Abstract

Design thinking is relevant in the field of 21 st century education, where it is important in the development of creativity, innovation, and problem solving, particularly in science education. The aim of the study is to investigate the priority requirements in developing design thinking mindsets of teachers in the Princess Chulabhorn Science High Schools (PCSHS) network of Thais science schools with 18 specialized schools. The research is anchored on a Five-Stage Framework of teacher growth: need diagnosis, exploration of opportunity, learning design, implementation and evaluation. The quantitative needs assessment was based on the Priority Needs Index (PNImodified) and the data were gathered via a questionnaire of seven main design thinking mindsets. The findings demonstrate that every aspect was rated highly in the present state and highest in the desired state, which are evident areas to improve. The largest gap was identified at the Teacher Learning and Development Design stage, which indicates that there remains more development of important design thinking mindsets among the teachers. In particular, Courageous Experimenter, Empathic Human-Centered Designer, and Creative Visionary were identified as the highest priority areas. As the initial stages revealed the robust readiness of the system, the subsequent phase of the evaluation revealed the positive outcomes, which indicated that, though the teacher development is viewed as effective, the profound alterations in the teaching practice might not be completely attained yet. In general, the results indicate that the absence of opportunities and systems is not the key issue, but the necessity to empower the mindset of teachers and help them to implement the new knowledge in practice in the classroom. The present research offers a clear outline to enhance the process of teacher development and it gives valuable advice to the policy makers, school leaders, and teachers on how to develop a better and more practical teacher development program that can be used to facilitate innovative instruction and high performance learning conditions.

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