Connecting through t-shirts

 

First friends:

Juliet – Copenhagen, Denmark

Bram – Copenhagen, Denmark

Lene – Copenhagen, Denmark

Rodolfo – Mexico

Giorgio – Reunion Island

Berit – Copenhagen

Reka – Copenhagen

The MoHo Process Kit for the design of learning environments contains various tools and equipment that make it possible to design processes involving the users. In the kit you amongst others find; process plans which can be used as guides through the planning of the overall process, collection of examples, showing different ways to build processes, method cards with descriptions of various exercises and assignments and props, supporting the exercises. A summary of the kit contents can be viewed below.

Who is it addressed to?
MoHo Process Kit is designed for designers, teachers, schools and architects to focus on the interaction between learning environments and the pedagogical approach.

What is co-creative processes?
A process consists of a series of sequences that relate to each other and generates new knowledge along the way as the process unfolds. The more sequences, the more resources are required. The co-creative process is focused on creating as a team. The  focus on learning environments means that the participants get involved in the development of the physical environment, to improve the quality of the final solutions.

What is the purpose?
Involving users can produce outputs at two levels:

A) Ownership of the project.
B) Democratic processes where the context is a an fundamental parameter.

You can choose to focus more on one level than the other. you have to make sure that the users know the frame so they do not experience breach of trust during the process. If you choose to focus on B, where the users are involved in the development, you will normally embrace A as well. However, one should expect that this type of process is more resource intensive than the former.

When is it an advantage?
By involving the people using the space on a day-to-day basis it’s easier to focus on the interaction between the pedagogical approach and the physical environment and thereby qualify the design. You can work with co-creative processes when new schools are being designed, and old ones being renovated and upgraded. The framework focuses on enhancing the play between architecture and pedagogy and makes it clear to see how the co-creative process can be a part of a transformative process of change in which schools become wiser about their values and visions and what requirements it imposes on the learning environments.

How to design co-creative processes:
Processes can vary a lot, it all comes down to scope, duration and to what extent you wish it to effect the building. First you should carefully consider the goal of the process, and then decide what kind of involvement is optimal. You must also know what resources are available, then the process can be adapted accordingly. When the process is designed it is important to involve users only to the extent it is needed, this makes the process more targeted and overall more effective.

How to use the kit:
In the kit you will find different tools and props to help you get started with designing co-creative processes. It is important that you familiarize yourself with the materials and get your own experience. The various tools and props must be adapted to the process you decide to work with. It is important that you relate to the goal and the users. The answers you seek can be found in many different ways – just make sure to find a method that suits the targeted audience. Make sure to make your own reflections along the way, thus you can easily adjust the process next time you design a course.

From August 19th this team (including students of course) co-design a plan for a new area at the school. The project is especially focusing on the tweens (age 10-13), as there is a tendency that this group of children is less and less active.

106 school projects applied to participate in the first phase – 17 schools were selected. Skanderup-Hjarup Forbundsskole were one of them. By the 3rd of December all design teams handle in their project proposal – and at least five will be realized.

We of course hope to be one of the final projects, seeing that we work radically with the connection between the outdoor design and embodied learning. At the moment we are working on the final concept and in addition to the blueprints we are collecting material from the co-creative process and writing about it in a new book. (The first edition will be printed in Danish)

The initiative is funded by the Danish organizations: Realdania, Lokale og Anlægsfonden and Kræftens Bekæmpelse. You can read more at the website http://www.droen.dk/Pages/default.aspx (in Danish)

The course of the process of the Plan B School in Vejle took place over 4 days of workshops, where students developed new concepts of learning environments based on their own needs and experiences through their stay at Plan B.

The Plan B School was a training school that was designed to give young people from 4th – 9th Class tools to be included in the daily education at their respective schools. Common to all students who followed this 10-week course was that they are all functioning normally but need more stimulating teaching not only visually and aurally, but also bodily, tactile and through various forms of movement and variation.

It was very exciting to co-create with children from this school since they, through the course, is more aware of different learning styles and learning environments then most other students. Unfortunately, the Plan B School has been closed due to savings in Vejle municipality.

The course was conducted over a 3-week period in December 2011

KG as the school is called colloquially, is going through a process where they seek both new forms of teaching, new learning environments and to expand the school through adding a new section to their existing building.

Our role in this context was to get students and teachers involved. Over a period of two months a group of students and a group teacher explored and documented the existing framework. They presented their results at the annual board meeting conference. Based on these findings 60 students, teachers and directors developed visions for KG’s future educational approach and vision for the physical framework.

Alongside working with Copenhagen Open High School we collaborated with Peter Gatys Wahlberg, In_Situ architects, who has extensive experience in the development of schools. The next stage in the development of the add-on is to decide on the responsible architect and consulting engineer. The building, which includes a minimum of 4 new classrooms, it is expected to be completed in the autumn of 2013.

The project at the Glesborg Children Village served as a collaborative project where kids, parents, teachers, direction and other employees were involved in varying degrees.

Glesborg Children Village consists of several institutions (an elementary school, an after school and an preschool) located under one and the same roof. Glesborg city is located in a stunning natural area next to Kattegat, 12 km. north of Grenå on in the municipality of Norddjurs.

Our task in this collaboration was to rethink teaching methods at the school and find out how the physical environment could support a daily practice based on differentiated instruction. Like all other Danish municipalities Norddjurs has been through a period of austerity and decline in births. An attempt to save the education system in the municipality is to rethink the existing institutions and merge them, rather than to close schools in the small villages.

It was exciting to find out how co-creative methods could anchor processes of change through the physical presence created by student development and designing of new learning environments. To undergo a process of change is not something that happens overnight, it requires a long-term strategy that connects ideals with reality. The good intentions should therefore also work in practice.

At Glesborg Children Village we worked with a class of sixth graders through a sequence of 10 workshop days developing and realizing new learning environments, while we continually received inputs to the architectural redesign of the school. The feedback that we got from the students were very valuable since we as architects can’t put ourself into the role of the different users, but need to involve them as to gain knowledge about their patterns, needs and desires.

During the process, we continued developing the MoHo Process Kit, so to make it even sharper than the first edition, and of course adding quite a few methods.

The process at Glesborg Children Village lasted 2 months and the atmosphere that grew while the project was ongoing especially pleasantly surprised us. Not only was the project important for the parties involved, but other users were affected by the process as well. Children from other classes followed the projects while they were being realized, the janitor helped building, parents helped both to build and provide building materials and cleaning staff were project ambassadors at the school when the rest of us went home. Students who were very close to the project discovered skills they did not know they had and the self-confidence grew from workshop to workshop. For us in MoHo it was an amazing experience to be with and see how the people working on the project grew at a even a faster pace than the projects themselves.

To read more about the workshops please go to our blog. Here you will find posts describing the process of mapping for idea generation, realization and finally building. Look in the period between the 7th March and the second May 2012.

Download excerpt of the “Børnebyen Glesborg” report (Danish)

- School furniture for physical activity and learning

Educational research has in recent years focused on the fact that children learn better through the body, and if they are regularly physics active it will probably lead to better power of concentration. At the same time there is a group of students who are less physically active and therefore are at risk of developing lifestyle diseases. Finally, there is evidence that the reduced physical activity leads to increased incidence of musculoskeletal problems.

This leads to an increased awareness of physical activity and exercise and we encounter that the physical environment should promote physical movement during lessons. “The furniture” shape and location are key elements here.

The goal of the project is therefore:

1. To develop inspiring, movement friendly school furniture and furniture for physical activity, play and learning.
2. To adapt and develop the pedagogical practice in correlation with the new physical environment.
3. To test concepts and hereby uncover new knowledge about teaching with integrated physical activity, play and exercise.

The project is developed and tested in collaboration with four schools; Sjøllund Hejls, Lyshøj School, Kollerup School and Dragør North School in Denmark. The project is EU funded and MoHo has been working with the following partners during this project: Kolding municipality, SIS Functional Furniture, Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics – SDU and the Alexandra Institute.

The schools developed educational methods, you can find the  instruction movies and read more about the project here: iMoLearn.dk

For additional information check out the project description – kids’n’tweens

In the spring of 2012 MoHo participated in the development of a new piece of furniture for intermediate schools. The workshop resulted in a great span of ideas that resulted in iMoLearn, an artefact designed for active learning. MoHo’s role was to facilitate the 1st big workshop, and later on to be co-developers of the concept in collaboration with a wide range of partners, Spinderihallerne, Kolding Komune, SDU and Vanerum SIS, and to facilitate the internal development team.

The participatory workshop in Spinderihallerne in Vejle in January 2012 included 80 children aged 11-13 participated along with 20 teachers.