Design Education at Beacon

At Beacon Primary, we give focus to Design Education as we recognise that students can derive valuable knowledge, skills and values through hands-on activities. The process of designing allows students to acquire critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration skills. These are the necessary 21st Century Competencies to manage evolving challenges in life. Through the intentional development of 21st-century competencies, students will achieve our student outcomes as effective Constructors who seek solutions with curiosity and resourcefulness, and Conductors who lead and inspire others as role models

Besides emphasising experiential learning in daily teaching and learning lessons, the school also specially set aside a Beacon Experiential Learning Week for more focused learning in the aspect of Design Education. The activities in Beacon Experiential Learning Week are reviewed each year for improvement.

The school adopts a three-tiered approach to Design Education, illustrating how learning is progressively deepened and personalised for students. At the base of the pyramid, the Broad-based Curriculum provides all students with age-appropriate exposure to design education and problem-solving. Through subjects and programmes such as Science, CCE, VIA and Ignite, students apply design processes to real-world contexts, developing foundational skills in creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. The middle tier comprises Special Programmes, which offer deeper learning and engagement to students. At the top tier, the Makerspace CCA supports students with strong interest and aptitude, offering extended opportunities to innovate with purpose, participate in competitions, show leadership and translate ideas into impactful solutions.

Beacon Primary’s three-tier approach to Design Education

Across all tiers, students apply the Beacon IDEA framework (I – Inquiry, D – Develop, E – Execute, A – Advance) to develop key 21st century competencies, including critical, adaptive and inventive thinking, communication and collaboration skills. Through these experiences, students are supported to take ownership of their learning while developing important dispositions such as empathy, human-centricity, curiosity, open-mindedness and resilience.

Some of the interesting activities carried out during Beacon Experiential Learning Week include the following: