Case study
Design Thinking was tested with 10th grade high school
students (aged 15-17: tenth grade is the last general school
year before College in Germany) in order to analyse and
evaluate Design Thinking as a teaching method in
comparison to Dewey’s recommendations. The
students and teachers motivation, the learning
atmosphere and the development of cognitive and
social competencies were the main criteria for
analysis. An empirical study was set up to prove the
above stated hypotheses with the use of quantitative
questionnaires and the Inventory of Social
Competence – ISK (Kanning 2009). A three-day case
study took place in a secondary school in Potsdam,
Germany, involving 125 students and a team of
twelve teachers and coaches (assigned by
coincidence, Dewey groups were school teacher,
Design Thinking groups were coached by d.school
coaches, all the coaches chosen to be similar
characters (end twenties, highly motivated, open for
new methodologies and experts in their domains
(project teaching with students/Design Thinking
coaching), all of them participated in a briefing to