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DESIGN
THINKING

perfect final product, but on the validity
and authenticity of the full process.
Assessment results will, therefore,
begin to reflect the quality of a learner’s
adaptability. And it is this adaptability
that is the most essential for the learners
who are currently at school and university
also known as Generation Z, or Zoomers.
According to Mark McCrindle and Ashley
Fell, (McCrindle. M & Fell. F. 2017) they
are the first fully global generation, shaped
in the 21st century, and are predicted to
work 18 jobs across six careers and live in
15 homes in their lifetime. Following hot
on the heels of the Gen Zeds are the Gen
Alphas born since the year 2010. They
are the most materially endowed and
technologically literate generation ever to
grace the planet, and it is going to take a
around the elusive quality of creativity are Taxonomy are the Design Thinking phases great deal of smart thinking in education
demystified, and educators and learners of Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Learners spheres to prepare a generation of learners
can realise that conducting research at are challenged to brainstorm countless for the world of work, particularly because
the start of the process (levels 1 and 2) ideas, to defer judgment, to become risk- 85% of jobs that will exist in 2030 have not
can lead to early awareness, grit, and takers, aspirant theorists, and fantasists of yet been invented. dw
insight (levels 3 and 4) without the stigma the ridiculous...and the probable. It could
associated with the way the world of be argued that this navigation of ideas Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy.
education thinks about failure, creative can happen in any traditional curriculum Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching.
problem-solving, and teamwork. guided school subject, and even more so Retrieved from:
cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/
The highest level of the Bloom’s in the non-traditional ones (like physical blooms-taxonomy
Taxonomy is the one most closely education).
aligned to the needs of the economy, the The next scaffold would be for ideas to McCrindle, M and Fell, A. Generation Alpha,
environment, culture, and society. In be narrowed down, wherein the need to 2020, Retrieved from:
other words, the ability to evaluate (level find solutions for the problems laid out www.researchgate.net/publication/342803353_
understanding_generation_alpha
5) and create (level 6) are adjudged as in the analysis phase, is combined with
the peak of human performance. Ideally, some of the best brainstormed ideas, into deidre@spencer2.co.za
the remaining 40% of educational foci rough and rapid prototypes, or proposed
should be rooted in this quest. It is also solutions. An incredible life-skill can be
in this space, that the highest level of taught in this phase to a generation of
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is met – immediate-gratification learners, and this
that of self-actualisation or the desire is that they can discover that it is better
to be the most that one can be. It is at to fail early and often as they create these
these peak levels, that the young minds samples.
who are engaged in the practice of This leads organically, in an iterative
education and growth, can authentically way, to the last step of the Design Thinking
exhibit the qualities of problem-solving process – that of testing (which is linked
and creativity. Traditional tropes in the to a combination of creation-evaluation-
world of education have claimed that creation in the Bloom’s Taxonomy). At
some subjects, such as the languages, the this point, learners are encouraged to
humanities, and the arts, lend themselves identify and highlight what is working
to level 5 and 6 of the Bloom’s Taxonomy and fix what is lacking, and every mistake
more than others. Additionally, takes them closer to success. As they
historically, creativity has been portrayed disclose what they have produced, the
as an enigmatic, indefinable force. critique they collect will be crucial to the
Design Thinking upends this modification process.
perception and posits that anyone can be The implementation of assessment
a creative problem-solver in any context, of knowledge gained in any Design
and suggests that the next necessary phase Thinking process then demands that
should be yet another process, and not a most of the weighting of a final mark does
final, highly prized, creative product. not then fall on a judgemental, frequently
Equated to level 5 and 6 of the Bloom’s non-objective number assigned to a

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