Analysis of Design Thinking activities as educational tool to promote critical thinking in university students

Critical Thinking, is a complex construct that involves mental processes such as identifying, evaluating and analyzing problems, interpreting information, synthesizing evidence and reporting conclusions. In Peru, national assessments show that high school students score low on Critical Thinking items [1], which continues when they start university. This study aims to analyze the activities that form part of the Design Thinking methodology as potential enhancer of Critical Thinking in students starting university studies. 180 first year students of different careers, who were taking a course in which Design Thinking methodology is used, participated in the study. Critical Thinking was assessed at the end of the course by analyzing student's competencies through their final piece of class work. The results show that Design Thinking methods cover diverse activities that comply with the elements of Critical Thinking. These results provide promising evidence that Critical Thinking may support the development of further innovative thinking and that teachers can foster these competencies using Design Thinking in their classrooms. The present research was conducted in an emergency remote education context due to the Covid-19 pandemic.