Documenatation by Manasi Lamba

EDUACTION

Project Documentation Complied and Illustrated by Manasi Lamba

EDUACTION A project on Experiential Methodologies in education by Manasi Lamba

This Product is a part of a final diploma project at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore www.learningmadefunproject.blogspot.com Complied, Illustrated and Written by Manasi Lamba 4

Contents Foreword Project Zero Learning through creative play. What Method am I using? Activity Flow Introduction Diploma Proposal Workshops Visualisations Product Conclusion Acknowledgment

Dedicated to all the students of class 3C and class 4D, and their wonderful theatre teacher Beatrice, Bluebells school.

Introduction

Foreword When I was in school I always found classroom learning very uninteresting and even a little boring. There was nothing to make the subject appealing and we had to ‘mug up’ everything that was taught in class. I used to make up interesting ways of learning either by drawing or singing or by acting out parts in front of the mirror. By doing this I found it easier to retain things as I had fun learning and understood the subject better. As a student of art and design I wanted to come up with a process which would help teachers and students to enhance their learning. I wanted to shift the mindset from Arts being seen as “Extra curricular” activities to “Co- Curricular “ activities that are important for the child’s creativity and development. During my workshops with Bluebells School, I found that children were very reluctant to show any negative reaction or feeling due to the fear of being punished or penalised. There is a constant “fear” among children from a very young age. Fear of grades and marks is the biggest factor because of which they are inhibited and stiff. I took up this project as an explorer and a mediator between the teacher and the students. I designed a process keeping in mind both sides. I wanted to use my visual skills and come up with a tool that works using experience rather than the content and material. I tried to work with no pre-conceived notions about what I was undertaking to do. I realised that I could not pre-design my workshops with any kind of a formal structure. Sometimes I found it very difficult to convey a concept as the children are not used to methods where they have the ownership and responsibility of what they learn and how they want to learn it. Being in neither the student’s nor the teacher’s place gave me a chance to effectively look at both sides of the story. It was a difficult, but enriching experience which resulted in a whole new learning for me and hopefully made learning a lot more fun for the students. 9

What will your doorway be? You know the saying? “Give a person a fish and they eat for a day. Teach a person to fish and they eat for a lifetime.” How can we teach our children to have the gumption to stand up to life with all its challenges with well developed skills in invention, creative problem solving, selfmotivated learning / inquiry / discovery?

Research

Project Zero Project Zero’s mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as in humanistic and scientific disciplines, at individual and institutional levels. One of the projects i was looking at was the The Creative Classroom Project. In the project, they take the stance that creative teaching must build on a foundation of solid pedagogy. However, creative teaching is not merely a higher plateau of practice. Creative teaching requires a fundamental move out of a safe zone for the teacher. Therefore, creative teaching is not necessarily the next logical step beyond good teaching practices. They see creative teaching as more generative and responsive teaching rather than just more effective teaching. In the current climate of high-stakes testing and mandated curriculum, creative and innovating teaching is perhaps more important than ever as it keeps classrooms energetic. Another project I was looking at was Artful learning.It focuses on experiencing and appreciating art, rather than making art. There are two broad goals of the .program: To help teachers create rich connections between works of art and curricular topics; and to help teachers use art as a force for developing students’ thinking dispositions.The program takes the image of an artist’s palette as its central metaphor. Typically, a palette is made up of a relatively small number of basic colors which can be used and blended in a great variety of ways. The artful thinking palette is comprised of 6 thinking dispositions which emphasize intellectual behaviors such as asking provocative questions, making careful observations, exploring multiple viewpoints, and reasoning with evidence. These 6 dispositions are developed through the use of “thinking routines.” Thinking routines are short, easy-to-learn mini-strategies that extend and deepen students’ thinking and become part of the fabric of everyday classroom life. They are used flexibly and repeatedly--with art, and with a wide variety of topics in the curriculum, particularly in language arts and social studies. 10

“Although most people might look for signs of creativity in the appearance of the bulletin boards, student made projects, centers, and displays in a classroom, I feel that the truly creative classroom goes way beyond what can be seen with the eyes. It is a place where bodies and minds actively pursue new knowledge. Having a creative classroom means that the teacher takes risks on a daily basis and encourages his/her students to do the same.” — Pann Baltz, 1993 ATA Teacher of the Year

Research

Learning through Creative play Article by Leah Mann editing assistance from Diana Coogle, Amy Williams and Ela Lamblin. Learning and play can be simultaneous. At the New Horizons Conference, Lelavision will demonstrate the manifestation of this art process I just described in performance as well as provide experiential activities from our kinetic, aural, spacial and play-filled tool belt. Within our process of discovery and creation we have a motto: “Never let the fear of being bad at something stop you from trying!” We learn so much from our “mistakes,” and often they become unexpected discoveries that feed and propel our work forward.

What does Ms. Frizzle of The Magic School Bus say? “Let’s get messy, take chances, make mistakes!!!!” We often ask the students, “If necessity is the mother of invention, what would you create?” Across the board, whether students are affluent or impoverished, the number one answer is “a moneymaking machine.” Though children in our western society seem to think the solution to their problems is best solved by outside sources, all us educators have the great opportunity to encourage them to look inward, to use their brainpower and imagination, which is their best, most accessible tool. The second most common reply is “a homework machine because schoolwork is no fun.” But what if fun and learning were merged more often? When Ela was young, his father made a deal with him, saying “I won’t buy you any toys, but I’ll help you make whatever you want.” This symbiotic learning/playing process has fostered a lifestyle based in a love of science, math, engineering and invention. That same creative and learning-based lifestyle blossoms into our performances and underscores our teaching. Using gestures and sounds, we teach physics. Using whole-body and group sentences, we teach grammar. Using students as the polyrhythmic equations, we teach math. 11

What if education was fun and everyone got to play? What if the joy of learning radiated from everyone in the classroom – teachers and students alike? Would students stay in school? Would they score just as well (or better!) on standardized tests? What if “creative spark” set afire the imagination to serve all subjects and “play” became a synonym for “learn”?

Introduction

What Method am I using?

Introduction

Meeting Standards through Integrated Curriculum by Susan.M.Drake and Rebecca.C.Burns. It is stated that there are three kinds of integrated curriculum: Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary and Trasndisciplinary. I realised that the method I am using is a mixture between Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary, at different stages. In the table below I have highlighted the different methods being used at various stages of my process. Mapping out a table really helped me understand each stage and its nuances better. It help me plan my sessions accordingly in a systematic manner. I saw that most of my planning was leaning towards the Interdisciplinary method. I also reffered to Howard Gardner and his multiple intellegence theories. 13

Introduction

Article: Indian Express ‘Make kids creative by changing the way they are taught’ Thu, Sep 30 05:52 AM ”If we want our children to be creative, there is an immediate need to change the way we are teaching them,” said Kerala based educationist K B Jinan. Jinan has been documenting the behaviour of children in rural as well as urban settings in places like Nagaland, Bihar, Orissa and now Kerala. He has been studying the differences in the behavourial patterns in these different settings and has reached the conclusion that teaching children through strictly structured curriculum makes a child lose his natural creative ability. “I have interacted with children in the slums of Hyderabad and have found the astonishing fact that most of the children there can fluently speak at least four languages such as Kannada, Tamil, Telegu and Hindi. However, they do not have any teacher to teach languages. It is simply their ability to grasp what they are watching and hearing. It is such a cognitive process and there is so much of natural learning taking place here,” said Jinan. He said learning is a more biological realm whereas teaching is psychological, thus both the processes belong to two completely different paradigms. “We impose set rules on children, thereby disturbing their natural learning process. What I feel is children are more innocent, open and humble who do not know anything about the vices of that it is we who should learn from them,” he said. Jinan says his outlook towards education changed when he was at the NID. “NID is a place where students are not taught. They are just left to be and that is where they come up with the most amazing designs. You take responsibility for what you learn. You think, you read, with no external pressure. We need to have similar teaching processes for children. Our system needs flexibility.”Jinan said since after parents, a child spends maximum time with teachers. 17

Jinan said since after parents, a child spends maximum time with teachers. “Children are being taught skills of reasoning and memory in schools, which are useful for analysing what is known. But what about the unknown? A child’s creativity is getting killed with the old methods of teaching. The brain is getting used to static memorised information. What we need to do is to let them learn naturally. That is the only way how their creativity can be retained.”

Introduction

“Education should help one make sense of the world. At the same time, it should help students make sense of themselves as ‘players’ in the world.” (Kincheloe and Steinberg 1998)

Introduction Schools today are going through change where learning and education is concerned. But this change is one-sided. Textbooks are being redesigned to make learning holistic for the child but schools are still not being able to keep up with this change. Children need to be taught differently in an integrated way in order to make it a complete success. One way of making learning enjoyable in the foundation years is by using the tool of interactive literacy. Institutions are still not open to the idea of practical learning, outside the classroom. If facilitators can be made to realise that having fun with learning is important then this could be extended to all levels of learning in and out of the classroom. This project is an attempt to make learning fun and meaningful for the child using experiential methodologies in education. The two main methods used are Inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary methods by Susan.M.Drake and Rebecca.C.Burns Bluebels School in Delhi was open to this idea of experiential methodologies and allowed the me to work with class 3 and 4 children along with their theatre teacher.The project span was 3 months where we worked closely with the kids and came up with methods to help both teachers and students.

DIPLOMA PROPOSAL The project proposal was a part of the course requirement that identified the aim and the outcome of this project.

Project Brief

Project Brief Aim:

Need:

Target Audience:

To provide an experience for children, in fields like Water, Air and Earth keeping in touch with their school curriculum and syllabus that will be challenging, creative, provocative, and a stimulus for further work done in and out of school with the help of an integrated activity kit on the subject. How can you make learning meaningful and fun for children?

For children to expand knowledge and know possibilities beyond classroom. To understand themes and spaces in an interactive manner. (e.g.- Water, air, earth) For the child to get introduced to other tools of learning like narratives and - stories, interventions, colour and drawing, role play and movement. To nurture, innocent mind of a child in a creative and more stress free way. To make a child understand at the foundation level that there is more to school and learning than just learning by rote and marks. To build knowledge through “though, word and deed”. To build the confidence of a child. “Integrated?” How can you make learning fun and meaningful for the child? The relevance of today’s teaching system. How well a child can adapt to these tools. My role as a communicator.

I am working with class 3 and 4 students of the Bluebells school, Delhi.

Tools: Theatre tools- role-playing, Concentration, narratives and story telling. Movement, sound, art Field trips and interventions Films Drawing as a medium of expression Interdisciplinary participatory interaction and interventions

Research Questions: How can you make learning “Integrated?” How can you make learning fun and meaningful for the child? The relevance of today’s teaching system. How well a child can adapt to these tools. My role as a communicator

Project Brief

Product: The project has three levels and each level will have a different learning to me as a designer, and I have chosen to work with Bluebells school, Delhi as they have a theatre person called Dilip already working on some of these aspects with children. LEVEL1: Interacting with students with workshops designed within curriculum and games relating to the themes chosen. Enhancing the teaching experience. This stage will be video documented and made into a step-by-step process guide. To combine syllabus themes that intermingle and do workshops and events with the children. Teaching them plants, rain water harvesting, pollution and other related topics to the themes chosen and how it helps us and how its getting scarce and the steps they can do to prevent this. In the workshops we use theater as a tool, along with other tools like movement, sounds and practical interventions. These workshops would involve planning and interacting with students on a one to one basis keeping in touch with their school curriculum LEVEL 2: Based on the workshops I do with the students I will come with an activity kit on these themes. The kit would be beneficial, as it would have a tangible object stemming from the workshop. The kit would have a board game, a book narrative that is based on these workshops, a t-shirt and some activity things like seeds, and a water canister also a CD with a step-by-step guide to the workshops. As a Graphic Design student I could design this integrated kit so that either it can be put out in the market as a activity kit or it can be given to schools to use with children. I t can further be proposed to companies like Funskool, Scholastic. With this kit I want to establish fun and interesting learning. LEVEL 3: In this level I am working with interventions where the school and children can together organize an event for otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to see what they have done, something like a fair so that other schools can adopt the same approach. The school will also have a volunteered water squad, air squad and earth squad. Which will do time-to-time interventions on these subjects. 23

Resources: I will be interacting with theatre personalities that have already been working in this field such as Maya Rao and Vivek Mansukhani. Studying the NCERT social science textbooks and going through their chapters relating to Water, Air and Earth. Books like Learning with Theatre- Edited by Tony Jackson. Howard Gardner- Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Dilip and Beatrice, Theatre teachers at Bluebells school, Delhi

Learning outcomes: Planning workshops and participatory interventions Understanding the innocent mind of a child and dealing with them. Putting two different mediums together cohesively. Holistic approach, a complete package. Working with different mediums. Different Design principles in different spaces. Combination of thought, word and deed.

Research

Multiple Intelligence Theory

According to multiple intelligence theory, there are eight basic types of intelligence. Originally Gardner listed seven intelligences, but in 1999 he added the eighthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; one: naturalist intelligence. He has also considered existential intelligence and moral intelligence, but does not find these acceptable. While studying this theory I had a lot of questions in my mind. I did not fully agree with the theory as no one person can purely be categorised in one of these categories, but all of these intelligences are present and depending on the situation either one or two of the eight can be dominant. 24

Research

SPONTANEOUS REACTIONS

Bodily- Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal

VISUALISATIONS

Spatial- Visual

KWL CHARTS

Linguistic

DISCUSSIONS

Linguistic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal

RELATING OBJECT + MEDIUM

Bodily- Kinesthetic, Spatial- Visual

FREEING YOURSELF

Bodily- Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal

CONNECTING BODY + DRAWING

Bodily- Kinesthetic, Spatial- Visual

EMOTION + OBJECT + BODY

Kinesthetic, Spatial- Visual, Intrapersonal

CHARACTER BUILDING

Linguistic, Spatial- Visual

SEEING + OBSERVING

Interpersonal, Visual, Intrapersonal

BRINGING CHARACTERS INTO LIFE

Interpersonal, Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal

NARRATIVE BUILDING

Linguistic, Logical- Mathematical

TRANSALATION

Musical

Shaavasan It is a relaxing posture intended to rejuvenate body, mind and spirit and is a good way to reduce stress and tension. Drowsiness or restlessness of the mind while in shavasana may be counteracted by increasing the rate and depth of breathing. This pose is about letting go completely. It is a very good way to start a session. Many times the children were very excited and hyper, this pose helped them become calm and focus all their energies on the exercises we were making them do. 27

WORKSHOPS I conducted these workshops with class 3 and class 4 as a part of my process. These workshops were experimental using experiential methodologies in education. For these workshope I chose the themes of Air, Water and Earth.

Workshops

Session: 1 I went for my first session with Bluebells School, and was allotted a class of 20 kids. Much to my surprise the theater teacher of Bluebells school, Beatrice, was one of the people from Adil Hussain’s troupe that had taught us during foundation. For the session we had chosen the theme of SPONTANEOUS REACTIONS. Let the children express the elements of Water, Air and Earth through the medium of body and movement. We started off by introducing what I was attempting to do and that my themes were Water, Air and Earth. They were extremely excited as they were studying these topics in their EVS class. We began by first making a circle and closing our eyes to build concentration and feeling the warmth of each others palms. The concentration span of the children was zero. They were giggling and laughing. They were excited. We worked this excitement and energy to our advantage. We asked them to close their eyes and imagine a nice river - a calm river...blue, calming blue and you could and

suddenly see smiling faces. Choosing the right moment we asked them to start moving. All of them started moving in very flowing movements with their hands and feet swirling from one place to another. We asked them to depict different moods of the river - calm, rough, still and all of them understood the command and moved accordingly. It was fun to see their perception of the subject, but it was very difficult to get them to keep their eyes closed. They didn’t enjoy the slow part of the workshop and we soon saw they were getting bored. We then asked them to move like rain with sound, which they enjoyed very much. The made wishi-washi sounds and tip-tip and pitter patter sounds. They knew the difference between the nature of the two water bodies. We did the same thing with the other elements of Air and Earth. They each knew the difference between nature and material. After the session we asked them to voice out what they felt: “ Air is all around us so, we cant move all around so it was a little difficult” 30

“Air was difficult because we cannot see air but we can only feel air, we cant even smell air.” “ Rain was fun because I love the rain” “ Earth was fun because I like clay and made a figure.” “ Water, I love moving like water.” Air was tough for most of them as it is not a tangible object they did not know how it looked or felt. Imagining air was difficult for them. We were very happy to see that they were not rigid about moving or inhibited to express. They were very open. A lot of their reactions came from their own bias about what they liked and what they did not. After the class we gave them each a sheet of paper and asked them to draw what they saw while imagining and what they felt. So eagerly waiting for the drawings!

Workshops

Research Questions Can Drama or theater be used as a pedagogical tool? What all can theater do in the field of education? Is there a need for such sort of transformation in our teaching system today or is the current teaching system convincing enough? What do you think of Integrated Learning? and how should it be incorporated? What do you think of the new NCERT text books? How do you think that children learn best?

Workshops

Interviews Head Mistress Pathak: Bluebels school, New Delhi Drama is an extremely important tool in education today, it not only helps you learn but it also works in “Therapeutic ways” your mind becomes calmer and your learning is stress free. With drama all your senses come alive and are put to use. Young Children are more adaptable to a tool like this as you grow older you come more rigid and this unnecessary societal pressure.”Tunnel Vision”. Today we are very adaptable to such a learning system but it requires “changing of mindsets”. The teacher who is teaching the subject needs to believe in the system in order to impart knowledge. It also depends on the person itself . What kind of a person is teaching the child. Integrated learning is extremely important for the child to get holistic learning. We have introduced Kinetic education, Maths through physical education, Dance, Music, Sequencing. All our teachers are familiar with Howard Gardner’s Theory of multiple intelligences. Yes it is a rigid theory and everyone has a bit of all the intelligences but it is important for a teacher to understand the different levels in which teaching can take place.

Workshops

Session: 2 Introducing Class 4 D We used the same method as we did for class 3C. The theme was spontaneous reactions and this class was much easier to work with as the children were older. We started first by focusing and concentrating and then slowly imagining and then expressing the element through their body. With this class the voice commands were more easily understood. The kids understood them and were very serious. They were not as giggly as the younger kids. We started by first slowly moving one part of the body, like the arms, and making them as liquid as they could like water. Then we started to move the hips and the neck. After they were completely liquid, we put the movement into it. This class wasn’t inhibited by any element. They did air and earth the same way as well. They knew the different materials and they moved accordingly. Clay was very interesting, as they kept sculpting themselves in various positions. The school

had a learning Center that I knew of but I didn’t know that we would have a blind girl in our class. Her name was Iris. She was very well trained to judge distances with sound. While looking at her you could not make out that she was blind. When I got introduced to the class she was extremely apprehensive to meet me but then she got accustomed to me being around. It was her birthday that day! Her reactions were very different as she didn’t have any pre- conceived notions of the elements. She hadn’t seen them and experienced them the way the other children had. It was refreshing to see what she came up with. The only command she followed like the rest of the class was FREEZE! When the other kids were asked to feel and imagine water, they started wriggling like fish or the waves. She kept dancing around in circles with her dupatta :) It was really exciting! After the class we asked the kids to draw what they felt. 33

“Her reactions were very different as she didn’t have any pre- conceived notions of the elements. She hadn’t seen them and experienced them the way the other children had. It was refreshing to see what she came up with.”

Workshops

Session: 3 During this session with class 3 C, we decided to focus on just one element - AIR. As in the previous session’s feedback, many of them found air difficult to depict as it wasn’t a tangible object that they could see or touch. It was a sense, a feeling. We started with a discussion on how do we see air or feel air, and very interesting answers came out. The initial ones were the obvious wind and storm. Then we moved to daily life and some said fan. We went on to more complex things like running. “When balloon fills up with us blowing into it we know the air is present.” “We also know there is air present when we breathe, when our lungs go in and out.” “Air is also there when we fly a kite” “Even when a bird is flying it pushes the air from its wings” After hearing their discussion we started with a breathing exercise and imagining the colour of their breath going inside and bloating their stomachs. It was also a concentrating exercise to get

them in the correct mode. After they were relaxed and had taken some deep breaths, we asked them to start getting up very lightly and blow an imaginary bubble in front of them. We then asked them to step inside and see how they could move in the bubble. What do you feel? Do you feel light? Or trapped? Then we asked them to feel that the air was pushing them and move each of their body parts as if they were getting lighter. As if the air is making their arms move. We also asked them to move like they were different states of wind - still, windy, storm, calm. The kids were very easily able to move between these states and this session was definitely better than the last one. Because the kids were a little younger they took time to get accustomed to the process. After the session we gave them paper to draw on to make a visual of what they felt or what they saw. We also gave them an exercise to look through magazines and news papers and cut out 34

things related to air and make a collage. We also introduced them to KWL charts

Workshops

Interviews Vivek Mansukhani and Varun Narain (Puppeteer) - I asked him how I could remove certain obstacles in my process. One of the major obstacles I was facing was their personal biases. The children were viewing the elements subjectively and I wanted them to see the “Bigger Picture”. I figured that everyone is biased, and we all have pre conceived notions. If I wanted them to think objectively, I would have to facilitate it as they would not be able to think that way by themselves. -Another really good suggestion they gave me was to make the children create something larger than themselves, in their space. Children love to work with big sizes. Also the anticipation of seeing what they have created, in the next session, would keep them engaged and involved in the whole process. They would then look forward to the sessions and have something exciting to look forward to the next day. -They also told me, “Don’t ever make them feel that you are using them for your own research and process. Make them feel that your purpose for being here is to be there for them and make their experience more enriching.” -Make them do bizarre things because you never know when it sparks into something meaningful. You also get answers when they are least expected so don’t force them. The answers will come. - From now on make the children do hands on things after going through the feeling exercises. Make them feel and do. -One of my problems was that after my class the children felt very sleepy and the teachers began complaining. I felt I was going wrong somewhere. They told me that if the children are feeling sleepy it’s a good thing because it means that they are using their brains and all their senses are active. To stop them from feeling sleepy they asked me to give them a sugar rush as it always works with children. -Make the children feel that they are a part of the whole process and that we are one team. Take their opinions also and make them design their own activities. -Interconnections, associations and Interactions,Control the fun, and maintain a balance. Talking to them really gave me a lot of insights. 37

Workshops

Session: 4 Taking some points from the talk I had with Varun Narain and Vivek Mansukhani, we decided to combine movement and drawing. We noticed that whenever we told them to draw from home and come they lost the feeling and imagination experienced in class. So we decided they would draw only during class.

Taking some points from the talk I had with Varun Narain and Vivek Mansukhani, we decided to combine movement and drawing. We noticed that whenever we told them to draw from home and come they lost the feeling and imagination experienced in class. So we decided they would draw only during class.

We focused again on air as the kids find it very difficult to express air. We started off by playing a word association game. We gave them chits on which there was written one word relating to the themes like WET, DRY, FLAT, BLUE, FLOWING and the first association that came to their minds, without thinking, they had to write down.

They then began to express the element air with their bodies, and feel like either a balloon expanding or a kite flying or a bird. This time I thought the kids were becoming more and more accustomed to this process. With the object automatically came the sounds and we let them go with the flow. Today we also experiment

with different speeds. We also taught them breathing. What happens when the air fills up your lungs and what happens when the air is let out? After expressing with the body we gave them a LARGE sheet of paper. They we excited and overwhelmed with the size of the paper. All this time we were making them draw on A4 sheets. Suddenly we gave then an A1 sized paper. They all started drawing intricately, but we kept instigating them to draw what they felt and use the entire expanse of the sheet. Slowly their bodies started to move and use the whole paper. It was very interesting to see their interpretation of the session. Because air is light they started by moving their crayons lightly. We encouraged them to move away from form. With form come biases and we wanted them to just feel and draw rather than concentrate on the prettiness of the drawing, which was difficult for them. They were doing something out of their comfort zone in this session.

Workshops

“Fear cannot be the basis of learning. Neither can competition and comparison. A little more subtle but equally crucial fact is that reward and punishment do not bring about learning. So what is the right approach?” “The challenge for educators is to foster intrinsic motivation. Students must want to participate in the learning experience because they are motivated to do so and not merely because there is a reward at the end of it. This can be achieved if the lessons are planned keeping that in mind.e.g.Providing a ‘hook’ at the beginning, something that captures their attention and then their imaginations soars. Also by providing a learning environment that is related to the topic-display of books, bulletin board displays, its like setting the scene. For example activities like having a gas balloon party outdoors to introduce the concept of air! Ofcourse you have to consider the age appropriateness and context of the child.” - Dharma Kanan

Workshops

Session: 5 It was a very challenging session. From the first exercise we noticed that the class 3 kids today were in such a naughty mood that they just did not want to work. They wanted to giggle and run around and just have fun. Sometimes it is good that such kinds of things happen and we use it to our advantage. We started off by making a circle and doing activities like hanging like a towel with our bodies bent and breathing that woke the kids up. Then we gave them newspaper. We asked them to use the newspaper to depict the elements. Some started making a house, some a plane, while some wrapped it around their necks and pretended they were flying superheroes. Some were sitting down and very immaculately moulding the newspaper. They were just having fun.

water or become a big soft cloud in the sky.â&#x20AC;? They had a lot of fun in this session and like I said earlier you never know when what will surprise you. I was happy that the kids were starting to think differently. Bizarre things came out like a sea house and a grass house on wheels where the house will grow as and when it rains. They were beginning to think and stimulate their imagination. They also did visualization that I will put up very soon.

After the session we asked them what they felt. Some said they like a bird flying in the sky. But one girl had an extremely different answer. â&#x20AC;&#x153; I have made a ball because it can float on 42

Workshops

Interviews Priya Rao, Bangalore Little Theater Bangalore little theatre is a 50 year old group that consists of passionate people coming together, without any formal training, just to have fun! As the group became bigger, so did their area of interest. One of their biggest areas of interest was training and development in experiential methodologies. So they decided to take this forward and target the base of the society - the children. They introduced these methodologies in schools to give them a creative learning and to stimulate multi- intelligence development. Every year put up a mixed age group play and their funds go to a particular place. This year it is the Association for the Mentally Challenged, Bangalore. A very good point she made was that a lot of people are doing what I am but it has gone unnoticed because it is not structured. Most of it is intuitively done with children without any training. (They are training people to follow a structure in this field.) Hence projects need to be backed up with research and facts. She also introduced me to concepts like the Pygmalion effect - Robert Rosenthall, and enactment versus experience. There has to be a balance of structure. Children need to be given the freedom to do what they want but with an underlying structure to it, which could change as per requirement. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to reinvent wheels, a lot of it is already there and a lot of work has been done, maybe you can compile theories and give a justification that will be more meaningful and relevant to our schools and society. You can also add your experience to layer it.

Workshops

Session: 6 The session with class 4 was not something different. We repeated the newspaper exercise with the class. We also wanted to do a comparison between class 3 and class 4. Even though they are one year apart there is a vast difference in the the intelligence levels and the results. I feel the class 4 kids are more serious and the responses are mature. We started the session by first teaching them how to breathe in the correct way and feeling absolutely blank and relaxed with shavaasan. Then we started with the body - with feeling light like a bubble and the body moving with this lightness. After this we introduced the newspaper and all the creativity started pouring out. They used the newspaper in different ways, these kids were not overwhelmed with the material and started playing with it immediately. Some of the confident kids wanted two newspapers to express themselves better. 45

Workshops

Session: 7 After speaking with Dharma last weekend I realized just how important it is for the children first to scribble and use the paper for catharsis. To let go and go wild without any structure or any fear of being graded and doing what’s right to fulfill other’s expectations.

them into the momentum and once they were free there was no looking back. Some were lying down and drawing, others were jumping with excitement. It was really refreshing to see the smiles on the children’s faces. I am later going to turn their drawings into sets for our performance.

This experience was very new to them. One of them came up to me and said, “ Its like feeling like a child again” :) While I was moving around the corridors of the school I came across the class 3 art period. I was extremely curious to know what they do in this class. I was very upset to see how this class was conducted. The teacher had drawn on the board and the children had to copy it. They were not allowed to do what they wanted to do or interpret things the way they wanted to. So I decided that in our class they can “go wild”. We made them stand and draw, sit and draw, lie down and draw. At first they were very apprehensive about doing that. They didn’t want to scribble. We had to play a game of “Simon says” to get 46

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Session: 8 and 9 CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Personification of the elements Instruction card: Divide yourself into 3 teams air, water and earth. (This is the first exercise we were going to do in teams.) Trace out any one person’s body.- Give this person a name and a personality, keeping your groups element in mind. ( Group Air called him Mr Oxygen, Group Water called him Mr Splash, while Group Earth called her Mrs Land.)

Think of what kind of person Mr X is and express it in your drawing. ( They started discussing among themselves and Mrs Land was calm and angry, Mr Splash was playful and sometimes little sad, and Mr Oxygen was calm and helpful.) Draw a minimum of 3 good and 3 bad qualities of this person. ( For the bad qualities they started to draw the problems that each element was facing.) Draw the surrounding this person is in.

You are not allowed to write any words. Everything you feel and think off has to be depicted through your drawings. Draw out MR X’s features and think of what kind of clothes he or she would wear. (They started drawing pants and shirts, but then we made them think he is MR LAND. What kind of clothes would Mr Land wear keeping in mind your elements. That’s the time they started thinking. The previous exercises of drawing large and visualisation of the elements helped a lot.) 48

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Characters

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Session: 10 After a really long time the weather was just right to take the session outside. It was neither too hot nor raining. It was not only a new experience for the students but also a new experience for Beatrice and me because we didn’t know how they would react. I was pretty sure that they would love it as kids love to play outside in the garden. But this class did not. We asked them to take off their socks so that they could get a better feel of the grass below them. They were cranky about the mud and their feet getting dirty and the ants. It was quiet shocking to see and it seemed as if they had stepped on grass or seen an ant or steped on wet mud for the first time. The whole experience was new for them. We asked them to first close their eyes and listen to the various ambient sounds. They were so confused about what we were going to do and didn’t want to go with the flow. They took a little time to get into the mood. We then asked them to think of the sounds they heard as

music and make their bodies move to this. They were very hesitant to move at first but eventually with a little help they got the hang of it. But they were so distracted by the things around them the ants, bees etc. We then asked them to feel they earth and visualize what would happen if we go under the earth into another world. We asked them to sit down and feel the earth and the grass. Is it wet? Is it dry? Soft? Rough? Imagine that there was a waterfall there. We made them stand in front of water and asked them to mimic the flow. They quite enjoyed that. In the end we had a little discussion on how each one felt. “We got confused because there were too many sounds.” “We didn’t know which sound you wanted us to pick.” “People were watching us so I felt shy.” We realised that they just did not or could not break out of the structure. We put them into an unfamiliar surrounding and they were overwhelmed by the place. Some were feeling uncomfortable. 51

“I am amazed that they are so conditioned to do as directed! Why would they think you want them to pick a particular sound? They seem to have no sense of freedom- freedom to observe and express themselves.” - Dharma Kanan

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Challenges One of the biggest drawbacks or challenges I faced was that I was working in a school where such a workshop is thought to be an extracurricular activity rather than a co-curricular activity. There were a lot of do’s and don’ts for the children, compared to if I was conducting individual workshops. The inclement weather played havoc. It rained so much in Delhi this year that the outdoor sessions had to stop. The children were very young and sometimes did not understand the instructions I gave them. Sometimes they found the instructions so bizarre that they did not know how to react. So the results I got were limited. The exposure of the children was very limited. I had to start at a basic level as opposed to doing these workshops in a progressive school where the kids are taught to think in a differently. In a way this was good as I was giving them this exposure. I felt that their creativity was limited and so was their imagination. Even in their art classes in school the children were not allowed to draw from imagination but had to copy what the teacher had drawn on the board. They were so used to being spoon fed and to structure that they could not come in or come out of it smoothly. They had no grey in their lives. Everything was either black or white; right or wrong. There was just no maybe. For instance if I asked them who told you that the air is blue, it can also be pink, they thought I was joking or teasing them and said, “No how can it be, that is wrong.” The curriculum is so cramped that even for main subjects there was only half an hour allotted per class. The children rush between syllabuses and cannot retain anything. All they ended up doing is mugging up for the tests. To get them to do something right, either you had to grade them or make them compete with the promise of a prize at the end. They were not used to doing things for themselves. They were very surprised to know that the drawings I was making them do were not going to be marked. They were so relieved that they went wild. Whenever marks came in they became “Formal” and “Right.”

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Session: 11 This Session was very tough on the kids. We made them do something beyond their age. In a way we were pushing them. We made characters created in class, come to life and taught them about floods, earthquakes and storms through them. We made them feel like the characters. They sifted between the emotions of kind, calm, angry. Explaining them that the characters could come alive was very difficult. We made them think not as a human but as the element personified which was extremely difficult for them to do. But they tried and didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t loose hope and used their brains. We made them think of the qualities of the person they drew and depict them through their bodies. So, we made them think of the difference between a kind wind and an angry wind. What came out was very interesting. When the wind was kind it was Oxygen that helped all animals and humans, and when the wind was angry it was a storm blowing fiercely on these

animals and humans. I thought this was a very good interpretation. The same way we made the water group and the earth group make their characters come alive. Since the first group had depicted a natural disaster when they were angry, both the groups followed. One did floods and the other did earthquake. The earth group, when they were kind, made all the things walk on her and took everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s weight. And water gave everyone water to drink in order to survive when he was kind. With this exercise they started relating feelings and emotions with facts and really started thinking as if these elements were actual people. :) They were not used to working in a group so they were doing pretty well. From time to time when they got stuck I gave them some pointers to just trigger their thinking because they were still small. I was very happy that by the end of the class at least the kids were trying. 54

We made them think of the qualities of the person they drew and depict them through their bodies. So, we made them think of the difference between a kind wind and an angry wind.

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Puppetry Workshop with Varun Narain Puppetry has played an important role in disseminating knowledge in most parts of the world. Puppetry imbibes elements of all art forms such as literature, painting, sculpture, music, dance, drama, and enables students to develop their creative abilities. It has been used traditionally in India as a popular and an inexpensive medium to transmit knowledge about Indian myths and legends.Since Puppetry is a dynamic art form that appeals to all age groups, this medium of communication has been selected to serve as an aid for imparting education in schools. We went to observe and contribute to a Puppetry Workshop conducted by Varun Narain, a famous puppeteer in Delhi. He was teaching children how to make shadow puppets. He was teaching them interactions, dialogue, voice of the puppet and mechanism. It was really interesting to see the puppets the kids came up with. He divided them into teams of two and made them interact. He put scenarios and the puppets had to converse with each other. The scenarios each of the groups came up with were very intresting.

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Session: 12 This was the first session I was conducting alone without Beatrice. I was extremely nervous. We had decided earlier to start moving these kids towards story and narrative building based on their characters. I started the session with a sentence game. Each person had to say one word for the completion of the sentence related to the elements. “Once upon a time there was a good air, good water and good earth who lived together in a big house in a forest.” This was the sentence the class came up with. They closed their eyes and then imagined a forest and a big house, and their element in the forest. They began to move. It was interesting to see how they moved trying to be an element in a given space. They were trying to express the freedom of the elements. While they were moving I secretly chose two humans from the groups and just asked them “What happens to the elements and the forest when we humans come in?”

I left it open enough for them to move and create a situation. The humans started cutting down all the trees and polluting the air with smoke and throwing garbage in the water. The elements became angry. I then put out another question to the elements, “What happens when air water and earth become angry?”Like this we built a narrative. The air, water and earth had a tiff with the humans and ultimately the two humans won, destroying all the elements and the trees. Then I changed the location from the forest to the city. “How are the elements different in the city as compared to the forest?” They started acknowledging these questions and started thinking differently. But in the city I made more humans and less elements. They clearly understood the difference between the two scenarios and acted accordingly. They really enjoyed being humans!!! 58

It was interesting to see how they moved trying to be an element in a given space. They were trying to express the freedom of the elements. While they were moving I secretly chose two humans from the groups and just asked them “What happens to the elements and the forest when we humans come in?”

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Session: 13 The session with class 4 D was really similar to the one I did with class 3 C. We divided them into groups and asked them to come up with a story on the elements either using all the three or just one or two. They worked in teams. We realised that they suddenly became rigid in the exercise when the dialogue was brought in. Beatrice then made them do a freeing exercise. One thing we noticed is that all the stories had a moral to them. They were doing acts that they thought we wanted to see. We kept telling them to express rather than have a moral behind everything. It was extremely hard for them as they have been conditioned to have a moral behind everything from the time they were very small. Being able to express what they feel through body and movement and narratie is a new concept to them and it is very hard to break out of a structure. They are not used to taking owernship of their thoughts. This is one thing we need to work on! 59

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Session: 14 This session was great!! This was the first time I felt that the kids were free and responding well with body and sounds. They had begun to explore their space and levels and even body parts and movement and how each part of their body moves and expresses. We made them together create situations and compare between scenarios and locations. They adapted well to the change and the pace of the session and understood the difference well. We could see it in their movements. They were beginning to understand the difference between freedom and rigidity, of both expression and movement, through the elements. After that we divided them into groups to brainstorm, keeping in mind all the sessions we had done, and come up with an idea for what they want to present as a performance. It was a hard thing for them to do. Kids take time to adjust to things and I felt after so long they had finally become comfortable with their bodies and expressions because it

depends on a lot of things moods, weather, focus, fun etc. Making them come up with stories or narratives is a little tough because they are still stuck in the “moral mode”. They write like that in their classes and have been taught to do so since the beginning. After the session we asked them how they felt and they said, “ when we were in the forest we felt free and fresh and in the city we felt cramped and heavy.” We encouraged them to think and feel like an element rather than a human. But all in all there is a difference between the first day and today!!! Little difference but a difference nevertheless! A girl from class 3C was very excited about her character Mrs Rosy. She wrote a story on her. This was a big reward for me as I was happy to see that the kids were excited and motivated. In the following week I got many more poems and stories about their respective elements and feelings. 60

“Mrs Rosy was a good person. She had seven friends. She always miss her friends. She always be happy. One day she was having a race with the sun. But the sun won. Next day she was very sad. She decided to race with Venus. Then also Venus won. Again she was sad. She was sad because she couldn’t race fastly. Now, she went to the doctor. She told him all her story, he said “What you have is good.” She didn’t realise her mistake. Then also she was again sad. One day she was running so fastly then she fall. A lot of blood came. Moral- We should be happy with what you have. “

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Scans for the story writtten by a class 3 student called Ananya Verma. This story she later transalated it into a small skit with the earth group. 61

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Session: 15 This exercise was done in their EVS class with their EVS teacher to highlight the difference in the children when they break out of the classroom mode and book learning. From their drawings, children came up with concepts that surprised their teacher. These were not talked about in class or taught to them. The children had a lot of fun doing this and felt proud of their work. We wanted to highlight to the teacher the difference between the child when he is relaxed and enjoying himself and when he is in a formal environment like a classroom with books. It was a successful exercise. We will put up an exhibition of the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work at the end of this project. There was aboy in my class called Paul. He had a prolem that no teacher in the school could identify. He was an extreamly hyper child. I inquired about him from his subject teachers. Some said he was perfectly normal in their class but occasionally showed some abnormal symtoms. The only was to keep Paul under control was to give him something to do with his hands. I realised this in my first week when he was getting out of hand. I gave him a peice of paper and some colours. I was shocked to see the results. 62

In this exercise he did not wish to work in teams, and was the only boy who finished his drawing with no help within the given time. The second Image from the left is Paul drawing red sky and an earth floating in water.

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Session: 16 and 17 It was the first time that both class 4 and class 3 were together in our sessions. We were to work towards the performance now. The kids were extremely excited and enthusiastic about the performance. We had also started taking longer sessions. We divided them into groups of air, water and earth and one group called humans, sticking to their earlier narrative idea. We got music and percussion in for the first time. The idea was that there was going to be no dialogue and the kids would make their own music. We also brought in the other materials that we had been working with in previous sessions, like newspaper, cloth, drawings, etc. They were beginning to realise the importance of the past sessions and started to combine all their leanings. We divided the instruments according to the intelligence levels. We asked them to choose which instrument would compliment the movement and feeling of their element.

The school had some extremely unusual and interesting instruments that we were working with. One of the exercises we did in the beginning to get them comfortable with these instruments was conversing with themselves as an element group with no dialogue. Music was their words and expression. If they wanted they could add a body movement to enhance their conversation. We also told them to feel free to pop up and give an opinion or an idea which came to their minds. One keen idea they had was to draw on stage and to hang paper birds to build up the feeling of a forest. Only the elements would have instruments, Humans would use their movements and voices to make music and express. Their bodies had become very comfortable to response and moved freely. They were not inhibited or scared to say the strangest things because they knew we would listen and they were “allowed” to voice out what 64

they thought in class. One thing that was amazing to see was how both the classes fed off each other without the discrimination of age or class. The kids enjoyed themselves and loved to play loud music and got over excited. They were not getting bored because there wasn’t any structure or a particular tune to what they were playing. Even in the middle of the performance they could exchange instruments if they liked. There were no fixed instruments allotted to a child so every time they got new ones to play. When we had just introduced music, we made them first express with their bodies like the other session and then with music, but we didn’t ask them to move. We asked them to freeze in a position of the element and play responding to each other. We told them there would be no dialogues in this performance, so if they had

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to say anything to each other, either it had to be mimed it or said with their instrument. When you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have your voice then the expression on your face and your body language get enhanced. You try to convey what you mean in the best way possible so that another person understands. We depend on our voice a lot and when it is taken away from us we explore other methods of expressing. The kids were so amazed to see that Beatrice and I could understand exactly what they meant.

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Session: 18 Our sessions became more and more focused on the outcome and we started compiling all that we had done in the past few weeks. We concentrated on building our narrative and getting the kids accustomed to spontaneity and improvisations. They got more comfortable with their instruments and became familiar with using them in place of words. They were brimming with ideas and each one wanted to voice them. It was great to see their motivation and the way they began taking ownership of their performance. We kept adding new things in every session. In this session we first performed with our bodies and then in the space we were working in. I put up large sheets of paper and crayons for them to draw with while they were onstage. They had never done something like this before. We also realized that it was very difficult for them to put up a performance like this alone. They needed a trigger or guidance. Beatrice guided them with her voice.

We started shifting between the two scenarios of the forest and the city. In the city they felt cramped and heavy. The wind started coughing and the earth felt heavy with all the weight and cement on it. The water felt contaminated and weak. We built on the narrative. It was an extremely simple one. The elements used to live in the forest harmoniously with the humans and they were all living together very happily, maintaining a balance. The humans start getting progressively greedy and wanted more. So they exploited these elements and started abusing them. They cut down all the trees, built roads and erected buildings on earth. They threw garbage in the water. The elements got very angry. The wind created a storm, the water a flood and the earth an earthquake. The humans were devastated as they felt all their hard word was destroyed. Then the characters from each element group recited a poem and gave 66

a solution of how we could live together with moderation. One of the major concerns of the group, and they were very vociferous about it, was that they did not want a sad ending. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And why should humans always be bad.â&#x20AC;? However, I had laid down a rule that the performance would not end with a moral telling us what we can or cannot do, like it usually happens. So we decided that rather than preaching we would give solutions in the end, thus ending the performance peacefully and harmoniously. They expressed concepts like freedom, anger, being caged and helplessness. For me it was not the outcome that was important but the little benefits that may have not manifested completely but were still brought out.

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Session: 19 We continued doing what we did in the previous session and kept building on the narrative while trying out new things. We tried out different sounds with the instruments and different materials to enhance movement and character. The kids became more accustomed to what we were doing and were getting ready for their presentation. We started putting up questions like what do you think your dream world will be like and asked them to make drawings. We noticed that their drawings became bigger and brighter and the strokes more confident. It was a small change but I was happy. We kept refining and made them write poems or just words to express, rather than full sentences and dialogues. Our workshops got interupted by a two week holiday due to the commonwealth games. We were very scared that when school reopen the kids would have forgotten everything. Much to my surprise they were very excited and energetic. 68

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Performance From the very beginning I kept telling everyone that what we were going to put up was not a play, but a performance. It would not be a finished piece but work-in-progress, a presentation of what the kids had done over the last three months. The school authorities were acting difficult as the kids had just come back after a two week holiday on account of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The school had their own annual day to practice for so the authorities were reluctant to give me the space and the time. But we had to put up a show otherwise the kids would have been extremely disappointed. We decided that we would ask for only 45 minutes and let the kids demonstrate what they had done. The school told us that we could only have class 3 and class 4 students in the audience since the other classes were involved with their rehearsals.

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Reflections: The children watching did not understand the performance and the narrative because they were very small and their attention span was very small. Also there were no dialogues to help them understand. How much ever I tried to avoid speaking, ultimately I had to come up and explain what we had done and what the outcome was. I told them about the various materials we had experimented with and outlined the process of how these kids had come up with this narrative. I also wanted to showcase the work of the children performing. I had put it all up as sets and backdrops for the performance, so that the other teachers and the rest of the children could see their work. I had also put up paper on stage for the kids to paint and draw on.

We also made them draw the basic story and make a story board. It was something completely new for them but they were extremely excited and came up with two basic frames that summed up the whole story. One in which all the elements and humans were living happily together and the second in which factories and buildings had come up. With time their drawings had become more confident and their colours brighter. By now the kids were not afraid. One of the biggest problems with the performance was that it was the first time the kids were on their own without any voice guidance that acted like a trigger to their actions and reactions. As a result they were a little lost on stage. There was also lack of enough practice. But it was a good show!

This whole concept and the process was new for the school. They were very used to making things look pretty and finished.

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VISUALISATIONS These drawings were a part of our workshop. Through these drawings the children expressed their veiws and imagination.

Visualisations

Some of the Visualisations of the Children. On the left are some drawings from their initial days of the workshop and the drawings on the right are from the latter days. With every drawing the kids did their fear and inhibitions went away.

Visualisations

One of the exercises I had given the kids to do was make a symbol for these elements.

Visualisations

PRODUCT My final outcome is a kit for parents and teachers to take these workshops forward and a game that the kids can play.

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User Research

I decided to give 10 parents and 10 teachers a questionnaire to gain insights about how children learn best and the differences in a child when he is playing as compared to when the child is in class. Their emphasis on independent creativity and thought. The questions were very open ended so that I could get a clear idea of the parents thought and the background of the child. The questions ranged from behaviours in school to the playground, What kind of games the child plays?, His learning and studying habits as compared to his playing habits. What kind of games does the child play? 82

The above image shows the various questionnaires that I gave to parents and teachers.

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Observation

The good deeds include: e.g: Played music on low volume. Collected rain water to wash your bicycle. Used slate and chalk to do home work. In the school there is something called the DR(Discovery room), Through this lab they try and do hands on learning and field trips. One of the games they play is A journey to green land. This game is very simple. It aims to teach the child good deeds and bad deeds about the environment. You start at the stalk of the leaf and as you go if you fall on a good deed square you go forward 2 steps and if you fall on a bad deed square you go back two steps. This game requires a dice and a counter for each player. 83

The bad deeds include: e.g: You threw left over food. You burnt garbage. Plucked flowers. Wrote your name on a monument. Threw stones at a stray dog.

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Concept Sketches

Concept 1: - Scenarios + flash cards (Game in a form of a book so that the child is free enough to choose their own location and as per location there will be activity cards.) - Interactive - The flash cards can either stand alone as activity cards or can go with the book. - Locations: Market place, classroom, bathroom, room, park, city. 84

- Each location will have a game within the bigger game. - Can be played individual or in a team with players. - Game directed through a mascot.

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Concept 3: - Story book plus activity. - Individual - Narrative about the subject with activities in it.

Concept 4: - Board game e.g: Life - 2-6 players, teams - starting line-finish line - Narrative. - Sequential with rules.

Concept 2: - Normal activity flash cards about the subject. (something like facts +activity cards) - portable and children can carry them everywhere. - a larger group can play. - Can be played with two or more people. 85

“Don’t make a board game for the children, it will be just another game. Look back at your workshops and see what works with he kids, identify that and then create the game. Out of these concepts I think flash cards is a good idea, its more personal and easier for the child to play with. It is also portable.” - Dharma Kanan

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Concept 5:

Challenges:

I identified what works for the children, PACE AND SCALE. - Making three large dice with cloth and each dice would have a theme and when thrown together the combination of the three would create the activity. - 3 dice, Activity cards and scenario chart. - The three themes chosen were action, theme and prop. - The scenario chart would decide where they would want to play this activity. Familiar surroundings of the child, bathroom, classroom, park.

- Too many nuances to the game. The scenario chart was not adding any significance. It was decorative piece. - Why 3 dice? - To come up with combinations for the three themes was not possible.

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Concept 6:

Challenges:

Modifying concept 5 and identifying challenges, - I decided to have one dice and each side of the dice would have a theme. ( Thing, word, act, where, story and tell) - Each theme would have 10 activity cards each, total 60 cards. - Each side would be colour coded to a side of the dice. - More themes and more activities. - I decided to do away with the scenario chart as it was getting confusing, and there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a point to it.

- Size and material of the dice. - Coming up with 6 themes and then 10 activities per theme. - Visual style of the cards and the dice. - Colour coded + picture or word or number. - Numbers seemed to be easier

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Ideation

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Game Iterations

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I experimented with a lot of sizes and materials and techniques for the dice. I first tried a 10”- 10” dice but it was getting too heavy to throw and catch. For the fillers I used pollyfill as it is extremely light. I also tried cotton but that too was becoming heavy. I then decided to make a 8”-8” dice with pollyfill. I tried two kinds of material for the dice. One was viscose velvet and the other one was more stiff which was cotton velvet. The Viscose velvet dice was very flimsy and the cotton velvet dice was not.

The above image is of a dice made up of viscose velvet. The letters are done in a technique called Appliqué.

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I also experimented with the graphics on top of the dice. I did two options one in starts and one in words for the game. In the viscose velvet material I tried two techniques with the graphics, appliquĂŠ and embroidery. Because the material was a little furry the embroidery was extremely untidy and was stretching the material thus making the dice loose its shape. AppliquĂŠ on the other hand was neater and worked well on both the viscose velvet and the cotton velvet. I decided to stick with AppliquĂŠ.

The above image is of a dice made up of viscose velvet. The letters are done in a technique called Embroidery

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Activity Cards There is a set of 60 cards that go together. Coming up with the visual language for the cards was tough. I had initially thought of putting the boy graphics in the colours of each theme in the front. But a friend of mine said “Its looking too branded. You have such nice illustration use those.” I couldn’t agree more. So I decided to pick 6 illustrations that go with the theme for the front. I kept the visual language of the kit because even though they are two different products they are from the same campaign EDUACTION.

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Manual Iterations

For my manual I looked at the work of Sarah Fanelli. I love her style and how she juxtaposes image and text and each spread looks dynamic and engaging. I wanted my manual to look like a journal. I started off with vector illustrations and pictures. The iteration above was not working. I decided to use illustrations and break out of my normal water colour feel and use colour pencils. The font was also not readable making the page cluttered. I decided to juxtapose vector illustrations, pictures and hand done illustrations together. I tried to make my manual fun and endearing

Sarah Fanelli 94

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Illustrations Mascot I chose to have a mascot for my manual to make it a little consistent. There was one boy in my class called Gaurav, who was extremely energetic and enthusiastic and took his exercises seriously. So when I was thinking who should tell the story Gaurav came to my mind and I took inspiration from him and made my mascot. Stylising and consistency was not a problem for me thanks to the pictorial story-telling course I took in srishti.

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The inside illustrations stemed from reflections and the discussions in the sessions. I took refrences of what the children said and incorporated it in my illustartaions. Some of them are even negative feelings of the child. Some of them are also what we did like building a city if boxes or making paper cranes. Illustrations was a better option to use than pictures. They were more dynamic and gave a fun feel to the manual.

Kids feeling like the a baloon and are flying, Feeling as light as a bubble. Feeling jared and caged due to the garbage and the pollution.

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Introduction Page, Blue Speech bubbles to mark the important things

Page Breakers, Colour coded to the Activity Chart 98

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Inside Pages, Activities in the yellow post-it and insights in vector illustrations

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T- shirts

EDUACTION

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Final Product My final product consists of a kit for parents and teacher, a manual as a guide to the workshops, two t-shirts, one for the parent and one for the child, 2 notepads, 4 badges and 5 postcards. A game which the child can play with his peers. It consists of a big dice with 6 themes and 60 activity cards.

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Conclusion Children are very impressionale and any teaching method which takes them through a process of experiencing the subject helps them retain better. They can then feel, sift, accept, discard and decide what the actual learning should be. With this comes a sense of ownership. They have a better understanding of the subject since the lesson is taught in their language using their words. Experiential teaching places more empasis on imagination and interpretation of the child rather than text book content and learning. It is a process to steer them into the right direction without becoming didactic. It discards teaching by rote and allows them to feel and know the subject. As a result they imbibe the whole lesson and not just mug it up to spew it out on their exam paper. The process is slow but very rewarding. This project is a small step towards making learning fun and meaningful for students both in and out of the classroom. The results could be seen in the wonderful performance put up by the students, depicting their thoughts and understanding of the subject.

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Acknowledgement Thank you: Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology Dharma Kanan, Ayisha Abrahams and Meena Vari Avy and Kumkum My Fellow classmates and dippers Bored Stiff productions Bluebells school, New Delhi Mrs Nimmi Pathak Beatrice Students of class 3C and 4D Maya Rao Vivek Mansukhani Varun Narain Mom, Dad and Tarini Aashish Suda Sunil Batra Kanika Sanjana Radha Saurabh Goyal Prime Papyrus Printers Thompson Press Kolor kode Print Xpress

EDUACTION is a project that experiments with experiential methodologies in education Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology 2010