<p>Design thinking has emerged as a transformative methodology in education and professional practice that fosters creativity, empathy, and problem-solving skills. Design thinking mindset is considered an attribute of a person that slowly develops an innovativeness, empathy, mindfulness, and curiosity to solve complex problems of society or any other contextual problem by iteration. However, measuring the design thinking mindset is still underexplored. Therefore, the investigator adopted a single-group design without a control group with 43 grade 9th students as the sample in this research study. The study explores the impact of the design thinking approach on learners’ design thinking mindset development across three consecutive tasks through a structured rubric as an evaluative framework. The rubrics were developed by adapting the 9 dimensions given by Dosi et al. (2018). The descriptors were made considering the 4 levels- beginning, developing, proficient, and advanced. The rubric-based self-assessment and teacher assessment were employed to capture the changes across key dimensions of the design thinking mindset. The study highlights how students internalize design thinking principles. The findings suggest that rubric-driven assessment provides selective progression of design thinking mindset and also reinforces reflective practices that allow learners to identify their growth and refine their approach. The study contributes to the discourse on design thinking pedagogy by offering evidence of how rubric-based analysis can bridge the gap between process and mindset, by offering a model for educators and researchers who are seeking to inculcate innovation-oriented thinking and human-centred problem solving.</p>