We are born to be creative.

The world is changing every single day with new challenges emerging every single minute. As a member of the global village, we should learn to step into others’ shoes, and respond to the happenings and people around us – and this is the ultimate essence of ‘empathy’.

The root of creativity and the purpose of design relies on our ability to think and see with different perspectives. The process of practising creativity is indeed a set of design thinking that begins with empathy.

This year, PMQ collaborates with multidisciplinary creative partners and organisations, under the sponsorship of Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, to introduce design thinking to our kids through empathy in different daily contexts. Kids can experience this problem-solving methodology through iterative process, namely ‘Empathize’, ‘Define’, ‘Ideate’, ‘Prototype’, and ‘Test’. They will be encouraged to think with different angles in order to understand the users’ needs and problems; and from that, develop possible solutions, and through realization they will struggle through the process of ‘Attempt’, ‘Failure’, and ‘Improvement’, and finally ‘Success’. Interpersonal communications and collaboration will also be important elements throughout the whole training.

The conventions of in-person education have faced unprecedented challenges rising from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is crucial for educators to re-think and explore new teaching methods and forms in order to adapt to changing contexts, as well as anticipate future trends. In the BEING BEINGS School Outreach programme, our educational teams created each course using a foundation of real-time online teaching and a combination of online and offline tools. During the design of these courses, the team collaborated with participating primary school teachers in an effort to respond to students’ existing 6 months of online learning experiences. The goal was to empathize with students’ needs, which in turn informed course content. This process of educational innovation is in itself an illuminating example of design thinking in action.

“BEING BEINGS School Outreach” Exhibition
For this School Outreach programme that took place between October and December 2020, our three education teams designed three online courses for more than 200 P.3 to P.6 students and primary school teachers from 8 schools. Participants experienced the process of design thinking through understanding a range of problems in daily scenarios and implementing creative solutions.

Event period: 9/1 – 24/1/2021
Time: 11am – 7pm
Venue: S309, 310, 313, 314, Block A, PMQ

Tutor Team

• Junior Primary (P3 – P4)

This course was led by Littleurbanmountain Design Limited, with collaborators including architects, designers, artisans, and theatre educators. Through a series of interactive activities, tutors guided P.3 and P.4 students through the ups and downs of living in a quarantine facility, which served as practical case studies for design thinking-based problem solving.

• Senior Primary – Team A (P5 – P6)

This course was led by AaaM, who partnered with innovation and technology team TIEBUSA to combine their areas of expertise. Taking “public toilet”, a widely used space by people from various backgrounds, as the theme, design a creative education experience that was both fun and aimed at cultivating empathy and social values in kids.

• Senior Primary – Team B (P5 – P6)

This course was co-led by Edmond Wong Studio and innovation company Abtitu. Collaborating creative professionals included architects, graphic designers, textile designers, and interior designers. Based on the theme “Current Living Environment”, students came up with empathetic design solutions for people close to them.

Participating Schools (By course completion order)
Junior Primary (P3 – P4)
• C.C.C. Kei Tsun Primary School
• Yan Chai Hospital Choi Hin To Primary School
• Shek Lei St. John’s Catholic Primary School

Senior Primary (P5 – P6)
• LKWFSL Lau Tak Yung Memorial Primary School
• Tin Shui Wai Methodist Primary School
• Tai Po Old Market Public School
• SKH Fung Kei Millennium Primary School
• S.K.H Yan Laap Memorial Primary School

Follow our PMQ Seed Facebook and PMQ Seed Instagram for the latest news!

Highlights from the previous editions of PMQ’s creative education programme:
• Year 2019 | YES! KIDS CAN
• Year 2018 | WOW Summer Camp

Programmes are subject to change and cancellation without prior notice.

Disclaimer: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.