DESIGNING ENRICHED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO SOCIAL INNOVATION

DS 83: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE16), Design Education: Collaboration and Cross-Disciplinarity, Aalborg, Denmark, 8th-9th September 2016

Year: 2016
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Ahmed Kovacevic, Lyndon Buck, Christian Tollestrup, Kaare Eriksen, Nis Ovesen
Author: Tapia Olmos, Eduardo Francisco
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Aalborg University
Section: Creativity
Page(s): 126-131
ISBN: 978-1-904670-62-9

Abstract

This study investigates the state of art in the contemporary scenario in the education of people with
intellectual disabilities through industrial design and product development in a cross-disciplinary setup
focused on children with Down Syndrome (DS), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The article addresses social innovation contexts facing barriers
of discrimination within educational environments and the potential of design discipline in this regard.
This article revises key debates concerning: 1)the paradigm of inclusive education; 2)insights from
fields of neurophysiology and neurobiology: neural correlates between learning and creativity; and
3)design driven innovation in education aligning social, political and technological factors. It hereby
represents a contemporary reflection on the core ideas of Victor Papanek's work Design for the real
world. An experimental outcome is presented outlining a framework of cognitive and emotional
ergonomics in regards of creativity and ethics in product design education as learning tools for
managing language, meaning generation and technology.

Keywords: Social innovation, cross-disciplinarity, creativity, cognition, emotion.

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