Critical Thinking in Design

The goal of this paper is to present the results of a research that aims to understand and explore means to developing visual literacy in graphic design students. Design students were asked to hand in visual reports after reading an assigned text. If Visual Literacy is an ability to interpret and develop images, then, constructing and developing visual arguments after interpreting a text could be a way to achieve visual literacy. What this research shows is that in this process, not only visual literacy was exercised, but students also showed signs of critical thinking skills. This was visible thanks to the group discussions around the sent images that were presented during class, and also, it was observed that critical thinking took place in the process of developing images because students were interviewed so that they could verbalize their own design process. So, these findings could be the starting point to understand better the relation between both skills, in order to design specific lessons so that students may develop them when coursing design programs.

2013

Proceedings of EDPE …, 2008

How can we prepare engineering students to work collectively on innovative design issues, i.e. ones that are usually considered as ill-defined, "wicked" problems? Engineering science teaching has to be completed by some experience of design. Project-Based Learning (PBL) has long been seen as a good way to learn design although it is also recognised that it has to be backed by knowledge on design thinking, to help focus on the critical learning issues. Historical cases in creative engineering and industrial design teaching show cases of "project-based critical learning" (PBCL) where PBL was in fact supported by clear design thinking with three common principles: acquiring strong (disciplinary) knowledge, learning to be ready to produce knowledge, learning to design in unknown situations. C-K theory, a recent theory of design reasoning which accounts for creative design, models the design process using existing knowledge, expanding knowledge bases and exploring unknown concepts. Hence it provides relevant knowledge on design thinking to support teaching of innovative design. We illustrate the use of C-K theory, first in an interpretative way, to reveal active knowledge expansion in creative projects; and second as a methodological tool to support the design of smart shopping carts.

The design of artifacts and how designers make them have garnered renewed societal interest as interactive technologies create new opportunities and challenges. The world we experience has never before been as diverse, socially and materially, or as malleable as it now. Increased computation and interactivity are changing the appearance, evolution, and interactions of the personal and collective artifacts that shape our everyday experiences, family and community life, and learning and work activity. These digital artifacts increasingly leverage sensing and physical interaction to provide information at our fingertips and connect us to people around the globe. This new generation of digital technologies gives people a great deal of discretion as to what artifacts and services they use and how they use them (Grudin, 2005). Adoption and appropriation of new digital artifacts is increasingly part of everyday life, and this change draws our attention-and sense of curiosity-to how these artifacts are designed. When we talk about designing, we share Herbert Simon's (1969) broad view that ''everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones'' (p. 129). The articles in this special issue can usefully be read with that broad view of design. That said, we and the authors focus on design professionals, students, and researchers as canonical instances. As computational artifacts take on new shapes and play new roles, so do designers (Moggridge, 2007). Designers of digital artifacts face more complex constraints than, say, furniture designers a century ago. Their work must integrate diverse considerations, physical and mechanical engineering, software engineering, user interface design and user experience, and aesthetics, as well as diverse culture and human values (Dreyfuss, 1955). The position of design and designers at the nexus of so many complex

A new approach to theory building employing comparative interpretation of subject outlines is described. Outlines profiling scientific disclosure, problem solving, and design thinking are among many subject outlines correlated to uncover recurring kinds of information and related modes of purposeful thought. Examples of their use in critical thinking, content analysis, generative, and instrumental thinking are described. The intent is to explain how A Theory of Design Thinking was developed and to illustrate different ways it can be applied. Purposeful selection of existing subject outlines, their comparative interpretation, and generalization resulted in an ontological framework, similar to an academic rubric, through which to guide purposeful thought and design thinking about any subject.

Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 1997

This paper illustrates how critical thinking techniques could be used in teaching aesthetics. Exploring unfamiliar territory and moving freely between reflective and active thought processes are components important to both aesthetics and critical thinking. In keeping with the objectives of critical thinking, a classroom exercise titled "Getting Outside of Your Own Skin" was designed to help students acknowledge and address assumptions and biases they may hold about older consumers and the aging process. Students were encouraged to move beyond personal experiences to broaden their thinking about individuals unlike themselves. By working through the project, students were given the opportunity to examine their perceptions and attitudes toward the aging process and to consider their effect on this growing market.

A publication created by students in a University of Washington Honor class, Winter Quarter 2016 describing design thinking exercises. File includes instructor's course syllabus and exercises.

Journal of Interior Design, 1994

Issue The design educator can respond to the significant need to enhance critical thinking by creating a studio environment that fosters self–discovery and synthesis of information and places the responsibility of learning upon the students. Goal A studio environment that promotes critical thinking encourages students to explore and analyzes various issues and theories, thereby enhancing of their ability to build a substantiated case for an interior design solution. Application Distinctions between problem solving, decision making, concept development, and critical thinking clarify for the student the various roles of these thinking strategies. A comparison between a traditional interior design studio versus one that fosters critical thinking clarifies for the educator the type of environment necessary to promote this order of thinking. The importance of critical thinking is emphasized, and students are more confident and experiential in their approach to interior design. Students a...

A new approach to theory building employing comparative interpretation of different subject outlines is described. Outlines profiling scientific discourse, problem solving and design thinking are among many other subjects correlated to identify recurring kinds of information and the modes of purposeful thought appropriate to them. Their use in critical thinking, analysis, generative and instrumental thinking are described to provide knowledge of how A Theory of Design Thinking was developed and applied.

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings

This work addresses a practical means to more clearly link the completion of an ABETaccredited undergraduate engineering degree with critical thinking about sociotechnical issues. An exercise has been created which can be used to develop and measure an aspect of critical thinking by engineering students in a sociotechnical context. This exercise can be used as one possible measurement of the ability of an engineering student to demonstrate attainment of ABET outcome (h), understanding the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context. This outcome has been viewed as difficult to measure and therefore under consideration to be eliminated from the ABET criteria. The approach is based on asking students to predict impacts of a new technological product as described in a news article. A simple rubric is included which allows numerical grading of student responses. The rubric helps students to discern the difference between impacts and other aspects of new technology such as features, product capabilities, and necessary design requirements. The activity can be completed in a single class session. While more time would be beneficial, an objective of the current work was to create a very short and easily implemented activity so as to facilitate adoption by other faculty. Results show measurable increases in first year engineering students' ability to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context. It is vital that the education of today's engineers expand beyond mere technical competence to include the critical thinking abilities more broadly associated with technological leaders and technologically literate citizens. Considerable work has been done to develop the concepts of engineering and technological literacy as appropriate for the education of all students. At the same time less attention has been given to examining if individuals trained as engineers actually possess a broad understanding of technology and are able to engage in the type of critical thinking and decision making considered vital for a technologically literate citizenry. While the current results reported here are limited, this activity and assessment appear promising. Given the relevance to current discussions of ABET accreditation criteria revisions, this work is being reported at the present stage for the benefit of the engineering education community.