МЕТОДИЧЕСКИ ПОДХОД ЗА ВЪВЕЖДАНЕ НА ДИЗАЙН МИСЛЕНЕ С ОГЛЕД РАЗВИВАНЕ НА ЕМПАТИЯ В НАЧАЛНА УЧИЛИЩНА ВЪЗРАСТ
A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH FOR INTRODUCING DESIGN THINKING IN ORDER TO DEVELOPING EMPATHY IN PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE

Summary/Abstract: Design thinking is a contemporary educational approach geared towards fostering students' creative and personal potential. This methodological approach has been effectively implemented in vocational and higher education, as well as STEM, but it is still insufficient for the education of young students. Design thinking differs from the familiar methodical approaches of stimulating non-standardness and creativity by using empathy as an important component of the process. There are various explanations of empathy in the design process. Among the most mentioned are cognitive interest – tuning in to users' emotions; affective experiences – openness to communicating with others; self-awareness – the ability to differentiate these users' own ideas, actions, perceptions, sensations and emotions; personal experiences – connection with oneself and awareness of one's own experiences; the blended experiences that show designers can alternate between other-oriented and self-oriented perspectives.In the Bulgarian education system, there are initiatives to incorporate design thinking in primary school, however, they are limited due to the extant curriculum and the continued use of the class-lesson method of instruction. One of the primary benefits of design thinking, namely its ability to encourage student‘s empathy as an essential personal quality for educational and life achievement, is underutilised.The article proposes a methodical approach for introducing design thinking in the education of pupils aged 9 to 10 years old. An experimental approbation of four projects based on design thinking and geared primarily towards developing students' empathy is presented. The experimental work was evaluated using the method of expert evaluation. The projects implemented with 300 students in 3th and 4th degree were evaluated by two independent experts on a 5-point scale. The scale contains 10 indicators for evaluating potential for developing the students’ empathy in the design-thinking process.Results of an empirical study of the levels and characteristics of empathy achieved through the proposed approach are presented.

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