Using design thinking for developing pre-service teachers’ creativity in designing teaching plans to promote interactive learning in mathematics

Background

The demands of the 21st-century work environment increasingly challenge higher education educators to develop students’ ability to think creatively and critically, work collaboratively, communicate effectively, and solve problems innovatively by employing instructional methodologies that highlight interactive and active learning. Design thinking has gained widespread acceptance as a student-centered instructional approach that emphasizes the value of collaboration.

Aims

This study was conducted to determine the effects of design thinking on the creativity of teaching plans of pre-service teachers as an output of a performance task assessment.

Methods

The study utilized the posttest-only true experimental research design involving 25 matched pairs of pre-service teachers. The developed teaching plans of the experimental and control groups were evaluated using a rubric and compared their performances through the Welch t-test. A priori and post-hoc power analyses were performed.

Results

Statistical analysis showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the given performance task. The experimental and control groups' mean scores in all the rubric indicators recorded large differences that are statistically significant. There is also a statistically significant consensus between the evaluators’ ratings.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the design thinking process can positively impact the pre-service teachers' development of creative and professionally-designed teaching plans.

Recommendation

Further, this paper presented and discussed the implications of the results for facilitating interactive and active learning environments and the recommendations for future research undertakings.