Collaborative Design Learning and Thinking Style Awareness

This paper reports on a concerted attempt to develop the design ability and creativity of students from different engineering disciplines through a Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach in a collaborative educational environment. A heavy reliance was placed on teaching the students six styles of thinking, especially in the beginning and final phases of project design. Different collaborative learning experiences in product design were conducted, which required students to practise six styles of thinking. Using a thinking style inventory, pre- and post-survey, data were collected and successively analysed through ANOVA techniques. Statistically significant results showed that students successfully developed empathy and an openness to multiple perspectives. Furthermore, data analysis confirmed that the proposed collaborative learning experience positively contributed to increased awareness in students' thinking styles