Why Teach Design Thinking?

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn,”
Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock.

At Makers Empire, we recognise the key role that teachers have in preparing students with the essential skills, mindsets and dispositions that will help them thrive in the future.

But 85% of jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. So how can we best prepare our students for this unknown future? How can we teach our children to be creators, innovators and problem solvers who can adapt and pivot when necessary to flourish in a rapidly changing world?

Teaching young students Design Thinking helps them develop a growth mindset and important problem solving, analytical and spatial thinking skills. So we equip educators with the tools, knowledge and support they need to embrace creativity and making in education for improved student performance, engagement and learning.

At Makers Empire, we believe every child can make their world better.

• Embedding Design Thinking
• Benefits for Students
• What are Essential 21st-Century Skills?
• Video: Better Learning by Design
• Why Become a Makers Empire School?
• What Do Makers Empire Schools Do?
• The Makers Empire Difference for Students

Embedding Design Thinking into your teaching will transform your classroom learning as it:

• Involves your students in solving interesting, challenging problems that engage them emotionally and cognitively, and inspire them to invest energy in their learning.
• Ignites curiosity and passion in even the most reluctant students, by making learning authentic, meaningful and connected to student’s own lives.
• Helps students develop empathy for others and to understand perspectives other than their own.
• Provides differentiated learning that challenges all students and provides scaffolds and supports to ensure that all students can be successful.
• Addresses all aspects of Design, Technology and Engineering curricula in deep and immersive ways.

Benefits for students who engage in Design Thinking include:

• Being able to identify problems and reframe them as actionable opportunities;
• Understanding the value of collaboration and feedback;
• Viewing setbacks and failures as valuable learning moments;
• Appreciating the value of hard work and persistence;
• Developing self-belief as problem solvers;
• Developing empathy;
• Developing a growth mindset;
• Developing stamina and resilience; and
• Developing entrepreneurial and community-minded behaviours.
• A focus that is both future and solutions-oriented.

21st Century Learning and Innovation Skills are skills that will be essential for students to possess to thrive in the increasingly complex life and work environments in the 21st century. These include:

• Creativity and Innovation
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Communication
• Collaboration

With technological advances driving automation and industry-wide disruption in many sectors, it’s the people who can identify and solve new problems in new ways that will be in great demand.

3D design and printing is an ideal way to help young people develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours needed to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Developed in consultation with Australian and American educators, Makers Empire’s 3D Solutions for Schools give young people the opportunity to start understanding and experiencing design thinking and prototyping from the very start of their school careers.

This video highlights the need to teach design thinking using 3D design and printing in schools.

Featuring key social trends and compelling statistics, this video illustrates the need for an all-in-one 3D solution for schools to maximise effectiveness and efficiency for school leaders, to save educators valuable time, and to improve student learning, engagement and performance.

Becoming a Makers Empire school has many advantages:

• Professional Development for Teachers – You and your teaching colleagues gain access to our groundbreaking, on demand, 13-part professional development video series to ensure that you feel confident and well equipped to implement 3D design and printing to their teaching using effective pedagogies.
• Customer Success Officer Support – You will be supported by a dedicated Makers Empire Customer Support Executive throughout your school subscription.
• Showcase Your Efforts via Case Studies, Teacher Interviews and Teacher Testimonials – showcase your achievements on the Makers Empire website to our global education community by sharing your feedback, participating in a case study or providing a guest post.
• Opportunity to Become a Makers Empire Ambassador – Join the Makers Empire Ambassador program.

A Makers Empire Teacher achieves the following:

• Covers Design and Technology Curriculum – Teachers can cover Design and Technology curriculum using Makers Empire’s library of 150+ lesson plans aligned to US Common Core standards, Next Generation Science standards and the Australian Curriculum
• Teaches Design Thinking – Teachers are encouraged to integrate design thinking, growth mindset, differentiated instruction and inquiry learning into their daily teaching in an intentional way with the support of Makers Empire’s resources.
• Regularly Improve Their Skills– Through familiarity with Makers Empire’s pioneering professional development video series, training and ongoing support, educators become confident teachers of design thinking, technologies and 3D design and printing.
• Teaches STEM subjects with Increased Confidence – Teachers who have used Makers Empire reported greater confidence in their ability to teach STEM subjects after using Makers Empire.
• Promotes Active Learning – Makers Empire teachers promote active learning communities that support sustainable school approaches to design thinking education for their students, staff and wider community.

• Students As Creators – Students are positioned as creators, inventors, innovators and problem solvers.
• 21st-Century Ready – Students are equipped with the skills, tools and resources they need to develop as resourceful and optimistic people.
• Resilience – Students learn how to bounce back from setbacks and develop persistence as they work through the design process.
• Collaboration – Through collaboration on their designs, students learn how to give constructive feedback to their peers and to also receive it.
• Citizenship – By teaching them how to identify and solve problems, students can become useful and productive global members of society.