IDEO defines design thinking as the application of empathy and experimentation to arrive at innovation solutions through making decisions based on stakeholder input and evidence based research. Design thinking attempts to understand the intent or problem before looking at any solution . It emphasize the importance to identify why the problem exists in the first place before solving it.

Using the HOTS for KSSR Level 1, a design thinker would ask, what is the intent of provide HOTS for KSSR Level 1 instead at the first place?

Based on quicksense, (15 August 2017 – https://blog.quicksense.org/design-thinking-vs-computational-thinking-in-education-2dcf5b23aa12), Vivek Kumar clarified the difference between design thinking and computational thinking using simple  a thought experiment: You need to move 10 boxes from one side of town to the other. How would you do it?

As a computational thinker, a set of instructions would be drafted, tested, and the most efficient route would be attained. Questions that would be asked by a computational thinker could include ‘what are the sizes of the boxes, how heavy are they, and is anything fragile’ to best cater for the most effective action.

In design thinking, the primary question would be ‘why do you want to move the box in the first place?’.

To him, the question ‘why do you want to move the box in the first place’ is the most important question. This frames the problem in a whole new light. An interesting finding could include that you specifically do not need to move the box yourself or that there is something inside the box that needs to be moved, and not the box itself. I think that design thinking shapes computational thinking and it is design thinking that needs to be given the highest priority in our education system.