Introduction
The 7th cycle of Knowledge Building Design Studio (KBDS), themed “Data Science and Sustainability”, was held on 22 - 24 June 2023. The aim of this KBDS was to facilitate student groups to use data science to investigate real-world problems relevant to Sustainability. It was the first full face-to-face event since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. Furthermore, for the first time, an international KBDS was held, whereby 27 Hong Kong students and their 3 teachers flew over to Singapore for the event, which enabled students to bring diverse funds of knowledge to the event and engage in collaborative Knowledge Building with international peers. Along with 16 students from Broadrick Secondary School and Unity Secondary School, the students formed seven groups based on their common inquiry interests. The teams worked together with researchers and various field experts to research and utilize data to answer their negotiated investigative questions. This KBDS integrated multiple technology platforms like ZOOM to support international video conferencing; Knowledge Forum, an online discussion tool for knowledge building, to support progressive discourse; and Jeffreys's Amazing Statistics Program (JASP) and Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP) for data analysis and visualization. At the end of day 2, students presented their group artefacts, including investigative questions, data search and analysis, visualization, findings, and interpretations.
Group photo of all who took part in KBDS June 2023
Video montage of KBDS June 2023
Field Trip
On day 3 of KBDS, students went on a field trip to Marina Barrage and Science Centre. At Marina Barrage, students learnt about the sustainability issues that Singapore is currently facing. Following the Marina Barrage tour, students visited the Singapore Science Centre—the Tinkering Studio. The Tinkering Studio is a hands-on activity space where students are encouraged to fiddle around and come up with new ideas. Some activities include tinkering with the marble machine or making a mini parachute.
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