Design Thinking for Education in India
Design Thinking for Education in India
Education has the herculean task of moving civilizations forward. Over three decades later, India has introduced a revised national education policy (NEP 2020). This essay sees the policy as a catalyst to overcome the systemic inertial buildup since the country's colonial days. It looks outwards to draw inspiration and inwards to a nation expressing its pride, bringing together ideas and ways of thinking, and contextualizing them to work for the Indian education system. As practitioners of design thinking, the authors explore and hypothesize how a shift to a growth mindset could benefit the country's education system and set a robust foundation for India to transform its economy with innovation at the forefront.
Education has the herculean task of moving civilizations forward. Over three decades later, India has introduced a revised national education policy (NEP 2020). This essay sees the policy as a catalyst to overcome the systemic inertial buildup since the country's colonial days. It looks outwards to draw inspiration and inwards to a nation expressing its pride, bringing together ideas and ways of thinking, and contextualizing them to work for the Indian education system. As practitioners of design thinking, the authors explore and hypothesize how a shift to a growth mindset could benefit the country's education system and set a robust foundation for India to transform its economy with innovation at the forefront.
Design Thinking for Education in India
Education has the herculean task of moving civilizations forward. Over three decades later, India has introduced a revised national education policy (NEP 2020). This essay sees the policy as a catalyst to overcome the systemic inertial buildup since the country's colonial days. It looks outwards to draw inspiration and inwards to a nation expressing its pride, bringing together ideas and ways of thinking, and contextualizing them to work for the Indian education system. As practitioners of design thinking, the authors explore and hypothesize how a shift to a growth mindset could benefit the country's education system and set a robust foundation for India to transform its economy with innovation at the forefront.
Design Thinking for Education in India
Education has the herculean task of moving civilizations forward. Over three decades later, India has introduced a revised national education policy (NEP 2020). This essay sees the policy as a catalyst to overcome the systemic inertial buildup since the country's colonial days. It looks outwards to draw inspiration and inwards to a nation expressing its pride, bringing together ideas and ways of thinking, and contextualizing them to work for the Indian education system. As practitioners of design thinking, the authors explore and hypothesize how a shift to a growth mindset could benefit the country's education system and set a robust foundation for India to transform its economy with innovation at the forefront.
The intent of this thesis is to spark conversation. The renewed focus on education is exciting, and a paradigm shift can empower a new generation to transform the lives of a billion-plus people.
The intent of this thesis is to spark conversation. The renewed focus on education is exciting, and a paradigm shift can empower a new generation to transform the lives of a billion-plus people.
The intent of this thesis is to spark conversation. The renewed focus on education is exciting, and a paradigm shift can empower a new generation to transform the lives of a billion-plus people.
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quotable quote
“I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way—by rote or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!”
—Richard Feynman, American physicist and Nobel Prize winner
did you know
Bloom’s Taxonomy categorizes skills students are expected to attain as learning progresses. Originally published in 1956, the tool is named after Benjamin Bloom of the University of Chicago. Now a classic arrangement of intellectual skills, the taxonomy can be used to develop effective learning outcomes. The 2001 revised edition’s levels are: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create (rather than Synthesize).
in conversation
An interesting thought came up in one of our interviews with an educator who taught students in India and the US. She told us that teachers are capable of teaching almost all the subjects taught up to middle school. However, larger schools usually assign subjects to them, and they continue teaching the same topics year after year. This construct could be shuffled up such that either teachers switch subjects each year or the silos of subjects are completely broken up on the educator side, and they rotate between topics instead of subjects. Doing so would lessen the inertia of getting set in one's way, having taught the same thing repeatedly, and encourage teachers to learn and experiment constantly.
take note
Teaching and evaluation have been fundamental parts of our educational experience. We believe that the two of us got some of the best available education and look back fondly to our school days. However, now that we retrospect, we are unsure if learning is interchangeable with teaching and absorption with evaluation. There is a distinction.
hot take
Design thinking at a school level first needs to be more of actual “thinking” and “reflection” – the normalization and encouragement of questioning what is being taught and digging deeper into the concepts rather than accepting without understanding. We understand this is easier said than done and requires a change from fixed to growth mindset, which might take a considerable amount of time to come about. Through our lived experiences, we have noticed that the time and space for personal reflection are nearly non-existent. There is a constant race of “doing” without a proper purpose or aim (the “why” is missing). This is a gross generalization so take it with a pinch of salt. Things are taking a (slow and steady) turn for the better.
quotable quote
“I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way—by rote or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!”
—Richard Feynman, American physicist and Nobel Prize winner
did you know
Bloom’s Taxonomy categorizes skills students are expected to attain as learning progresses. Originally published in 1956, the tool is named after Benjamin Bloom of the University of Chicago. Now a classic arrangement of intellectual skills, the taxonomy can be used to develop effective learning outcomes. The 2001 revised edition’s levels are: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create (rather than Synthesize).
in conversation
An interesting thought came up in one of our interviews with an educator who taught students in India and the US. She told us that teachers are capable of teaching almost all the subjects taught up to middle school. However, larger schools usually assign subjects to them, and they continue teaching the same topics year after year. This construct could be shuffled up such that either teachers switch subjects each year or the silos of subjects are completely broken up on the educator side, and they rotate between topics instead of subjects. Doing so would lessen the inertia of getting set in one's way, having taught the same thing repeatedly, and encourage teachers to learn and experiment constantly.
take note
Teaching and evaluation have been fundamental parts of our educational experience. We believe that the two of us got some of the best available education and look back fondly to our school days. However, now that we retrospect, we are unsure if learning is interchangeable with teaching and absorption with evaluation. There is a distinction.
hot take
Design thinking at a school level first needs to be more of actual “thinking” and “reflection” – the normalization and encouragement of questioning what is being taught and digging deeper into the concepts rather than accepting without understanding. We understand this is easier said than done and requires a change from fixed to growth mindset, which might take a considerable amount of time to come about. Through our lived experiences, we have noticed that the time and space for personal reflection are nearly non-existent. There is a constant race of “doing” without a proper purpose or aim (the “why” is missing). This is a gross generalization so take it with a pinch of salt. Things are taking a (slow and steady) turn for the better.
We hypothesize a framework to modify the cyclic pattern of teaching topics in a subject. We have also tried to adapt design thinking methods and created a starter set method cards which act as teaching aids.
We hypothesize a framework to modify the cyclic pattern of teaching topics in a subject. We have also tried to adapt design thinking methods and created a starter set method cards which act as teaching aids.
We hypothesize a framework to modify the cyclic pattern of teaching topics in a subject. We have also tried to adapt design thinking methods and created a starter set method cards which act as teaching aids.
Why & How
Students can be encouraged to ask Why and How questions around phenomena. “Why” probes the reasons/factors/events behind the phenomena and “how” focuses on explaining them.
This method is good for...
Understanding cause and effect relationships.
Visualizing events in history (e.g. events leading up to a conflict and its repercussions), chemistry (molecular chain reactions), biology (stimulus-response) etc. that occur in a timeline.
Propose a Question
Students are intrinsically motivated to learn when an explicit knowledge gap is present. Asking questions about phenomena that are commonly seen in the surroundings can help identify this gap.
This method is good for...
When the subject matter you’re teaching is based on phenomena that students have observed in their surroundings.
When it is possible to cover the entire concept in a single session.
Observing & Journaling
Asking students to observe phenomena would trigger an exploration. Journaling helps students process information and later consolidate what they observed.
This method is good for...
Individual pre-work to build interest in the subject matter to be taught in upcoming classes.
Promoting an intentional and multi-sensorial observation of a phenomena in the students’ surroundings.
Fostering a note-taking habit in the students.
Challenging pre-conceived assumptions.
Talking & Questioning
Framing questions in itself is a learning opportunity which encourages students to think about the topic. Talking to people will help students to expand their knowledge, learn in a non-traditional setting, observe how the same question can have different answers, and become more comfortable with asking questions.
This method is good for...
Learning beyond the classroom environment.
Exploring societal topics/issues.
Understanding and accepting others’ point of views to generate empathy.
Identify & Summarize
Finding patterns and connecting concepts is an intuitive way of making sense of information. This can be summarized by students to make a knowledge bank of key concepts.
This method is good for...
Helping students identify their knowledge gaps.
Recapping and condensing learnings.
Building bite-sized knowledge repositories.
Capturing the essence of the subject matter taught in class.
Promoting reflection and self assessment.
Concept Map
A visual method to map out phenomena / ideas / concepts by forming relevant connections or identifying dependencies.
This method is good for...
Breaking down large topics or problems.
Identifying interdependencies, connections, and cause-effect relationships.
Creating visual snapshots of classroom discussions.
Encapsulating knowledge.
In-class teamwork exercise.
Building a shared understanding of a topic.
Comic Strip
Comic strips are an excellent method of visual storytelling and can be used to solidify the understanding of a concept. They help break down the concept into action.
This method is good for...
Better understanding of a concept that is sequential in nature.
Replacing fill-in-the-blanks questions (e.g. for topics in history, boxes can be labelled with important years associated with an event. Students can draw simple drawings or name what happened in that year; for languages, students can illustrate/write a short story in the style of a playwright).
Ideating and capturing imagination.
Experimentation
Simple experiments conducted prior to teaching a new concept can create curiosity which leads to an intrinsic motivation to learn the science behind the phenomena.
This method is good for...
Helping students think critically and investigate phenomena.
Keeping students engaged and focused while explaining related concepts.
Eliciting and tackling misconceptions that students might have related to the phenomena.
Building a scientific temper.
Build & Create
Making models and prototypes adds a dimension to ideas and concepts learnt in class. It is a way of stretching the students imagination and help in developing problem solving skills.
This method is good for...
Encouraging learning by doing.
Building the habit of prototyping and testing.
Adding dimensionality to concepts and textbook images/diagrams.
Collaborative project work.
Abridged version published by Industrial Designers Society of America during the Education Symposium 2023.
Abridged version published by Industrial Designers Society of America during the Education Symposium 2023.
Abridged version published by Industrial Designers Society of America during the Education Symposium 2023.
