The purpose of this study was to assess particular student outcomes when design thinking was integrated into an environmental engineering course. The literature is increasingly promoting design thinking for addressing societal and environmental sustainability engineering challenges. Design thinking is a human-centered approach that identifies needs upfront.,In an undergraduate engineering course, Design for the Environment, students have begun to obtain hands-on experience in applying design thinking to sustainability challenges. This case study investigates the association between the use of design thinking and student creativity with sustainability design solutions. Student perspectives on their own creativity and future sustainable design practices as a result of the course were also investigated.,The findings were favorable for design thinking, being associated with a significant difference and medium-to-large effect with regards to solution novelty. A qualitative analysis showed a positive association between design thinking and students’ perceptions of their creativity and future anticipated sustainability practices. Using a content analysis of reflective writings, students’ application of design thinking was assessed for comprehensiveness and correctness. A two-week introductory design-thinking module and significant use of in-class active learning were the course elements that most notably impacted students’ use of design thinking.,This case study preliminarily demonstrates that application of design thinking within an environmental engineering course may be associated with beneficial outcomes related to creativity and sustainability.,A review of the literature did not uncover studies of the use of design thinking for undergraduate socio-environmental challenges to promote creativity and sustainable-practices outcomes, although the literature has been calling for the marrying of these two areas.

中文翻译：

---

可持续发展课程：学生对设计思维的看法和思考

本研究的目的是在将设计思维整合到环境工程课程中时评估特定的学生成绩。文献越来越多地推广设计思想以应对社会和环境可持续性工程方面的挑战。设计思维是一种以人为本的方法，可预先确定需求。在本科工程课程“环境设计”中，学生已开始获得将设计思维应用于可持续性挑战的动手经验。本案例研究调查了可持续发展设计解决方案在设计思维和学生创造力之间的联系。还研究了学生对本课程的看法，即他们对自己的创造力和未来可持续设计实践的看法。这些发现有助于设计思考，与解决方案新颖性方面的显着差异和中到大型效果相关。定性分析表明，设计思维与学生对其创造力的认知和未来预期的可持续性实践之间存在正相关关系。使用反思性写作的内容分析，评估了学生对设计思维的应用的全面性和正确性。为期两周的设计思维入门模块和课堂上主动学习的大量使用是最明显影响学生对设计思维使用的课程要素。此案例研究初步证明，在环境工程课程中应用设计思维可能与创造力和可持续性相关的有益结果相关联，