Engagement, Empathy, and Creativity: Experiential Learning Through Design Thinking for Secondary School Students

• In Event: Targeted Uses of Community-Engaged Learning Across the Educational Life Span

Abstract

In a world of unprecedented changes and uncertainties, our next generation needs to be equipped with appropriate skills to solve real-world problems. Design thinking, an approach to solving novel problems, can be situated in education to help students learn to solve ill-defined problems, practice empathy, think critically, as well as think creatively. This paper will describe an experiential learning opportunity whereby secondary school students experienced the stages of design thinking through a workshop. There were many gains, including an increase in the students’ level of creativity, as well as a heightened awareness of the needs of others. This study shows that experiencing design thinking can be beneficial to secondary students as they acquire essential skills for the future.

Authors

• Serene Chan, University of Hong Kong
  Presenting Author

• Albert S.Y. Tsang, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  Presenting Author

• Jessie M. L. Chow, University of Hong Kong
  Presenting Author

• Brian Lee, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  Presenting Author