Design thinking for kids? How teachers can bring this creative problem-solving process into the classroom

It’s all the rage in academia and the business world. Could the approach to creative problem-solving known as “design thinking” take hold in elementary and high schools, too?

Stanford education professor Shelley Goldman thinks so, and she says it’s a process that can engage and benefit all students—even those who generally perform and participate at lower levels than their peers.

“One of the great things about design thinking is that everyone can do it,” she said on this episode of School’s In. “Think of creativity as a muscle instead of a trait. You can train it, get it into shape.”

Goldman, author of the recent book Taking Design Thinking to School, joined GSE Dean Dan Schwartz and Senior Lecturer Denise Pope in the studio to talk about why design thinking is such a powerful skill for students to develop and how K-12 teachers can incorporate it into classroom learning.

Listen from the link below, and find more episodes of School's In at the Stanford Radio main page. The show airs Saturdays on SiriusXM Insight Channel 121.