Culturally Relevant Constructionist Design for ESD: Innovation-driven Education for Sustainable Development

2023 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22KF0136
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Institution: Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: 高田 潤一 東京工業大学, 環境・社会理工学院, 教授 (90222083)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): THANAPORNSANGSUT SAWAROS 東京工業大学, 環境・社会理工学院, 外国人特別研究員
• Project Period (FY): 2023-03-08 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: ESD / SDGs / constructionism / innovation / fabrication / higher education

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

The project, "Culturally Relevant Constructionist Design for ESD: Innovation-driven Education for Sustainable Development," spanned two years and focused on courses at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2022 and Chulalongkorn University in 2021. The research aimed to explore how a constructionist learning environment can support ESD by enabling students to design and create innovations addressing environmental and social issues.
Undergraduate and graduate students from Japan and Thailand engaged in these courses, utilizing human-centered design principles such as empathizing, defining, and ideating to understand user needs and generate project ideas. The pedagogy emphasized designing and fabricating solutions for local or global sustainability challenges. Students conducted user experience research and built prototypes, iterating on their designs based on testing feedback.
Data collected from interviews, student projects, and final reports indicated that framing making as a practice connected to students' interests facilitated successful engagement in sustainable development. The project involved 64 participants, with Institutional Review Board approval from both institutions.
The outcomes of this project include five international presentations and one journal paper, currently under second review for the Special Issue of the Entrepreneurship Education Journal under UNESCO. These achievements highlight the project's impact on promoting innovation-driven education for Sustainable Development Goals.

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] Chulalongkorn University(タイ)
  • Country Name: THAILAND
  • Counterpart Institution: Chulalongkorn University
• [Int'l Joint Research] Columbia University(米国)
  • Country Name: U.S.A.
  • Counterpart Institution: Columbia University
• [Int'l Joint Research] European University Institute(イタリア)
  • Country Name: ITALY
  • Counterpart Institution: European University Institute
• [Int'l Joint Research] Ceilab Program - Uruguay(ウルグアイ)
  • Country Name: URUGUAY
  • Counterpart Institution: Ceilab Program - Uruguay
• [Int'l Joint Research] University of Haifa Isarel(イスラエル)
  • Country Name: ISRAEL
  • Counterpart Institution: University of Haifa Isarel
• [Int'l Joint Research]
  • # of Other Countries: 1
• [Presentation] Constructing Sustainability: Integrating Constructionist Learning in Education for Sustainable Development (2023)
  • Author(s): Thanapornsangsuth, S. &Takada, J.
  • Organizer: Constructionism / FabLearn 2023
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Making around the world: Experiences & lessons learned (2023)
  • Author(s): Blikstein, P., Fuhrmann, T., Thanapornsangsuth, S., Ferracane, M., Talmon, F., Zhang, X., & Segev, Y.
  • Organizer: Constructionism / FabLearn 2023
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] Using Human-centered Design for Local Sustainable Development Challenges (2023)
  • Author(s): Thanapornsangsuth, S. & Park, J.
  • Organizer: American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (AERA)
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Constructionist Design for Sustainable Development in Higher Education (2023)
  • Author(s): Thanapornsangsuth, S
  • Organizer: Comparative and International Education Society 2023 (CIES)
  • Int'l Joint Research