Design Thinking: How Preservice Teachers Develop Capacity for Designing Inquiry-Based Lessons

Abstract This study examines how elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) develop the capacity to design inquiry-based lessons in social studies and how this capacity changes over time. Using convergent parallel mixed methods, the findings indicate that PSTs had inherent and varied content design approaches fitting their perception of lesson design as they attended the social studies methods course. PSTs developed and improved their pedagogical design capacity for inquiry-based lessons when engaged in designing lesson plans. However, teachers’ interactions with specific curricular, personal, and contextual resources affected how they developed an understanding of inquiry methods and the extent of their competence to construct inquiry lesson plans. The implications highlight a priority for educators to develop educationally sound design thinking and critical reflection on design ability among PSTs.