“Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It’s a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy.”— Erik Adigard

“Chalk and Talk”Elements of traditional teaching:• Classroom• Textbook• Teacher• Examinations• Homework• Tutorial- Unidirectional• Subject specific

Integrative Learning

Why Design?• Interactivity• Participatory• Relevance• Problem solving• Applications• Play• Innovative learning tools• “The Learning Experience”

Tranforming approaches to learning:• ‘Yes’ to ‘Why’• ‘Looking’ to ‘Observing’• ‘Passiveness’ to ‘Exploring’• ‘Textbook-bound’ to ‘Hands-on’• ‘Fear’ to ‘Confidence’

Agastya is a Science Education programme.Goals: To create an education dissemination model- cost-effective, scalable and replicablein India and elsewhere.

Design in Education | One Laptop Per ChildTo create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.

When children have access to this type of tool they get engaged in their own education. They learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future.

It’s not a laptop project. It’s an education project- In 2002, MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte experienced first-hand how connected laptops transformed the lives of children and their families in a remote Cambodian village.

A seed was planted: If every child in the world had access to a computer, what potential could be unlocked? What problems could be solved? These questions eventually led to the foundation of One Laptop per Child.

Design in Education | Return to HappinessUNICEF’s Return to Happiness program is a psycho-affective recovery program for children who have experienced the trauma of natural disasters or armed conflict.

The program employs the strategies of play therapy and creative arts to encourage children to express their concerns, fears, anxieties, and other emotions related to their experiences during and following a disaster.

Adolescent volunteers work with children ages 6-12 in small groups, using program materials, such as puppets, cloth dolls, wooden toys, arts and crafts, and storytelling.

Design in Education | Scratch & PicoCricketsSCRATCHScratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, games, and animations – and share your creations with others on the web. Scratch has a very simple interface and instructions.

PICOCRICKETSAn interactive platform where you can create playful inventions. A PicoCricket is a tiny computer that can make things spin, light up, and play music. You can plug lights, motors, sensors, and other devices into a PicoCricket, then program them to react, interact, and communicate.

Design in Education | ExploratoriumThe Exploratorium is a museum in San Francisco full of hundreds of hands-on exhibits, most of them made onsite, that mix science and art. It also aims to promote museums as informal education centers.

Founded in 1969 by the noted physicist and educator Dr. Frank Oppenheimer, the Exploratorium offers visitors a variety of ways—including exhibits, webcasts, websites and events—to explore and understand the world around them.

The Exploratorium’s museum floor is the public face of the Exploratorium, a laboratory for the research and development of innovations in exhibits for exploring science, art, and human perception.

Agents of Change | Introduction In Pavagada taluk of Karnataka, fluoride is endemic in groundwater and way above permissible. In partnership with the Rainwater Club and an NGO called BIRD-K they are building rainwater harvesting tanks in 6 schools. This harvested rainwater will provide the school children with fluoride free drinking water for the time they are in school.

Unavailability of clean water also affects the health and sanitation conditions in this area, which is abysmal. Addressing this, along with providing clean water is a big need.

• These tanks hold enough water for 150 days of the year and can provide just about 1litre per child during these days. • Conserve it while not compromising on their personal health and hygiene • Since it is only now that they are exposed to clean drinking water, it cannot be a direct ‘use less water’ message. It needs to be a subtle nudge that reminds them of what they should do.

Agents of Change | Needs, Problems & Goals• Awareness• Access to information and resources• Behavioural change- Nudges (not direct)• Education & making learning practical• Facilities, Hygiene promotion• Introducing the needed tools/appropriate technology• Making learning practical and fun• Community coming together• Feeling a sense of ownership (Failed projects)

Overarching Goal:To bring about behavioral change and awareness by engaging students in this affected areas in a participatory mode to address the idea of WATSAN by introducing them to appropriate technology. I wanted to build some devices/toys with them so that they can carry this forward and experiment with it in the different environments that they are exposed to.

Agents of Change | Workshops - AssociationsAn activity to see what the students associate with water. Their perceptions of the water they are exposed to and how much they know about it and what they feel their immediate needs are.

• Rainwater being harvested properly• Water tankers should supply near school• Daily supply of water at home from taps• Taps in bathrooms• Plenty of water for farming• Drinking water for patients in the hospitals• Drinking water near bus stops and railway station.• Clean water for drinking• Water for the cattle

Assumptions & Insights

Agents of Change | Workshops - Translating• Triggers presentation- discussion followed

• Flash cards that each have one icon related to health or hygiene. I showed them those cards and they raised their hand to tell me how many of them actually follow those practices that are essential. Then, we went around the campus and stuck these cards in the places they belong in. (Hand washing with soap near their tank, boiling water before drinking near the pots they store water in, etc.)

Agents of Change | Workshops - MakingTo create little nudges from the associations obtained in the previous exercises through a playful mode.

This device is something that these children can carry with them, anywhere they go, specifically to the open loos that they use. It makes hand-washing and easier and fun task for them to follow.

An activity to show them a cause and effect action using water test vials and introduce them to the Bio-Sand filter.

Introducing them to AT like this, something that they can make and see the effects for themselves was a good experience. They said they had been studying about sand filters since 5th standard, but had never made one, even though it was so easy to make it.

Agents of Change | Systems Diagram

WATER

FLUORIDE

Solution

Could lead to

RAIN WATER

SANITATION

ENVIRONMENT

EDUCATION

STAKE-HOLDERS

AWARENESS

BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE

NGOs/ORGANAZATIONS

GOVERNMENT

SCHOOL/ADMINISTRATION

COMMUNITY

CHILDREN

GOVERNMENT

SCHOOL

POLICIES

NATION/WORLD WIDE

COMMUNITY

CHILDREN

. Making problem (water) more fun.

. Introducing practical learning-enabling behavioural change. Doing this by emotional connect.. Making, Doing and Personalizing. Connecting to the object/ feeling a sense of ownership. Getting something to be part of their lives or routine

. Involved in their children’s activities and curriculum. Could be involved in public/art projects. Attend awareness programmes. Get to know through agents of change and spread it to other villages.. Change practices at home for the better . Making �uoride ‘visible’ to them

. Making them aware of its bad e�ects and tell them what to do about it. Awareness on RWH tanks. How does the tank work? . How does one maintain it?. Being part of the building/painting process so that they feel like they contributed- hence a sense of ownership. Them feeling rain water is ‘safe’ and ‘clean’ so that they will drink it

. Bring about behavioural chance by indirect nudges and not by directly putting the problems to them.. It is just a possibility and part of a larger goal. It will be great if it happens in the fun process of learning and doing.. We need to see changes in children as well as adults in their WATSAN practices.

Child Pressure

Adults

Facilitator Child

Decison makers

. Teachers should be more in number, aware and be willing to participate in awareness projects and pass this on to the children.. Should encourage participation of community and practical learning

. Train people

. Run awareness programmes. Hire locals. Invest funds in the most required areas.. Follow up once systems built. Involve community in their work

. Supply the village with basic, essential facilities. . Regular health check-ups. Host Awareness programmes. Make sure the tanks are maintained even after built. Their job doesn’t end there.. Increase student- teacher ratio.

Facilities- GREEN SCHOOL

WATER

FLUORIDE

Solution

Could lead to

RAIN WATER

SANITATION

ENVIRONMENT

EDUCATION

STAKE-HOLDERS

AWARENESS

BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE

NGOs/ORGANAZATIONS

GOVERNMENT

SCHOOL/ADMINISTRATION

COMMUNITY

CHILDREN

GOVERNMENT

SCHOOL

POLICIES

NATION/WORLD WIDE

COMMUNITY

CHILDREN

. Making problem (water) more fun.

. Introducing practical learning-enabling behavioural change. Doing this by emotional connect.. Making, Doing and Personalizing. Connecting to the object/ feeling a sense of ownership. Getting something to be part of their lives or routine

. Involved in their children’s activities and curriculum. Could be involved in public/art projects. Attend awareness programmes. Get to know through agents of change and spread it to other villages.. Change practices at home for the better . Making �uoride ‘visible’ to them

. Making them aware of its bad e�ects and tell them what to do about it. Awareness on RWH tanks. How does the tank work? . How does one maintain it?. Being part of the building/painting process so that they feel like they contributed- hence a sense of ownership. Them feeling rain water is ‘safe’ and ‘clean’ so that they will drink it

. Bring about behavioural chance by indirect nudges and not by directly putting the problems to them.. It is just a possibility and part of a larger goal. It will be great if it happens in the fun process of learning and doing.. We need to see changes in children as well as adults in their WATSAN practices.

Child Pressure

Adults

Facilitator Child

Decison makers

. Teachers should be more in number, aware and be willing to participate in awareness projects and pass this on to the children.. Should encourage participation of community and practical learning

. Train people

. Run awareness programmes. Hire locals. Invest funds in the most required areas.. Follow up once systems built. Involve community in their work

. Supply the village with basic, essential facilities. . Regular health check-ups. Host Awareness programmes. Make sure the tanks are maintained even after built. Their job doesn’t end there.. Increase student- teacher ratio.

Facilities- GREEN SCHOOL

Agents of Change | DirectionsSANITATION

WATER

FLUORIDE

Solution

RAIN WATER

AWARENESS

BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE

CHILDREN

. Making problem (water) more fun.

. Introducing practical learning-enabling behavioural change. Doing this by emotional connect.. Making, Doing and Personalizing. Connecting to the object/ feeling a sense of ownership. Getting something to be part of their lives or routine

. Making �uoride ‘visible’ to them

. Making them aware of its bad e�ects and tell them what to do about it. Awareness on RWH tanks. How does the tank work? . How does one maintain it?. Being part of the building/painting process so that they feel like they contributed- hence a sense of ownership. Them feeling rain water is ‘safe’ and ‘clean’ so that they will drink it

Child Pressure

Adults

Facilitator Child

Decison makersCould lead to

NATION/WORLD WIDE

COMMUNITY

CHILDREN

. Bring about behavioural chance by indirect nudges and not by directly putting the problems to them.. It is just a possibility and part of a larger goal. It will be great if it happens in the fun process of learning and doing.. We need to see changes in children as well as adults in their WATSAN practices.

A book/booklet for facilitators and NGOs on practical learning and how to make awareness like this more fun for the students and community. Workshops- what will work and what doesn’t and what can improve.

Art installations or nuges set up near all the water bodies in the village to attract the larger community.

This could be done by. Painting water tanks. Testing water from di�erent sources for �uoride. Treasure hunt/walking around and leaving marks of awareness or messages of awareness. Using ‘touch points’ to create interest/nuges- water pumps, tanks, bottles, pots etc.

.Using the �uoride testing kit for activities . Making this kit fun for the students- child friendly. Easy to handle and understand. Make the students test all sorts of water samples- informal way of data collection. Involve the teachers in the activity and community if possible

. Being part of building the tanks

. Water in-let or out-let acting as a nudge. Making maintainance of the tank a personal or a communal a�air. Coming together and painting the tanks. Experiments on e�ects of �uoride that can be shown. Testing samples of water for �uoride and leaving a mark

• Activities involving the larger community• Teacher-student involvement• Fluoride kits, publication package• Increasing the sense of ownership• Personalising

It All Adds Up | The ProjectThe Brief:To help children explore basic mathematics and play with numbers using interactive storytelling. Using new media technologies to enhance communication, to reach good cognitive goals, to increase the students’ attention, and to make the learning process more interactive.

Target Audience:9-12 year olds. Goal:• Creating a platform for an unconventional engagement with mathematics- An interactive experience.• The approach is not through the immediate school curricula, but in exploring the concepts and applications of the subject.• Teaching through storytelling and scenarios.• Children are naturally curious about everyday problems; therefore using this aspect to introduce mathematics with a “problem-solving” approach.

It All Adds Up | Need“Any poet, even the most allergic to mathematics, has to count up to twelve in order to compose an alexandrine.”— Raymond Queneau

Mathematics is more than the rules and operations we learnt at school. It is about connections and seeing relationships in everything we do.

Efforts to reform mathematics education are under way, but they have not reached many classrooms in the country. While some math teachers are emphasizing thinking and problem solving, many students still experience mathematics that is dominated by memorization and drill, without any meaningful context.

If most schools continue to do more of what they’ve always done, they’ll continue to produce too many students uninterested and unmotivated to study mathematics beyond high school.

Surveys conducted in different schools in Bangalore

It All Adds Up | Educational Uses of Technology• Children nowadays have grown up digitally. To them , technology is a part of their natural world• Teachers think technology can be used everywhere, except the classroom. They have no understanding of the way technology can be used in the classroom, and transforming education from last century into 21st century education. • Media allows children to be creators and producers. Allows them to think and analyze. Allow them to talk to people everywhere.• Allow teachers to play with technology, to create a learning landscape- The way in which they use technology to help children learn, understand, explore.• Change learning into seeing information, and changing it into knowledge that becomes personalized• Children can begin to make decisions, ask questions and begin to explore, hence becoming an active participant in his/her own learning.

The Re.Math Project: Using new media to create interactive games

Siftables- A tangible user interface: Electronic tiles that can be used to add, subtract, com-pose and create

It All Adds Up | Brainstorming

RESEARCHWhat?Traditional out-of-textbook methodsMathematical GamesTeaching and Learning toolsThe psychology of numbers, number senseNew Media in enhancing learning

Children: 9-12 yrsHigh interest material needsWho think Math is no funWho think Math is fun, but are not effective problem solversWho don’t see the purpose for the Math skills they learn

What?NumbersSetsMeasurementMoneyTimeProbabilityPatternsFractionsDecimalsPercentagesRatio ProportionData HandlingBasic Geometry

How?StorytellingPuzzles/RiddlesAbstract

How?Study Children’s booksStudy course curriculumInterview questions, surveyTalk to teachers and studentsTalk to people working on similar projectsSpend a day in a Math ClassBooks, InternetTED talks

FORM

CONTENT

IT ALL ADDS UP

How?TactileDigitalDynamicInteractiveEngagingPlay

What?Interactive bookGame-Digital+TactileGame in a space (New media)Objects (Mats, tables, cube)New Media

TARGET AUDIENCE

My Toy Factory | The ProjectThe project involves working with children, encouraging them to build simple toys themselves and teaching mathematical/scientific etc. concepts through the toys.

• “Make your own toys” ideology – Arvind Gupta• Materials : Reuse your everyday junk. • DIY• Problem solving• Applications• Storytelling and Play

My Toy Factory | Do It Yourself• An “out of textbook” system which can be taken anywhere and initiated by anyone.• The element of interactivity where the child is able to relate to something better because of building it from scratch. A more hands-on, learning through doing approach. • The availability of science through toys to children at no cost.• Introducing children to a more DIY culture possibly making them more independent while learning. Adding the element of play.• less of an extra curricular / co-curricular activity and more a part of their everyday lives.• Encouragement for the “young inventor” in children to create from scratch something they have thought up completely themselves.• Reinforcing the fun and satisfaction in working with tactile materials.

My Toy Factory | PlayOf all animal species, humans are the biggest players of all. We are built to play and built through play. When we play, we are engaged in the purest expression of our humanity, the truest expression of our individuality. Is it any wonder that often the times we feel most alive, those that make up our best memories, are moments of play?—Stuart Brown

“Reform is no use anymore, because that’s simply improving a broken model. What we need - and the word’s been used many times during the course of the past few days - is not evolution, but a revolution in education. This has to be transformed into something else.”— Sir Ken Robinson