This case study reports the quantitative and qualitative findings of a professional development program focused on design thinking. The program took place in two rural southeastern counties in the USA. The professional development program was designed for elementary school teachers with limited science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) engagement. The goal of this program was to broaden the teachers’ understanding of incorporating STEM in their classrooms through the implementation of design thinking lessons. Design thinking is a powerful process that can allow teachers to transcend teaching STEM content areas alone and effectively integrate these disciplines into one problem-solving process. Through a weeklong professional development program, the teachers improved the knowledge of, skills in, and attitudes toward design thinking. Based on quantitative measures, there was a statistically significant increase in all three areas. Through thematic analysis, we found that participants specifically learned about implementing the design thinking process. This included providing students an opportunity to fail and struggle as they worked through the learning process. Also, providing students an opportunity to share their progress and ideas was highly supported by participants. Based on the evaluation of the professional development program, it was impactful due to the authentic opportunities for the teachers to practice what they were learning and opportunities for collaborative planning with their peers. We discuss the findings of this case in the context of relevant literature and provide suggestions for future professional development programs.

本案例研究报告了专注于设计思维的专业发展计划的定量和定性研究结果。该计划在美国东南部的两个农村县进行。该专业发展计划是为科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 参与程度有限的小学教师设计的。该计划的目标是通过设计思维课程的实施，拓宽教师对将 STEM 融入课堂的理解。设计思维是一种强大的过程，可以让教师超越单独教授 STEM 内容领域，并将这些学科有效地整合到一个解决问题的过程中。通过为期一周的专业发展计划，教师们提高了设计思维的知识、技能和态度。根据定量测量，所有三个领域都有统计上显着的增长。通过主题分析，我们发现参与者专门学习了如何实施设计思维过程。这包括为学生在学习过程中提供失败和挣扎的机会。此外，为学生提供分享进步和想法的机会也得到了参与者的大力支持。根据对专业发展计划的评估，该计划具有影响力，因为它为教师提供了真正的实践所学知识的机会以及与同行合作规划的机会。我们在相关文献的背景下讨论该案例的研究结果，并为未来的专业发展计划提供建议。