An ISMP Approach for Promoting Design Innovation Capability and Its Interaction with Personal Characters

Abstract

This article develops an instruction method for promoting design innovation capability through a design-based program with identification, modeling, simulation, and prototyping (IMSP). The computational thinking and conceptualization of sustainability were incorporated. The interaction between instruction treatment and participants' personality was investigated. Eighty-six engineering undergraduates participated in this experimental study for exploring the effectiveness of the IMSP program. The findings indicate that 1) the IMSP program promoted undergraduates' computational thinking, and further enhanced their design innovation ability; 2) the program that integrated the conceptualization of sustainability has better teaching effects than that without the conceptual integration; 3) the personal characters of innovation proaction and emotional intelligence acted as moderators in the ISMP program. This study presents a practical method for improving design innovation capability, and supports the feasibility and necessity of emphasizing computational thinking and sustainability in the innovation training program for engineering education.