Design Thinking Applications in Teaching Programming to Gifted Students

Abstract

The study aimed to present suggestions for how a design thinking (DT) approach can be applied in the processes of teaching programming to gifted students and to reveal its effects on the teaching process. The case study method was used. 5 different DT tasks were defined to create solutions for an unstructured problem by using programming tools and DT processes. DT activities were applied to 25 gifted students (13 girls, 12 boys) at the Science and Art Center (BİLSEM) in the city center through the summer term. Data were collected through interviews, observation forms, and the DT Rubric which was developed by the researchers. The findings showed that gifted students improved their DT skills to a certain level, learned the academic content, enjoyed the process itself, and experienced some problems working in teams. At the end of the teaching process, the students emphasized that a good designer should be a respectful person who can work well within a team. Additionally, according to the students' views, different programming tools and environments namely Scratch, Arduino IDE and Lego Mindstorms EV3 can be used in the prototyping phase of the DT processes. Updating DT tasks to include DT mindsets and taking into account the leadership qualities of gifted students during the implementation process may be suggested.

Teaching strategies for gifted students in interior design program

“…The matter is particularly proven when instructors deal with gifted students (Mullet, Kettler & Sabatini, 2017). These students require teaching strategies for achieving their cognitive and intellectual abilities, which make their learning process more enough (Avcu, 2020). For instance, gifted students are supported by creative thinking strategies for developing their cognitive and developing skills (Mofield & Peters, 2019).…”

“…The rigorous nature of this subject means that educational institutions have fixed standard criteria for acceptance into the interior design program, through the incorporation of entrance examinations and the requirement of a technical drawing's portfolio. Students classified into four main categories based on their creative talents (Ankerson & Pable, 2008), as in; Figure 1.…”

The effect of gamification on young mathematics learners’ achievements and attitudes

“…The technological opportunities of the 21st century have led to differentiation in the learning profiles of today's students (Balakrishnan & Lay, 2016;Eleyyan, 2021;Liu et al, 2020;Ndibalema, 2020). The learning profiles have differentiations according to learners' ages (Avcu & Er, 2020;Cevher & Yıldırım, 2020). However, educational games are considerable for every learning profile (Garber Jr et al, 2018;Gök, 2020;Ruiperez-Valiente et al, 2020;Umay, 2002).…”

Change in Learning Motivation Observed through the Introduction of Design Thinking in a Mobile Application Programming Course

“…Various teaching approaches and perspectives have been developed and used with design thinking in schools [7][8][9][10][11]. Avcu and Er gave suggestions for how a design thinking (DT) approach can be applied in the processes of teaching programming to students [12]. In [12], DT activities were applied to 25 gifted students at the Science and Art Center (BİLSEM) through the summer term.…”

“…Avcu and Er gave suggestions for how a design thinking (DT) approach can be applied in the processes of teaching programming to students [12]. In [12], DT activities were applied to 25 gifted students at the Science and Art Center (BİLSEM) through the summer term. After participating in DT process, students stated that they enjoyed DT activities.…”