Design Thinking in Pre-Tertiary Design Education: An Example Based on Design and Technology Study in Singapore Secondary School

Education has a crucial role to play in the Design Singapore Initiatives. It is hoped that design thinking as a way of life can be infused in the pre-tertiary educational programmes. The current study aimed to clarify the main design thinking processes in the learning of Design and Technology in Singapore. The study mainly examines the design journals done by nine secondary two students during the design coursework. The findings indicated the constant involvement of divergent-convergent thinking processes throughout the design coursework. But the potential limitations towards the development of design thinking skills may lie in the current approach towards ideation and development where exploration of solutions hinge more on sketches rather than a combination of sketches and prototypes.