Abstract:

In recent years, design has been increasingly recognised as a 'structure that connects' and integrates STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines. Design emerges as an integrated meta-science whose subject is the world of evolution, thought and adaptation. In the increasingly articulated products/systems/services, design fosters relationships, meanings and discourses; a system of interdependencies in which science dialogues with creativity and enters a context in which the production of meaning underpins individual/societal dynamics. Design solves problems of problem-finding (the search for the direction in which to direct the search for innovation), problem-setting (the necessary clarity to be found between the problems and sub-problems of a project) and problem-solving (i.e. the best synthesis to achieve the given objectives, within the given timeframe and with respect to the available resources). Design brings together all the scientific disciplines that deal with living beings and life itself (genetics, biology, psychology, sociology, history, philosophy, anthropology, etc.) in order to return inclusive projects capable of reconnecting what science has arbitrarily demarcated by boundaries. In our daily lives, in the objects we use or the interfaces through which we connect to the world and others, the impact of traditional and innovative technologies has grown enormously. In this context, STEM education has been recognised as a key area of teaching and learning to develop students' knowledge and skills in critical thinking and problem solving. Integrated STEM education has three important characteristics, including: transdisciplinary integration, authentic contexts and design problem solving (Zhou et al., 2020 ). Design has made a significant contribution by providing pedagogical scaffolds and tools for the synthesis of knowledge from different disciplines in order to solve problems in the real world. (Zhou, Gomez et al., 2023).

This contribution aims to return an innovative didactic project integrating STEM learning in a high school classroom through the involvement of the Design Department of the Politecnico di Milano thanks to the contribution of Fondazione Politecnico and Fondazione Micron. The disciplinary integration project took place through the launch of a project in the field of fashion. Fashion is a symbol of cultural evolution, a vehicle capable of revealing the identity and culture of people, their beliefs and desires, but also inclusions and exclusions. Fashion reflects generations and epochs, establishes links with contemporaneity, with scientific discoveries and technological developments, but at the same time contributes to the generation of scenarios that are not always crystal-clear.High school students were asked to reflect on the fashion system, rethinking the role of QRcode technology as a context capable of conveying not only information about products or processes, but real contexts of experience and storytelling. A new generation of 'intelligent narrating labels' was born, capable of activating a new experience of knowledge and participation on the themes of fashion & sustainability, fashion & social inclusion, and fashion & body shaming.

Keywords:

Design Education, STEM, Integrated Learning Methods, QR CODE Technology, Fashion design, Social Sustainable Development.