Design Thinking for Education in India

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.

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.

Artistic impression of "Islands of excellence in a sea of mediocrity"
Artistic impression of "Islands of excellence in a sea of mediocrity"
Artistic impression of "Islands of excellence in a sea of mediocrity"

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.

  • 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.

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.

The thesis has also been published on Medium for easy reading. It has been divided into five parts based on themes and a sixth part introduces the method cards.

Author

Yash Banka

Yash Banka

Author

Raghvi Kabra

Raghvi Kabra