# A Systematic Review on Design Thinking Integrated Learning in K-12 Education
## 1 Introduction
However, there are also some persistent questions, such as the \"design-science gap\", whereby projects focus more on building successful design products rather than on the learners and relevant scientific principles [20, 21, 22], and the question of whether design thinking training can really boost creativity, or just generate unfounded confidence not accompanied by real gains in creativity [23]. More evidence using empirical research is required to show whether 'design thinking' is an effective approach for K-12 education and how it is applied in the teaching context. Therefore, a systematic literature review is needed to present the current research status of design thinking in K-12 education. Some researchers have synthesized the work related to design thinking. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [16] identified the features and characteristics of design thinking and discussed its importance in promoting students' problem-solving skills in the 21 st century. By referring to the processes and methods that designers use to approach problems, a design thinking competency model was constructed, but the search in their review was not limited to experimental studies. [PERSON] et al. [2] concentrated on design thinking in management discourse, by reviewing the knowledge and conceptualizations of design thinking, they identified 10 principal attributes, including abductive reasoning, ability to visualize, blending analysis and intuition, creativity and innovation, gestalt view, interdisciplinary collaboration, iteration and experimentation, problem solving, tolerance for ambiguity and failure, user-centeredness and involvement. Besides, eight tools and methods of design thinking were summarized. [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON] [12] presented a review of literature that referred to K-12 children's emotion while involving in design related learning activity. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [11] summarized the design competence framework in the K-12 school context: reasoning, problem setting, empathy, ideation, modelling, and process management, among which, the skills of reasoning and process management were stated to be needed at every step of the design process. But they did not assess the quality of the reviewed papers and included both review articles and primary theoretical or empirical studies. Considering these limitations, our study aims to systematically review DTIL research in more detail than previous reviews. In particular, our review focuses specifically on the empirical studies that apply DTIL for the educational levels from kindergarten to secondary education (K-12). The purposes of this study are: (1) to systematically review high-quality empirical studies on DTIL in K-12 education, and (2) to explore future research perspectives of design thinking based on the reviewed papers. The following research questions (RQ) formed the basis of this review:  
RQ1: What is the current research status of DTIL in K-12 education? RQ2: What kind of curriculum domains are taught in DTIL? RQ3: How to evaluate students' learning in DTIL? RQ4: What intervention approaches are employed in DTIL?