Katja Forbes
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

Solving Complex Problems Becomes Child’s Play

Design Thinking and human centred design are two cutting edge principles destined for the future school curriculum, to take the place of dry themes that are no longer relevant to today’s economic landscape.

It is expected that thinking and its components will fit into the current national school curriculum as early as next year. Content is provided by thought leaders like myself and other experienced colleagues of mine. Children will learn principals that are relevant to their age, for example, children will uncover a problem and are guided through steps to invent a creative solution: effectively the full cycle of the Design Thinking process, that includes interviewing, observing, reflecting on feedback, sketching and ultimately developing a prototype.

For the second time, an annual school holiday workshop took place back in June at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on Future Making. It attracted around 60 kids and was deemed an enormous success. The purpose of the workshop was to provide a demonstration of how design thinking and its components will fit into the national school curriculum. The kids who participated mentioned the workshop offered a new way of thinking in an interactive way, and parents were pleased that their kids’ creativity was being fostered. Schools were happy to engage their students in current studies.

The progression of Design Thinking as a concept is a form of creation and invention adopted in businesses, and the natural next step for the school curriculum. Put simply, Design Thinking is a methodology of solving complex problems. Clearly businesses and individuals have been solving problems since the beginning of time, but Design Thinking does it differently. This is exactly how disruptive business models that have overhauled market structures came about, such as Air BnB.

Design Thinking does not include only engineers at one stage, and only designers at the other. People from all industries are involved at each stage, and are encouraged to view problems at a solutions point of view, rather than being bogged down in the problem itself. They are encouraged to seek better understanding of the situation, reasons why, core drivers and business goals, rather than strictly adhering to business requirements. They should take a number of factors into consideration when working, including the practical (logic, reasoning), but also the less tangible elements, like imagination, innovation and intuition.

Design Thinking is a mile away from what I was taught at school, and the remnants of the curriculum today. The very fact that I can’t remember, and the fact that my business was built on principals of my own, largely self-discovery, not those taught at school, is explanation enough that the curriculum needs to change to suit today’s climate. No longer is there only one right answer to one plus one. Nowadays, we need children to be encouraged to follow the Learn/Build/Measure cycle, and keep improving their creations by continuing on the cycle.

Problem solving should be approached from a holistic and comprehensive manner, because these creations will have an impact on our future. Children need to be taught how to brainstorm and think bigger. History teaches them where we have been, design thinking gives them a part in where we are going.

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Katja Forbes

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Katja Forbes is a UX design expert. She is International Director on the Interaction Design Association Board. Speaker, media commentator, DesignIt Aus/NZ MD.