Concepts over content: Effective design units go beyond just delivering content—they are shaped by key concepts that guide the planning and structure of each new unit.
Here, you can explore some of the projects I currently teach or have taught to students aged 11 to 16.
WHAT IS A CHAIR?
Defining what makes a chair, a chair before designing our own.
FUTURE SPACES
Exploring possible future needs for space and structure then proposing solutions.
ILLUMINATE PEACE
Lighting for peace through connections with another culture and/or wellbeing - how light makes us feel.
HABITAT
Designing sustainably to help reduced habitats whilst reducing household waste.
REACH.GRIP.LIFT
Empathetically developing inclusive solutions that empower the less physically or visually able.
INNOVENTURE
Students develop a pocketable multi tool as they learn about the process of iteration, innovation and LCA.
SMART CITY
A robotics-oriented unit whereby students design smart traffic solutions to reduce local congestion at peak times.
ECO SUPERHERO
An on-campus problem-driven coding project rooted in sustainability and service.
CULTURE X SWATCH
Exploring cultural identity and using it as a tool for design inspiration.
PHENOMENA
Students explore phenomena-based, real-world problems and attempt to solve them, through systems thinking.
DESIGN WITH PURPOSE
Producing creative solutions for phone storage, for specific target audiences through CAD CAM.
HEALTHY HORIZONS
A Food Design unit whereby students design and make a culturally sensitive meal suitable for Singapore Airlines
DESIGN SPRINTS
Short, skills-focused tasks.
FLAT PACK
2D to 3D thinking through reading & interpreting engineering drawings.
DESIGN FOR ADJECTIVES, NOT NOUNS
Designing for the emotional connections that we form with products.
WALKIE TALKIE
A three-process task that develops student skills in visual communication and prototyping
DESIGN FOR DISCONTENT
Explore drivers for innovation such as constructive discontent with this ‘reverse design sprint’.
IB MYP STUDENT INNOVATORS GRANT
I helped to support a group of passionate and empathetic design students who were 2020 IB Student Innovator finalists with a fantastic initiative aimed at reducing textile waste. They have since received funding to continue and implement their project, which they are currently working towards completing. I have also supported a number of students who have used their design projects to enter a school STEM initiative called Area 320. I supported these students with idea generation and development and the general design and manufacturing of components for their project(s).
Above: Students pitch their invention of an ‘exhaust snorkel’ to a panel of judges from RMIT, Vietnam.