Primary Design Learning

What does design learning look like in our Primary School? It can be testing lego vehicles, timelapse creation, or prop-making. It can even involve brainstorming and discussing sustainable development goals – and so much more.

Starting in Primary School, our students have access to the resources and opportunities that allow them to effectively begin their inquiry-based design journey. Our curriculum seeks to develop a passion for design in our younger students by placing an emphasis on maker culture, which encourages children to go through a cycle of thinking, making, and then improving on what they make.

The design thinking approach effectively prepares students for entry into our Secondary School Design classes, where an emphasis on innovative problem-solving is maintained but the design cycle is explored at a deeper contextual and intellectual level. In Secondary, our design students have access and are taught to utilize a wide range of resources to realize their ideas and solve real-world problems.

We are proud of our unique, whole-school design learning approach – one that exemplifies our award-winning school strategy of “Bursting the Bubble” and “Student Voice and Student Choice.” Design learning at NIS supports the development of student skillsets and competencies to be the empathetic problem solvers our 21st century world needs.