The aim of this article is to provide a theoretical framework to strengthen design thinking and practice in the context of teaching through productive processes and using it to generate knowledge. The article explores three modes of inquiry inspired by Dewey and based on Schön, Barab & Squire and DiSalvo to investigate academic inquiry in design pedagogy and design thinking. These three modes are aimed at generating knowledge in three different areas: the design practice (in order to be a good designer and create good designs), a given research area, and societal issues. Based on empirical study from a design course at Aalborg University, Copenhagen, where these three modes were taught, we show the potential in using design processes as modes of academic inquiry directed toward different subjects. By teaching the implication of these modes of inquiry, students are provided with more opportunities for action as design approaches include exploring the subject through visualisation and materialisation, and the methods for knowledge production are expanded.