Design Education

Creating Thinkers to Improve the World

By (author) Robin Vande Zande

Publication date:

15 December 2016

Length of book:

236 pages

Publisher

National Art Educators Association

ISBN-13: 9781475820140

Design Education: Creating Thinkers to Improve the World is a curricular resource that offers theoretical concepts and practical advice for teaching lessons in design to PreK-12 grade students. The book is for art educators at the preK-12 level in schools, museums, and enrichment programs, and university professors in teacher preparation programs. Design education is about problem-solving, learning through objects of our daily lives, and the role design plays in social responsibility and the creative economy.

Designers utilize research methods, technology, sketching, and the construction of prototypes. The basis of these techniques, systems, and tools may be taught to Prek-12 students. Students need lifelong skills that build their creativity and problem-solving capabilities to better understand the world and themselves and use visual communication to advance their abilities to express ideas.

Design is a study about life and can touch on all school subjects, making it a valuable interdisciplinary study. Students are able to directly apply thinking strategies and learning about facts, figures, and concepts at the same time they are crafting meaningful ideas about the importance, influence, and social implications of everyday items and the potential to improve the world.
Robin Vande Zande uses this book to stimulate thinking about design, how it influences our societal values, and how to share design based thinking with students in a reflective, observant, and practical way. It inspires, educates and creates a solid case for the teaching of design education to all students of all ages. The book challenges readers, teachers and educators to think about design and evaluate the art of the everyday based on a solid understanding of design concepts.