By Nathaniel Atherton, Primary Principal
At ICS, we have noticed that Design Education is becoming increasingly important in today's world, where technology and innovation are driving rapid change across many industries. In step with its importance, we have seen increased interest and growth in our Secondary Design programme, while in Primary, we have seen increasing examples of how student learning in all subject domains often leans on the skills of design.
In response to this, the Primary school decided to begin a unique Primary Design programme. While Design Education has been a focus in Secondary schools for many years, formal approaches to Design Education in Primary schools are still a new frontier. Our design programme, supported by Andrew Bell, is one of the first of its kind among PYP schools.
The enhanced offering of design offers unique opportunities for our students to develop their creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills in a fun and engaging way.
"By introducing our young students to design thinking, we are preparing them for future careers and equipping them with the skills they need to adapt to a constantly evolving world."
Our Primary Design programme is a blend of digital and physical design, which allows students to explore a wide range of design concepts and tools. Through hands-on activities, students learn about design principles, prototyping, and user-centred design, as well as gain proficiency in various digital design software.
The Design programme is an integral part of our Primary Arts programme which includes Visual Arts (Joanna Moon), Performing Arts (Paul Fowler), and Design. Our Arts team works collaboratively in a transdisciplinary manner, bringing together their subject areas to enhance and deepen learning across the Primary school. This approach allows for a holistic learning experience that fosters creativity, communication, and collaboration skills.
A number of incredible units have already been enhanced through the efforts of this new team. Several weeks ago, we celebrated the culminating event of the PYP programme, through The Exhibition.
The Exhibition is a student-led unit where our learners engage with complex global issues to try to help raise awareness and take action. As in past years, the Arts team supported the students in communicating impactful messages to their audience through amazing artwork, deftly designed products and carefully crafted songs and dances.
Back in Autumn, the team collaborated with our Grade 4 students as they explored Dadaism, an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century that evolved out of Zürich’s Niederdorf district at Cabaret Voltaire. The Dada movement explored intentional irrationality or randomness, and likewise, students explored these themes through poetry, music, visual art, and Design through coding.
A recent collaboration, on display now, took place between the Visual Arts and Design programme as students have created a micro gallery in the Primary video studio. The exhibit highlights urban planning and architecture as the students have leveraged maps of Zurich’s Altstadt (Old Town) to create an engaging display in both 2 and 3 dimensions. The micro gallery is illuminated in a beautiful black light that highlights our students’ creations.
The launch of our Primary Design programme is an exciting addition to our school's curriculum, and I am thrilled to see our students engage in this innovative learning experience. Earlier this Autumn, an informal study of ‘Favourite subjects’ conducted by a Grade 2 student as part of a data handling unit found that Design had already arrived as many students’ favourite school subject, just falling behind our well-loved PE programme. This type of ‘hard’ data, alongside our belief that Design will help students be best prepared for what is an evolving future, excites us as we continue to grow and enhance this new initiative at ICS.