Facilitating STEM integration through design

Global disruptions emanating from developments in the STEM fields are increasingly impacting our lives. Integrated STEM experiences can provide students with a valuable foundation for dealing with these changes. This chapter focuses on design as a significant component of both innovation and STEM integration. Design processes applied to an integrated STEM problem can assist students in not only developing new disciplinary knowledge and capabilities, but also in understanding connections among the disciplines. An example of design processes applied by grade 5 students in undertaking an aerospace activity is presented. Samples of students’ responses show how they applied design processes, including design sketching, together with mathematics and science knowledge. In the absence of specific instruction, students’ design sketches displayed some of the fundamental components of design sketching, including labelling, annotating, and incorporating multiple views. A number of twenty-first century thinking skills were also fostered, including systems thinking, as students recognised disciplinary links within the problem and how interactions among problem components can have unanticipated consequences