Duration: 3 hours

Time: 10am - 1pm

Location: SAT

Facilitators: Priyanka, Sahil, Anam, Laura, Lizzie, Jess, Miley

Attendance Sheet

Waiver form - to be updated to include permission for trip / exhibit their work at the triennial (TBD)

Over the next 5 sessions this classroom is going to become research studio, and all our research will be pinned up on the walls and displayed on the tables so that our memory stays fresh. All this knowledge will help us create a brief for our design project.
Todays session objectives are to set the stage for the idea that children are experts alongside designers. To demonstrate that children’s lived experience as essential to co-creation. They have lived experience, interests and skills that others in the room don’t have. This has the potential to benefit the design. So…they are experts too!

You will need:

For Warm up:

A page to add to their journal
Post-its

For Main Activity:

Add on pages to their journals.
Larger sheets if needed (butcher paper? or white paper rolls)
A4 or A3 paper for drawing a memory map
Stationery: pens, paint, pencil, eraser, paint, paintbrushes
Printouts of photos of familiar / beloved places in SHJ - A3 (Al Hamza Beach, Sharjah Desert Park, Zoo, SAT: Al Qasimiyah school, Sharjah Mega Mall
Al Mahatta Park,Al Heera beach) you could print it at reduced opacity so that it’s easy for kids to draw on, or put a tracing paper on top)
Tracing paper
Digital or physical countdown timer (so all can see)

Class setup

One large table would be ideal as there will be a lot of discussion.

Settling in..

Each student will have a customizable journal set out at their tables for them to look through.

Program Summary Presentation (10 mins)

Community agreements: 15 mins

We are now a learning community. What kind of a learning environment do we want to create together?

Use sentence stems to prompt students to think further: “In this room I want to feel…say it out loud. If kids are still stuck add an example like ‘safe enough to have bad ideas." Then ask - how can we accomplish that?

Discuss how we will all behave in this learning space and write it on post-its on the wall.

Warm up: 15 mins

Take a 5 minutes to fill this out on your own. (some facilitators can also fill this out and join, too)
Go around in a circle and share your strengths.
Then ask the group: 'Now that we've heard everyone's strengths and expertise, what's special about our team?
Optional: You can even write this on post-it’s and pin up so there’s a reminder to the class.

Memory mapping exercise: 15 mins

Draw:

In your day-to-day routine, draw a map of your life and include the places you love going.

Memory maps like this don’t need to be accurate, and can be a mix of drawings and words. You can even include sounds and smells!

Sentence stem: You can start by drawing a symbol for a place you love going to on the page first.. the add other locations

Below are some examples of maps drawn by adults and children that documented their world during the COVID pandemic.

Break

Space analysis marathon: 30-45 mins.

Print these images (places in SHJ that kids have been to and commonly like) on a3 and hang along the wall, ideally backed by large white paper so there is room around to scribble.

One child draws on the page for 3 mins, then moves onto the next image. Students move in rotation:

For each photo, ask:

What do you like?
What do you not like?
What would you change?
What would you add?
What are some structures that would benefit children that should be in this space?