Gemma Aylward
BA(Hons) Illustration 2017 BA3a: Research and Development Unit Summary This unit has brought me a lot to think over in terms of my practice and the direction I want to take it. I’ve struggled a lot more with developing my practice compared to developing my research report, which I did not expect, however the research report has been a major help for me to discover children’s needs in relation of child development through play. My findings from the report have fed into my thoughts process when I’m tackling idea possibilities for my practice. The publish event was also a defining point in this unit, mainly because it was the only practice I did other than research, but I got to feel what it’s like to work collaboratively again since BA2b, and I’m coming to realise how important it is towards my approach in creating in my practice. With writing the research report, it was very useful to have the reader group seminars because it allowed me to organise the steps leading up to submission. I find it easier explaining my ideas verbally and within a discussion, rather than through writing, because by saying it aloud, I can coherently explain my ideas. The initial ‘Share’ presentation task allowed me to do this and share my ideas for the first time in the unit after researching over the summer. As I had to address my ideas to others on the course, it forced me to collate my ideas for the first time which I discovered as a good first step into how to go about the report’s style and structure. The draft session was also a good opportunity to write down the initial 2,000 words of the report. If I didn’t have these sessions to motivate me, I feel that I would have left the draft even longer to make a start on. Having that 2,000-word draft gave me good taste of what the report would become, and I’m glad I had these sessions to organise my time without leaving the report to a last minute worry. I can’t appreciate these session’s timing across the unit more than I possibly do and I want to take this careful planning for specific writings and projects into the future with me. Gathering research for my practice has caused me a lot of strain on my mind as to how I want to take my career further. I’ve been sceptical the majority of the unit of how can I create work. I had come to university with the prospects of becoming a visual development artist, however after my extensive research, I’ve become more interested in getting interactive and engaging with public, primarily children aged between 5 and 7. The more I’ve researched for my practice, the more I get excited about the possibilities of becoming a designer for playgrounds/play spaces. Two pieces of research that I have a strong feeling for are the Reggio Emilia approach to child development and The Playground Project (2016) book. The two combine my love for how an environment can be interactive, fun and a learning tool for children and I believe that I will refer to them for a long time in the future. Being doubtful on my practice has hindered my progress, because I hadn’t made a specific decision on a context as to why I want to create a space for children and in what cause to do so. I still feel to date that I haven’t made this specific decision. I’ve spent the last part of the unit worried about the lack of producing creative work, in relevance to my individual project, because of this daunting decision of choosing a specific context. In order for me to continue my progress into BA3b, I really do need to select a context immediately, otherwise I will continue to struggle as I already have. As I struggled with a context for my practice, I do consider that the research I had done played an important role in the project task ‘Publish’. I got the opportunity to work in a collaboration again towards an interactive event. When I felt that I wasn’t contributing enough of my time towards the task, I took my own initiative to experiment with my skills to produce designs for the display. Despite feeling that the designs of a poster and a 3D set-up weren’t that useful towards the event itself, they played a significant role in improving my digital skills that I wanted to experiment with based upon my practice research if I were to take the responsibility of a play space designer. Working in a collaborative setting has now started to become an easily approachable task for me, because of doing many beforehand in second year has taught me what to expect. It also feels that way because I technically had been in collaboration with these people throughout the term, exchanging each other’s ideas for critique and improvement upon our research. The event being spread over the two days was very useful as well as a tool for a practice run. By evaluating Thursday’s event, we were able to produce a more fun and engaging experience the following day for the participants based on the different reactions I saw throughout the experience. Overall this unit has taught me where my passion lies within the creative industry, and I believe that is designing space for children to inhabit for their heart’s desire to explore and discover new possibilities. When I’m contemplating how to make possible work, I’m considering the effects and benefits it may have on the children, in order to ensure I’ll be creating work that’s effective. What I’ve learnt though from my experience with the publish event is it may need a trial run in order to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. My next steps from BA3a I believe are to distinguish my context, and to develop skills required for the playground design industry. Creative/PracticeWhilst speaking with Hannah, I came to a conclusion that an ideal workshop would be to use collage materials in order to ensure that each child would not feel that their drawing skills aren't good enough to create a book cover illustration.
Based on the timetable I was shown, it appeared that they would be in a creative writing workshop beforehand, therefore I suggested that I could allow the children the option of designing a cover for their previous story or I could offer prompts for those that wish to not illustrate their story. As the event is about literature throughout the city, hence the locations of the Castle, Forum and UEA, I thought about bringing along books, from the Millenium Library in the Forum, for inspiration. May even do a 5 minute introduction where a child would choose a book and decipher the target audience to get them thinking about why they choose a particular audience and how they can achieve the same for their book cover illustrations. Hannah seemed pleased with my ideas and we're looking forward to the event. Practice ResearchSimple 'pizza' making for everyone. Euan instantly took up the role as 'Chef' and we became his 'assistants'. As soon as he felt like he was chef, his leadership skills kicked in. He chose how much ham slices were on each pizza and distributed the cheese and tomato how he wanted it. He'd check on us 'assistants' to make sure we were watching the timer on the ovens so that the pizza would not burn.
He ended being 'chef' whilst tucking into his home-made pizza and made the statement 'If I worked at Dominoes, this is how I'd make the pizza.'. Based on the documentary Secret Life of 4,5,6 year olds, the experts noted that when children enter role-play, it can be them playing out being an adult, which I'm seeing first hand here when Euan became a 'Chef'. He started to talk about how he's imagining himself in the future having a career as a chef for dominoes and stating that this was how he'll make the pizza's. Euan here is 7 years old, a little older than the documentary participants but he's making the same motives of consideration about his adulthood. Creative/PracticePlan 12:30 Introduction to the Workshop Show examples from Library 12:35 hand out slips for those interested in designing without their previous creative story. Genre- Choose 2 random (combine them or work with either one) Gender- Choose 1 random Age Group – Choose 1 random Title – Specifically choose 1 12:40 Begin making small and quick thumbnails 12:50 – 13:00 Start designing their main design 1:25 Finish off their designs 1:30 Finish I was glad that all of the participants took part in the workshop. I ensured that I helped all of them, including the ones who seemed to be struggling. There were even two who decided to work together and they felt more confident in talking with each other about how to design the page, which is a great sign of learning collaboration. Not all managed to finish the covers during the time slot however some wanted to continue working on them once they were home. The fact that each participant got involved and were getting creative with their designs and explaining to me about why they chose certain aspects for their narrative, I felt that my workshop ended on a successful note as they were taking in considerations about their designs. I'm so pleased with the feedback that I received from the day. It gave me assurance and confidence that I made the right options for the workshop and hopefully encouraged the creativity of the children who took part.
Practice ResearchPUPILS are set to ditch the classroom to build with brightly-coloured bricks after the launch of an innovative Lego room at a Clacton school. Lambert, D. (2016) PICTURES: Innovative Lego room set up to inspire students. Available at: <http://www.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/news/14590998.PICTURES__Innovative_Lego_room_set_up_to_inspire_students/> (Accessed: 25 July 2016). Lego keeps appearing throughout my research on play in child development. Now my previous school is adapting to include lego into its curriculum to promote creativity within learning, they're subconciously using problem solving to learn how to fulfill the challenges set before them. I think why Lego is so useful for this method is because they're very basic, which allows innovation to take place to convert these seperated little bricks to inhibit something entirely new and unique.
Practice ResearchIntroducing Project Bloks
https://projectbloks.withgoogle.com
Inspired by the idea of the use of Lego to help children learn, I discovered ProjectBloks by Google to simplify coding to a childs understanding. I agree with their statement that children learn through '...experiences that are playful, tactile and collaborative.' because not only does it improve their motor skills but it's also a very memorable way of learning through kinesthetic and tactile handling.
Interaction is important to my design for projects. I like to have the audience use my work as it feels that I've been able to convey a useful piece that is of either help or enjoyment to someone, and thats when I feel accomplished. Practice ResearchWeller, C. (2016) There are no classrooms at this Swedish elementary school. Available at: <http://www.thisisinsider.com/swedish-school-teaches-kids-on-mountains-2016-7> (Accessed: 25 July 2016). At the bilingual Vittra Telefonplan school, which opened near Stockholm in 2012, there are no classrooms. Instead, Danish designer Rosan Bosch created a colorful open floor plan where kids can scale a mountain, duck into a cave, and chat by the tree. From my research for my report I've discovered that Scandinavian schooling system differs from the British's. I found this Swedish school's environment designed by a Dane inspiring because it was an adaptable space for what the child wished it for. I feel that I can relate to the space because compared to our studio space at University, they feed the same concept. There's room for adaption and inhibiting a creative space. I like this concept because it allows the child to take control of how they want to learn. I can also see they have accessibility to laptops which allows free-roam to choose the location of the learning.
I'd love to be able to create a piece that allows a child to take control of how to learn from it because I feel its important to allow a child to take control as it gives them the chance to use their independance and learn through interaction. Practice Research
I came across this clip of a reality board game possibility design by Koski. I thought it was a good balance of the idea of creating an interactive physical game using new technology that inhibits a digital space. The digital age is now upon us and I think it's important that children recieve a balance of discovering about the world physically and digitally in order to progress alongside the world as it, itself, develops too. Incorporating an interactive digital element into my practice may also be something to look into.
Practice ResearchWhilst at work I met a mother and her daughter who attended a forest school. The short encounter gave me a taste as to what they do at the school. The little girl told me that she climbs tree's, she had made a fairy house out of wood as well as a beetle hotel. The mother said its all outside apart from a teepee which they can use whenever and her daughter loves it there. The mother also stated she favoured her choice of allowing her daughter to attend the forest school instead of a regular nursery and is keeping her on for an extra year instead of the first year (nursery) of school.
This was a good experience as I got to personally ask questions to a mother and daughter who attend a Forest school which is adapted from the Scandinavian schooling system. They use the environment to its fullest advantage to teach the children through playing with it. I'm starting to find that the environment may play a very important factor to how it can affect a way a child may learn. The idea of creating a space that allows a child to benefit from it most efficiently appeals to me as a way of developing what my practice may be. I want to create work that benefits children and the environment keeps appearing as a very important role in this. Practice Research
I receive regular updates from this instagram account on my feed with new ways to promote educational play for a dad and his two sons. He shares what tools he uses and explains how this is helping his sons learn about the world in a fun, imaginative way.
As I've seen alot about the environments role in child development, I thought to look into tools as well. I discovered this instagram account of a father and his sons as they learn about the world through tools / toys. This type of learning is through kinesthetic and tactile learning which I've mentioned before to be a memorable way of learning new things. This account is useful because it shows me what toys are out there and what it is that they're providing for the child's development. Hopefully through this feed I may come across something for inspiration in terms of toys/tools.
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