Design Thinking is a popular topic and problem-solving method that is gaining attention and being used more and more often across disciplines in recent years such as “IT, Business, Education and Medicine” (Dorst, 2011). Its ability to address wicked problems, problems that are inherently complex and socially layered, has branded it an attractive and useful problem-solving method for a wide range of industries and consequently a wide range of problems. Its human centered and empathetic approach to addressing problems also paints design thinking to be an action-based method that works well with interdisciplinary teams in which all members have the same desired end. More recently, its use has expanded to the field of education and is being cited as a way to develop 21st century learners and redefine the field of education as a whole. This paper intends to examine design thinking in the context of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College of Arizona State University specifically. The goals of this paper are to define design thinking for the educational field, examine and analyze the methods of it use, as well as determine the purpose for exposing undergraduate education students to the process. Through expert interviews of faculty and staff members that were analyzed for common themes and other consistencies, an understanding of how the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College defines design thinking is obtained, as well as the various uses and applications of design thinking skills and process for the field of education. The paper describes multiple areas in which design thinking is being implemented internally, externally, and within teacher preparation curriculum through the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and details the four main reasons for exposing future teachers to design thinking practices and principles.

This comprehensive literature review synthesized 18 studies, from 15 search engines about the conceptualization of inclusive education within Arizona's borderlands from the viewpoints of educators, researchers, policy makers and family members. Although there is research that states along international borders are complex and diverse educational spaces, the information found regarding special education along the U.S-Mexico border mostly centers on the issue of over-representation of Mexican-American, Yaqui and Navajo students. There is validity and need to present these specific issues and groups of individuals, however there is little empirical data that involves the attitudes, perspectives and experiences of other stakeholders, such as parents, educators, and administrators who participate in special education processes, in a way that reflects education in borderlands as an asset-based setting and that engages in dialogue about across all of the disabilities categories protected under IDEA and 504 plans. Key Words: special education, parents, teachers, literature review, borderlands