Integrating ideas from design disciplines into the STEM curricula

Abstract

The ‘Future of Jobs’ report from the World Economic Forum (2016) highlights that the three most important skills needed by the workforce from 2020 onwards are complex problem solving skills, critical thinking and creativity. To try and address the needs of the workforce, the report also recommends that higher educational institutions need to break away from “the dichotomy between Humanities and Sciences and applied and pure training” and to “work closely with governments, education providers and others to imagine what a true 21st century curriculum might look like.” One way of imagining what a 21st century STEM curriculum could look like is by taking inspiration from how design disciplines such as product design are taught and practiced.