Innovation Engineering

Innovation Engineering is the application of science, mathematics and empirical evidence wrapped up in design. The skills and knowledge acquired through engineering have enabled us to develop structures, machines and even manufacturing processes. We have been able to combine these to create world wonders and move society forward across eras and space. Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas, where engineering creates the outcome, and innovation brings the 'creativity'. The field of engineering is in a constant state of development; as technology advances, so our futures become rewritten. For this reason, the Grade 9/10 Innovation Engineering course has been designed to provide a learning experience catered to the student’s personal interests, the latest applications of technology, 21st-century learning practices and the opportunity to explore thought processes involved in situational modelling and problem-solving.

• Encourage agility in understanding through design thinking, systems thinking, experiential and interdisciplinary learning.

• Foster interest in the application of design, technology and scientific theory and empower students to negotiate their individual learning journey in these areas with confidence. 

• Embrace challenges through project-based learning and provide students with the opportunity to communicate personal epistemology through the critical reflection of their experiences.

• Foster the application of conceptual understanding through physical and visual modelling.

• Promote innovation systems and products within a designed curriculum that provides access to all, through low threshold high ceiling units.

• Employ the UWCSEA guiding statements at its foundations providing intrinsically motivated students with the opportunity to enact the Mission in the 21st century.

Best described as a linear tree that branches out once a key learning unit has been reached, the Innovation Engineering course is composed of 19 distinct learning units with 12 comprehensive avenues terminating in a variety of practical outcomes. The course, therefore, provides a multitude of possible learning routes to the individual learner, the time frame of which can be restricted to one year or extended to two years easily and at no cost to the student’s learning experience. 

With approximately 160 minutes of allocated workshop time per week, the course offers students a hands-on and dynamic experience through various activities including, but not limited to, design, making, problem-solving, researching, reflection, hacking (approved system modifying), and group work. 

This course provides an excellent introduction to design and engineering principles that are further developed in IB Design Technology. Students who take the Innovation Engineering programme will get a taste of the design and systems thinking found in higher education courses such as Design, Engineering, Product Design, Computer Technology and Architecture.

Students can easily access the concepts and application regardless of whether they complete the 1 year course or the 2 year course. Whether in Grade 9 or in Grade 10, the success of the student depends upon that student's motivation to embrace new learning opportunities; we even have students in grade 11 who still enjoy working through the 9-10 units on offer.

Although the knowledge and understanding will change depending on the units chosen, students will be required to develop essential core skills during the course: critical thinking, inquiry and analysis, conceptual ideation and modelling, evaluation and hypothetico-deductive reasoning. The practical outcomes will require students to engage with large-scale projects and, in some cases, collaborate with multidisciplinary teams. Communication and interpersonal skills will be the key to success.

Each unit will commence with a conceptual understanding pre-assessment exercise, which is then revisited at the end of the unit so as to demonstrate how students have understood and been able to transfer this understanding of the concepts. Timed assessments are in place at the end of each unit, these provide the individual students with an opportunity to reflect on the content covered during their selected units and allow them to prepare for their next choice. The timed assessments have been designed in such a way so as to give an insight as to how the IB Diploma exams are worded and marked in Design Technology. Each student is asked to share their learning and experiences through an online project portfolio, which is submitted to the teacher and can be shared with parents.