Co-Designing Interdisciplinary Design Projects with AI

T his work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. ORCID: 0000 -0003-2811-1194 Abstract --Creating interdisciplinary design projects is time-consuming and cognitively demanding for teachers, requiring curriculum alignment, cross -subject integration, and careful sequencing. This paper presents the Interdisciplinary Design Project Planner (IDPplanner), a GPT -based planning assistant grounded in Design Innovation principles, al ignment with Singapore secondary school's syllabuses, and 21st -century competencies. In a within -subject, counterbalanced workshop with 33 in -service teachers, participants produced two versions of the same project: manual and AI -assisted, followed by self - and peer-evaluations using a six -dimensional rubric. AI -assisted version received higher scores for Curriculum Alignment, Design Thinking Application, and Coherence & Flow, with a marginal advantage for Assessment Strategies. Teacher reflections indicated that AI -assisted planning improved structure, sequencing, and idea generation, while contextualization to local syllabuses, class profiles, and student needs remained teacher-led. Contributions include (1) a purpose-built planning tool that organizes ideas into a ten - component flow with ready-to -adapt prompts, templates, and assessment suggestions; (2) an empirical, rubric -based comparison of plan ning quality; and (3) evidence that AI can function as a pedagogical planning partner . Recommendations emphasize hybrid teacher-AI workflows to enhance curriculum alignment and reduce planning complexity, and design suggestions for developers to strengthen contextual customization, iterative design support, and l ocalized rubrics. Although instantiated with a Singapore -based curriculum, the planning flow and rubric are framework -agnostic and can be parameterized for other systems. Interdisciplinary learning approaches have gained prominence globally, particularly as countries prioritize 21st-century competencies (21CC) such as creativity, problem - solving, collaboration, and adaptive thinking.