Enhancing Creativity through Design Thinking Education: A Proposal for an Education Workshop Focused on Middle School Students (Ages 13-15)

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Creativity is essential in the 21st century to meet the challenges of the world that is becoming more complex. As industries have shifted from the manufacturing-based 20th century to the knowledge-based 21st century, we are currently surrounded by unprecedented and unpredictable changes that we must face and solve. Governments, institutions, and businesses have a desperate and urgent demand for creative individuals that will help successfully navigate a world characterized by complexities and difficulties. In order to meet these demands, we must educate and train people to think creatively; in doing so, creativity must be embedded in education. The role of education in the 21st century should be to foster creative thinking. However, the systems of education used today, which have been invented before the 19th century to meet the needs of industrialism, focuses on linearity, conformity, and standardization. By analyzing the structure of the currently used educational system, this research questions whether our educational systems are limiting our innate creativity and suggests that we must rethink the principles of education. The purpose of this research is to propose an effective method of education for enhancing creativity. This research explores design thinking as a methodology for enhancing creativity in students. Design thinking, which promotes synthetic, divergent, and generative approach to problem solving, can balance the analytical thinking that is dominant in today’s education. Focusing on middle school students, an education workshop called FRAME, a title abbreviating its five-step process (Find, Research, Ask, Make, and Evaluate), has been developed as one possible solution that could be implemented into schools. Through this research, I hope that governments, institutions, businesses, educational organizations, and students realize the importance of encouraging creativity in education and implement design thinking education to as a strategy for fostering it. Design thinking education can enhance creativity, which can lead to successes of the individual, competitive advantages in businesses, and prosperity of the nation in the future.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

21세기의 더 복잡해진 세상의 어려움들을 마주하기 위해서 창의성은 필수적인 요소가 되었다. 20세기의 산업기반 시대에서 21세기의 지식기반 시대로 바뀌면서 우리는 늘 새롭고 예측 불가능한 변화를 직면하고 해결해야 한다. 정부, 기관 및 기업들은 우리가 맞서야 하는 복잡함과 여러 도전들을 성공적으로 다룰 수 있는 창의적인 인재를 극단적이며 긴급하게 요구하고 있다. 이렇게 늘어나는 시대의 요구를 충족시키기 위해선, 우리는 사람들이 창의적인 사고를 하도록 교육시키고 훈련시켜야 한다. 21세기 교육의 역할은 창의적 사고를 기르는 것에 중점을 두어야 한다. 그러나 현재 사용되고 있는 교육 체계는 19세기 이전에 만들어졌고 산업주의 시대의 요구를 충족하기 위해 설계되었으므로, 직선(linearity), 일관성(conformity)와 표준화 (standardization)에 초점이 맞춰져 있다. 이 시대의 교육 체계의 구조를 분석함으로써, 본 연구는 현재 교육 체계가 선천적인 창의성을 제한한다는 의문점을 제시하고 교육의 원칙을 재검토할 필요가 있다고 제의한다. 본 연구의 목적은 창의성 증진을 위한 효과적 교육 방법을 제안하기 위함이다. 본 연구에서는 ‘디자인 사고’를 학생들의 창의성을 증진시키는 방법론으로써 탐구하고자 한다. 디자인 사고란 문제 해결에 있어서 종합적(synthetic), 확산적(divergent) 그리고 생성적(generative) 접근을 촉진시키며, 현대 교육을 지배하는 분석적 사고에 대한 균형을 맞춰줄 수 있다. 중학생들을 상대로 연구를 진행하였으며, FRAME 교육 워크숍은 학교에서 시행될 수 있는 한 가지의 해결책 프로그램으로 개발되었다. FRAME은 하기의 다섯 가지 단계를 축약한 제목이다: Find 발견보기, Research 살펴보기, Ask 생각하기, Make 만들어보기, Evaluate 평가하기. 이 연구를 통하여 정부, 기관, 기업, 교육 단체 및 학생들이 교육에서 창의성을 증대시키는 것에 대한 중요성을 인지하고, 창의성을 기르는 전략으로 디자인 사고 교육을 시행하기를 기대한다. 디자인 사고 교육은 창의성을 향상시키며, 그 창의성은 개인의 성공, 기업의 경쟁우위와 국가의 번영으로 이끌어 낼 수 있을 것이다.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. Introduction 1
• 1.1. Background of Research 1
• 1.2. Purpose of Research 1
• 1.3. Structure of Research 2
• 2. Creativity 3
• 2.1. Understanding Creativity 3
• 2.2. Creativity as Intelligence 4
• 2.3. Importance of Creativity in the 21st Century 5
• 2.4. Misconceptions of Creativity 7
• 2.5. Creativity and Group 9
• 2.6. Creativity and Problem Solving 10
• 2.6.1 Understanding Problem Solving 10
• 2.6.2 Importance of Creativity in Problem Solving 12
• 2.6.3 Process of Problem Solving 13
• 3. Design Thinking 14
• 3.1. Design in the 21st Century 14
• 3.2. Understanding Design Thinking 18
• 3.3. Importance of Design Thinking 20
• 3.4. Design Thinking in Business 23
• 3.5. Design Thinking in Education 28
• 3.5.1 Teaching Design Thinking 28
• 3.5.2 Advantages of Design Thinking Education 29
• 3.5.3 Design Thinking as Education Methodology 30
• 4. Education 33
• 4.1. Role of Education in the 21st Century 33
• 4.2. Criteria of Education 33
• 4.3. Background of Education 34
• 4.4. Improvements in Education Today 38
• 5. Middle School Education 41
• 5.1. Understanding the Scope 41
• 5.2. Characteristics of Middle School Students 42
• 5.3. Middle School Education in Korea 43
• 5.4. Field Research 48
• 5.4.1 Survey on Middle School Students 48
• 5.4.2 In-depth Interview: Middle School Students 49
• 5.4.3 In-depth Interview: Experts 50
• 6. Proposal of FRAME Workshop 52
• 6.1. Overview 52
• 6.2. Five-step Design Thinking Process 54
• 6.2.1 Step 1: Find 55
• 6.2.2 Step 2: Research 56
• 6.2.3 Step 3: Ask 57
• 6.2.4 Step 4: Make 58
• 6.2.5 Step 5: Evaluate 59
• 6.2.6 Review 60
• 6.3. Workshop 62
• 6.3.1 Understanding Frames 62
• 6.3.2 Elements of a Workshop 63
• 6.4. Toolkit 66
• 6.4.1 Student Toolkit 66
• 6.4.2 Instructor Toolkit 68
• 6.5. Validation Test 70
• 6.6. Results 71
• 6.7. Beyond Enhancing Creativity 78
• 7. Conclusion 81
• 7.1. Further Research 82
• 7.2. Limitations 83
• References 84
• Abstract (국문초록) 90