INTRODUCING DIVERSE PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES TO TEACH DESIGN RESEARCH AND TO CREATE AWARENESS ABOUT 21ST CENTURY PEDAGOGICAL CHANGES OCCURRING IN HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION

In the United States, teaching and learning environments are transforming based on the pedagogical changes occurring in K-12 education. Designers of these educational environments have to keep up with these pedagogical changes to understand how to design successful and inspiring teaching and learning environments. This author, a design educator at a mid-Western University in the US, teaches a graduate level Design Research course. She wanted her students to understand how these pedagogical changes impact the design of the teaching and learning environments. She designed a new curriculum for her Design Research Course wherein her students can learn to conduct research by focusing on the current issues related to high school design. This Design Research course was also designed to provide diverse pedagogical experiences for her students. Thus, her students can not only learn to research different pedagogies prevalent in K-12 education in the United States but can also experience the impact of these pedagogies first-and by using it themselves. In this paper, this author will discuss how she developed this Design Research course, share the course goals, structure, various pedagogical approaches she introduces, and its impact on students' learning. The author will also share the research assignments she has developed, and the challenges she faced while teaching this course, and the success her students achieved, and its impact on students' understanding of research process. The author hopes that this information will help other design educators in developing similar Design Research courses.