Design Thinking

An NSTA/CBC Best STEM Books K-12 Selection

Design thinking is a human-centered approach for tackling complex problems. It is used in creative problem solving to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and create innovative solutions. Science educator and author Fred Estes explains each of the six steps in the design thinking model―notice and reflect, empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test―and provides examples of its practical, real-world applications. The strategy has been used for developing corporate structure in businesses such as UberEATS, AirBnB, and Adobe XD to local and regional projects.

Learn about collaborating with others to devise innovative solutions and improve communities. Through true stories of real student teams and their projects, discover how design thinking can drive positive change and create a more equitable world.

Fred Estes taught science for nearly two decades in a school near his home in San Francisco. He's written several articles about science teaching, including "Compost: The Rot Thing for Our Earth" and he is a peer reviewer for a National Science Teaching Association journal. Before that, he taught high school English, worked as a financial analyst, joined an AI startup, developed corporate training programs, and earned a doctorate in educational psychology and technology. Currently, he teaches graduate students and teachers about design thinking, innovation, creative teaching methods, and hands-on-STEM curriculum.