a solution idea. Because prototypes are of low fidelity, the risk associated with failure is
low and designers can test their ideas more frequently. Furthermore, they provide opportunity to solicit feedback
from members of the target audience.
Test
“Testing is the chance to refine our solutions and make them better” (Stanford University Institute of
Design, 2013, p. 8). By testing prototypes with potential users, designers identify how to improve their solution.
Through testing, designers identify what aspects of the solution are inaccurate or incomplete and allow themselves
the opportunity to refine the solution before final production.
Design in the Classroom
Davis (2004) suggested that there are three different ways of using design in the classroom. First, design
can be the content of the instruction. For example, one might study the architecture of colonial America as part of a
history class. Second, one can implement design projects in the classroom. For example, students might design
ketchup bottles for disabled people. Finally, Davis suggested that design can be used as a pedagogy for teaching
other subjects. The authors are currently investigating how design as a pedagogy helps students learn to utilize the
skills of critical and creative thinking.
While design challenges can range in size and scope, we believe that they can be utilized to teach nearly
any subject. In a recent project, we worked an eighth grade civics teacher and an eighth grade language arts teacher
to implement a design-based learning environment. Students utilized the design process as they engaged in topics
related to civic responsibility and civic engagement. As students designed solutions to problems in their world, they
also utilized language arts skills as they conducted interviews, presented their work to a public audience for critique,
and shared their solutions with a public audience at the local science museum. Not only did students explore civics
and language arts topics as they built solutions, but they also utilized knowledge from other disciplines as the need
arose. One group, for example, conducted research on different types of trees to determine which produce the most
oxygen and absorb the most carbon dioxide. Another group learned to record and publish their own movies, and yet
another group explored QR code technology with smart phones.
As the facilitator in a design-based learning environment, a teacher can expect to witness a variety of types
“messiness” in the classroom. First, since the process has no pre-defined outcome, students can feel uncomfortable
with the ambiguity. As they become more familiar with the notion of not knowing the right answer, though, they
begin to take more risks and utilize creative thinking. Second, as students begin to prototype and test their solutions,
a literal mess often results. Cardboard scraps, glue, tape, construction paper, and other types of low-fidelity
prototyping supplies may seem to invade the otherwise neat space, but students generally enjoy this part of the
messiness. Finally, things get “messy” when students make a decision that is clearly an ill-advised one. We
encourage teachers to take a step back and let students make these mistakes. The lessons they learn will serve them
well as they approach other ill-structured problems in the future.
References
Archer, B. (1979). Design as a Discipline. Design Studies, 1 (1), 17-20.
Baum Combs, L., Cennamo, K.S., & Newbill, P.L. (2009). Developing critical and creative thinkers: Toward a
conceptual model of critical and creative thinking processes. Educational Technology, 49(5), 3-13.
Cross, N. (2006). Designerly Ways of Knowing. London: Springer-Verlag.
Davis, M. C. (2004). Education by design. Arts Education Policy Review, 105(5), 15-20.
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) (2011). National Educational Technology Standards for
Students (NETS-S). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx.
Jonassen, D. H. (2000). Toward a design theory of problem solving. Educational Technology Research and
Development, 48 (4), 63-85.
United Kingdom Department for Education (2011). Design and Technology: Key Stage 2. Retrieved from
http://www.education.gov/uk/
Wagner, T. (2012). Calling all innovators, Educational Leadership, 69(7), 66-69.