Using Design Thinking as a Tool to Promote Education for Sustainability

Abstract

In our pursuit for a sustainable future, education will play a pivotal role in promoting awareness and driving the correct action to support the cause. This paper features the reasons Singapore Polytechnic (SP) integrated Design Thinking (DT) principles into the pedagogy of the Learning Express (LeX) Programme, which is a module catered to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and our investigative study in measuring its success. By utilizing the human-centered principles and process of DT – empathy, ideation, prototyping and testing— in the pedagogy for LeX, SP aims to create an impactful learning experience that not only equips students with the knowledge needed to address environmental challenges innovatively, but also fosters a pro-active mindset in championing sustainability.