Published April 18, 2024 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Makers by Design: Helping Teachers Integrate Design Thinking Into Instruction Through a Sustained Professional Learning Fellowship

  • 1. Northern Virginia Community College, Fairfax VA
  • 2. Michigan Technological University, Houghton MI

Description

This paper investigates the extent to which participants in a professional learning (PL) program learned and implemented design thinking principles within their instruction. In 2022, 17 educators from the northern Virginia region were recruited to an NSF-funded PL fellowship, including K-12 teachers, post-secondary faculty, and public librarians. During the project, fellows completed 20 hours of design thinking PL, practiced teaching at digital fabrication summer camps for elementary and middle school youth and developed and implemented a lesson plan that integrated design thinking into their subject area. Data sources included surveys, teacher-generated lesson plans, and lesson reflections. A mixed methods approach was used for data analysis.

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Additional details

Funding

Supporting Instructors to Embed Design Thinking in Digital Fabrication Courses 2055324
U.S. National Science Foundation