68. Testing the Effectiveness of a Design Subject Towards Achieving 21st Century Skills in a 5th Grade Classroom of India

The purpose of the paper was to test the effectiveness of learning a Design subject towards achieving 21st Century Skills in a primary classroom of India. A detailed literature review of National Education Policy 2020 that encompasses 21st Century Skills as essential goals, became the rationale for this research paper. Pioneering studies on 21st Century Skills established learning to Design and designing to learn imperative in schools. Design Education research further advocated central underpinning of Design across all levels of school education. Therefore, this paper explored the potential of learning ‘Form in Design’ subject in a grade 5 CBSE classroom towards learning 21st Century Skills. To examine this phenomenological theory, a ‘Form in Design’ curriculum suitable for grade 5 was developed and validated through an Expert Panel Review. Due to the onset of the pandemic, the subject was delivered by two school teachers through online sessions for one academic term using the method of pretest-intervention-posttest with experiment and control group design. Data was collected through pretest, posttest, and Focus Group Discussion. These data were qualitatively analysed and triangulated to determine the effectiveness of learning ‘Form in Design’ towards acquisition of 21st Century Skills. The results of this quasi-experiment indicated improvement in 21st Century Skills of creativity, collaboration, communication, social skills, cross cultural interaction, and interdisciplinary knowledge among the experiment group students. Through this research, curriculum development for other subjects in Design, and its implementation in primary education is anticipated that would establish its effectiveness towards achieving 21st Century Skills.