Skip to main content
Beacon Primary School

Design Education at Beacon

Discover how Beacon Primary builds problem-solving and creative skills through a three-tier Design Education approach, guided by the IDEA framework.

Last updated 1 September 2026

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

Three-tier pyramid showing Broad-based Curriculum at base, Special Programmes in middle, and Makerspace CCA at top.

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:

Students in uniforms work with cardboard and tools at wooden tables in a makerspace classroom.
Three school children work on design projects at a Makerspace, building and crafting wooden and cardboard models.
Young students in school uniforms examine insect specimens and hold small colorful handmade insect models.
Students in school uniforms pose at a large stone sign reading Zhenghua Park and on nearby stairs.
Students in uniforms design and play carnival games outdoors, using cones and hoops, and review notes together.
Two school children work at a table on a project, while three other students demonstrate a homemade game using a curved ramp on a chair.
Two classroom scenes: students presenting ideas at a projector and three kids smiling while making colorful posters.
Two pairs of uniformed students work together on laptops at blue tables during coding workshops.
Students in school uniforms participate in a drama workshop, moving across a wooden floor, while two boys pose together nearby.
Students in school uniforms sit at round desks making terrariums in glass jars during a classroom activity.
Four young students in school uniforms observe and conduct a water filtration experiment with cloudy water in a classroom.
Students in uniforms creating self-watering plants using recycled plastic bottles filled with soil and water in a classroom.
Students in school uniforms collaborate on and present a Green House project, drawing posters with earth designs.
Primary school students in uniforms collaborate on buddy projects, writing and examining a box together in a classroom.
Students in uniform working on a laptop and presenting to classmates in front of a projected slide about design problems.