Employing an action research approach, this study investigated the effectiveness of the implementation of a unit of instruction that combined the design thinking approach and the new primary curriculum at a primary school in Trinidad and Tobago. Data were collected through the researcher’s journal, student-generated work, and observations of nine Infant-level students during the implementation of the unit. Analysis of the data revealed 10 factors that posed challenges to the implementation of innovative thinking in the classroom, including: 1) teacher training, 2) teacher confidence, 3) teacher’s belief about students’ ability, 4) postcolonial philosophy, 5) learners’ traits and 6) teacher’s misconceptions.
