Co-Creating a Better World With Stakeholders: A Design Lab Approach to Transforming Education for the 21st Century

• In Event: Partnerships for STEM Education

Abstract

This qualitative research examines the question: In what ways do school districts, universities and community education organizations collaborate to develop an innovative STEM program focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals? Students, parents, teachers, high school staff, school board administrators, advisory committee members, community, college and university partners in a southern Ontario region participated in a collective effort to develop an innovative approach to STEM education, including: collaboratively prototyping the concept in a design workshop, further refining it with diverse stakeholders and co-constructing a Developmental Evaluation framework to continuously learn from experimentation toward program goals. Data sources include participant observation, interviews, and document analysis. The paper highlights key challenges and opportunities of a design lab approach to education.

Authors

• Elizabeth C. Kurucz, University of Guelph

• Catherine Hands, Brock University

• Karin Archer, Let's Talk Science

• Nadine Gudz

• Afra Mehwish

• Emily Krysten Spencer-Mueller, Wilfrid Laurier University