Publication Type : Conference Paper
Thematic Areas : Humanitarian-Robotics-HCI
Publisher : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Source : Proceedings - IEEE 9th International Conference on Technology for Education, T4E 2018, 2018
Keywords : 21st century skills, Chancellor of Amrita University and world renowned humanitarian whose humanitarian work around the world has been a source of inspiration and strength to us. We would like to express our gratitude to faculty and staff at Amrita Vidyalayam School, Constructivism, Design thinking, Experiential learning, funding_text 1=ACKNOWLEDGMENT We are deeply indebted to Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Higher order thinking skills, Maker skills, Plastic bottles, Thalassery for their participation and support. This work has benefited from insights in user centered design shared by Prof. Alexander Muir of Ammachi Labs., Tinkering, User centered design
Campus : Amritapuri
School : Center for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, Department of Social Work, School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Center : Ammachi labs, Center for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment
Department : Social Work
Year : 2018
Abstract : The bid to transform education with the inclusion of 21st-century skills in the school system lays an emphasis on hands-on project-based learning and tinkering. Often such learning activities involve teaching children creation of artifacts that extend beyond lending personal meaning to themselves, as objects that are designed for use by others. It is imperative that making such objects is motivated by an empathetic understanding of the needs of the eventual users of these objects. This paper discusses the conduct of a workshop that teaches user-centered design principles to eighth graders by engaging in maker activities aiming to develop such an understanding of their users in children. The workshop engages the children in dialogue with users and teaches the children to create objects that fulfill the users' expressed needs. Furthermore, to engage them in collaborative-learning, the children were guided to create a boat by up-cycling waste plastic bottles. They then rowed it out in a pool to test it for its functionality. The workshop has led to an increased sense of general self-efficacy in the children that was measured by the conducted pre-workshop and post-workshop surveys.
Cite this Research Publication : V. Susmitha, Akshay, N., Vennila, V., Muraleedharan, A., Nair, R., Alekh, V., M. Yildiz, A., and Rao R. Bhavani, “All aboard for the joy of making! teaching user centered design and tinkering to middle school children in India”, in Proceedings - IEEE 9th International Conference on Technology for Education, T4E 2018, 2018