Design-Led STEM for Creative Innovations
Poster Presentation Time: 1225-1400; 1500-1600
Venue: J1, Tai Po-Shek-O Room, Lower Level I
Presenter(s)
– Professor Jeanne TAN, Professor, School of Fashion and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
– Dr Wing Chung WONG, Post-Doctoral Fellow, School of Fashion and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Abstract
Talent development in innovation and technology is key to the sustainable development of a vibrant economy. STEM education plays a vital role in nurturing a globally competitive workforce for the future. Fostering STEM literacy at the early stages of education will equip students with the core knowledge and interdisciplinary skills for creative innovation and contributing to the future economy. Conventional education is often discipline-focused with a tendency to employ linear learning strategies which do not fully explore the knowledge opportunities present in the interdisciplinary STEM content. This often results in a skewed emphasis on technical content which young students may find difficult to contextualise in daily life. The reflective and adaptive nature of design may serve as an effective bridge to connect creativity and knowledge seeking in STEM domains (Toomey and Tan, 2018). A design-led STEM framework was adopted in two Quality Education Fund projects, reaching over 1000 secondary school students. These projects utilized fashion, artificial intelligence, and e-textiles as mediums to help students develop problem solving skills with real world applications.