Running head: DESIGN THINKING PHILOSOPHY 1

Design Thinking Philosophy

EDUC 546: Design Thinking

Garett Cartier

University of Calgary
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The Essentials of Learning: My Redesigned Teaching Philosophy

A school has historically been known simply as a learning environment where teachers

provide education for students. This definition does not describe who the students are and the

types of education that best benefit them as individuals. However, does the definition outlined

above need to change? In some ways it can remain the same, but with more of a focus on the

individual students who attend the school. We are trying to avoid the mindset stated in a vignette

within Wiggins & McTighe (2005), “I felt that my brain was a way station for material going in

one ear and (after the test) out the other” (p. 1).

The teaching philosophy I have built for myself is heavily founded on the well being of

students according to a Comprehensive School Health program, where teaching and learning is

equally as important as the social and physical environments within the school (Pan-Canadian

Joint Consortium for School Health, 2018). Personally, I find that the solution based process of

Design Thinking helps to reduce the stresses and fear of failure that students can experience at all

stages of the educational process. Further, it helps to encourage students and teaches them to

become a part of a community. To take the words of the Galileo Educational Network (2015),

design based inquiry “is open-ended enough to accept different approaches and points of view”

(para. 2). All learners are unique, and while we are attempting to deliver the same information to

all students, we must recognize that the students will view and receive the information in many

different ways.

Within Design Thinking, “the questions asked and the work accomplished are seen as

openings and enrichments towards understanding” (para. 2) for students. I have witnessed

countless examples throughout our readings, seminars, and visits to schools, where learning is

put into children’s hands. These students have something meaningful to work towards and

significant learning is accomplished.

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In my eyes, my educational practice has been heavily altered over the short 5 weeks of

Design Thinking. Heading into my final practicum I am focused on educational practices where

“projects are authentic, worth doing, and fit within the overall direction of learning (para. 4). The

students should enjoy what they are doing, and be a part of the teaching process. School is no

longer a place to listen to instructions, and do what they are told, in terms of the learning process.

With the inquiry and design learning styles we have explored “teachers and students work

together to lay out project time lines, identify resources, and determine how success will be

measured ” (para. 4). Going forward I will look to build upon my investigations, to improve my

practice and to become a champion of this style of education. I hope to mimic the style of work

we have witnessed, beginning with the excellent examples displayed at H.D. Cartwright School

(January 22, 2018).

I want to bring to schools the type of education that I would deem suitable for my

daughter. The type of education that induces passion for learning, and the drive to engage upon

deep thought that relates to real world concepts. I will do this by utilizing concepts relevant to

the community and world we live in; concepts that are meaningful and can create change in the

world; most importantly, concepts that can create an endless supply of solutions and answers.

Hopefully by doing this, I will give students I teach an excellent life-long learning future.
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References

Galileo Educational Network Association (2015). Focus on Inquiry: A design for inquiry.

Calgary, AB: Author. Retrieved from http://inquiry.galileo.org/ch2/a-design-forinquiry/

Pan-Canadian Joint Consortium for School Health. (2018). Comprehensive School Health

Framework. Retrieved on February 6, 2018, from http://www.jcsh-

cces.ca/index.php/about/comprehensive-school-health

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development. Introduction & Chapter 1 (1-34). Retrieved

from https://ebookcentral-proquest-

com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgaryebooks/reader.action?ppg=13&docID=3002118

&tm=1513206738882