Experimenting, Risk-Taking, and Activist Mind-Sets Through Design Thinking in Preservice Art Education

• In Event: The Power and Possibilities for Design-Based Learning and Collaborative Creativity in Education

Abstract

Purpose:
In our globalized society, it is important to align teacher preparation programs in art and design and with learner-centered philosophy to better support socially engaged practices. We must identify practical strategies that support artist-teachers’ hybrid identities, agency, and capacities for social responsibility (Garoian, 1999). It is also considered that teachers’ identities, as works of art, are “complete only in the experience of others” (Dewey, 1934, p. 106) and transformed “in the company of others” (O’Donohue, 2015, p. 106).
How might we develop art educators’ positive, social activist, “do something” mindsets, while promoting empathy and altruism (Rolling, 2013)? Can design thinking processes improve attitudes of risk taking, openness to experience, tolerance of ambiguity, perseverance, and self-motivation—as well as support teacher identity?

Theoretical Framework:
Learner-centered (LC) philosophy supports this study for its emphasis on active and social construction of knowledge and culturally relevant practices (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000; Weimer, 2002). Building upon the three pillars of connection-making, inquiry, and student self-direction, LC environments focus more on the process of inquiry-driven learning, developing student agency, and shared power between teacher and students (Ingalls Vanada, 2011).
Figure 1. Learner-centered Goals

Rather than a strict content, an LC curriculum is often organized around issues or big ideas: philosophical issues or theories of social concern that require multidisciplinary, real-life solutions or art-based responses (Cullen, Harris & Hill, 2012). Students investigate problems of interest to them, searching for connections from disparate sources and across disciplines to develop concepts, rather than teacher-driven.

Methods and Data:
In a ‘design for change’ and social activist approach, undergraduate and graduate artist-teachers engaged in collaborative action research using the T-H-I-N-K model (Ingalls Vanada, 2011). Design thinking, as a creative and collaborative complex problem-solving process, served as the research tool and data collection method for students’ socially-engaged investigations into observed problems they identified during classroom observations and preservice teaching. Student-led, art-based inquiries addressed complex issues of social, educational, and cultural injustice. This 20-minute presentation will report on students’ written reflections, self-reports, created products and ideas/solutions, plus teacher observations—as evidence of the impact of this action research project.

Results and Significance:
By investigating observable problems in education and engaging in collaborative action research, candidates practiced thinking divergently, generating many alternatives rather than one right answer, then synthesizing through design thinking—a process they self-reported as transformative compared to typical art education classes. Design thinking invited them embrace never-before-thought of solutions (Lee & Breitenberg, 2010). Artist-teacher candidates reported:

• improved research skills and socially-engaged practices
• empowerment as change agents
• growth in navigating ambiguity, risk taking, and empathy.
As we prepare a generation of future artist-teachers to serve as cultural and creative agents of change, design thinking can inform practice and support catalysts of dynamic learning (Ingalls Vanada, 2011). In a ‘design thinking for educators’ vision toward social and educational change, teacher training programs in art and design education promote social responsiveness and allow development of social-emotional skills that foster civil and culturally proficient communities.

Author

• Delane Ingalls Vanada, Catholic University of America