Encouraging creative risk to reduce risk to life explores how a collaborative, cross disciplinary... more Encouraging creative risk to reduce risk to life explores how a collaborative, cross disciplinary design research and teaching methodology can provide a platform for tackling projects in the complex industrial risk at sea scenario. Our research discusses the culture of design engaging with risk in the context of the wicked problems we identified, the methods and techniques used to tackle these challenges, how cross disciplinary projects can lead to novel insights, and how design education can be used to engage with industry and users to bridge the gap between technological innovation and user needs. The Royal College of Art funded by the Lloyds Register Foundation, working with a group of industry stakeholders, investigated two major areas of risk within the maritime context: Safe Sea Transfers from ship to ship, and making the Thames the safest city river by the year 2030. The contrasting questions of the deep, complex design issues in ship to ship transfers and the broad strategic future requirement for the River Thames in 2030 were explored using a range of approaches that encouraged collaboration, innovation and risk taking in design practice. Our conclusions support the view that an approach of increasing creative risk in education can provide insights into the use of design led innovation in order to reduce risk to life. Furthermore, we uncover the implications this has in terms of projects, disciplines and practices in the role of design thinking in general, and more specifically in the context of risk and safety at sea.
The purpose of Theatre of the Imagination® is to develop a methodology which helps creative devel... more The purpose of Theatre of the Imagination® is to develop a methodology which helps creative development through design and making in primary education. Objectives supporting this aim include: the development of personal agency through metacognition; the development of creative skills and ideas through practical workshops; and engagement with global learning goals through discussion and storytelling. A series of Constructivist Learning Design workshops have generated tentative findings that suggest design and making can help students to achieve these objectives. An analysis of qualitative data arising from the process of Participatory Action Research indicates that the global citizenship agenda, in tandem with design and making, helps to nurture empathy.
Theatre of the Imagination' aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative w... more Theatre of the Imagination' aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative way of thinking about the world while fostering independent learning skills in children. Signature pedagogies from art and design education help to build a learning culture that embraces the concept of childhood as a time of 'being and becoming'. The prototype toolkit sets out to explore the potential of making as a way of thinking in primary education through a constructionist ontology to demonstrate how sharing three dimensional artefacts can help cultivate mutual respect. Transition design thinking is introduced to foster a socially and culturally inclusive vision for the future through the application of the toolkit. Children and their teachers are encouraged to create interventions aimed at incremental change in the way we live in collaboration with others who live locally and those who live on other continents. The UN global goals framework is used to set up 'situations' worthy of debate at a time of social and environmental disruption. Insights emerging from 'Theatre of the Imagination' suggest new ways of exploiting the value of design and making in mainstream primary education at a time of impecunity. 'Making as thinking' provokes reflection and helps children and teachers to visualise ideas about how we may protect non-human and human life on earth.
International Journal of Art and Design Education, May 1, 2022
'Life Below Water' aims to establish how creative practice can provide an effective way to nurtur... more 'Life Below Water' aims to establish how creative practice can provide an effective way to nurture self-efficacy and self-regulation in primary education. A constructionist approach was developed to help children explore UN Global Goal 14, through drawing, prototyping and storytelling as collaborative activities. Working in duets and quartets, a group of eight Key Stage 2 children were set the task of 'inventing' sea creatures with magical healing powers. The children evaluated their progress through pre and post-workshop questionnaires, and through discussions with their peers, teachers and parents. Workshop outcomes illustrate how nurturing skills in making can help foster creative agency and metacognition. Cooperating as a design team encouraged symmetrical reciprocity, selfregulation and a 'care-full' approach to environmental protection. The study provides guiding knowledge for prospective developments, based upon tentative findings. The time required to assess the impact of 'Life Below Water' is extended to enable future research efforts, by teachers and practitioners, to inform context-specific interpretations through whole-class workshops and international exchanges.
This research was generously supported by a grant from the Lloyds Register Foundation Safe Ship T... more This research was generously supported by a grant from the Lloyds Register Foundation Safe Ship Transfers Grand Challenge 2016-17. Lloyd’s Register Foundation helps to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research.
'Blueprint Exchange' is the catalyst for a nascent network of children and teachers who are inter... more 'Blueprint Exchange' is the catalyst for a nascent network of children and teachers who are interested in sharing stories and artefacts, concerning the UN global goals, in order to foster critical thinking, creative skills and compassion. My research brings together Participatory Action Research and Constructivist Learning Design to help build personal agency and metacognitive skills. Learning methods transferred from art and design education are applied in primary schools through a series of practical workshops. The toolkit is adapted to whole-class practice by gifted primary school teachers in the UK and India. Children are encouraged to share lived experiences by articulating tacit knowledge through modelmaking and video production across geographic space. Transition Design provides a framework for social transformation by encouraging children to construct a vision of what might be possible in the future. 'Blueprint Exchange' workshops have produced compelling insights that suggest art and design in mainstream primary education has the potential to impact upon cognitive acceleration. Translocated Practice with India and Mexico sets out to build a creative toolkit for teachers and children across continents.
Theatre of the Imagination aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative wa... more Theatre of the Imagination aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative way of thinking about the world while fostering independent learning skills in children. Signature pedagogies from art and design education help to build a learning culture that embraces the concept of childhood as a time of being and becoming. The workshops set out to explore the potential of making as a way of thinking in primary education through a constructionist epistemology, which demonstrates how sharing three-dimensional artefacts can help cultivate mutual respect. Transition design thinking is introduced to foster a socially and culturally inclusive vision for the future. Children and their teachers are encouraged to undertake interventions aimed at incremental change in the way we collaborate with others who live locally and with those who live on other continents. The UN global goals for sustainable development framework is used to set up situations worthy of debate at a time of...
The purpose of Theatre of the Imagination® is to develop a methodology which helps creative devel... more The purpose of Theatre of the Imagination® is to develop a methodology which helps creative development through design and making in primary education. Objectives supporting this aim include: the development of personal agency through metacognition; the development of creative skills and ideas through practical workshops; and engagement with global learning goals through discussion and storytelling. A series of Constructivist Learning Design workshops have generated tentative findings that suggest design and making can help students to achieve these objectives. An analysis of qualitative data arising from the process of Participatory Action Research indicates that the global citizenship agenda, in tandem with design and making, helps to nurture empathy.
Encouraging creative risk to reduce risk to life explores how a collaborative, cross disciplinary... more Encouraging creative risk to reduce risk to life explores how a collaborative, cross disciplinary design research and teaching methodology can provide a platform for tackling projects in the complex industrial risk at sea scenario. Our research discusses the culture of design engaging with risk in the context of the wicked problems we identified, the methods and techniques used to tackle these challenges, how cross disciplinary projects can lead to novel insights, and how design education can be used to engage with industry and users to bridge the gap between technological innovation and user needs. The Royal College of Art funded by the Lloyds Register Foundation, working with a group of industry stakeholders, investigated two major areas of risk within the maritime context: Safe Sea Transfers from ship to ship, and making the Thames the safest city river by the year 2030. The contrasting questions of the deep, complex design issues in ship to ship transfers and the broad strategic future requirement for the River Thames in 2030 were explored using a range of approaches that encouraged collaboration, innovation and risk taking in design practice. Our conclusions support the view that an approach of increasing creative risk in education can provide insights into the use of design led innovation in order to reduce risk to life. Furthermore, we uncover the implications this has in terms of projects, disciplines and practices in the role of design thinking in general, and more specifically in the context of risk and safety at sea.
The purpose of Theatre of the Imagination® is to develop a methodology which helps creative devel... more The purpose of Theatre of the Imagination® is to develop a methodology which helps creative development through design and making in primary education. Objectives supporting this aim include: the development of personal agency through metacognition; the development of creative skills and ideas through practical workshops; and engagement with global learning goals through discussion and storytelling. A series of Constructivist Learning Design workshops have generated tentative findings that suggest design and making can help students to achieve these objectives. An analysis of qualitative data arising from the process of Participatory Action Research indicates that the global citizenship agenda, in tandem with design and making, helps to nurture empathy.
Theatre of the Imagination' aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative w... more Theatre of the Imagination' aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative way of thinking about the world while fostering independent learning skills in children. Signature pedagogies from art and design education help to build a learning culture that embraces the concept of childhood as a time of 'being and becoming'. The prototype toolkit sets out to explore the potential of making as a way of thinking in primary education through a constructionist ontology to demonstrate how sharing three dimensional artefacts can help cultivate mutual respect. Transition design thinking is introduced to foster a socially and culturally inclusive vision for the future through the application of the toolkit. Children and their teachers are encouraged to create interventions aimed at incremental change in the way we live in collaboration with others who live locally and those who live on other continents. The UN global goals framework is used to set up 'situations' worthy of debate at a time of social and environmental disruption. Insights emerging from 'Theatre of the Imagination' suggest new ways of exploiting the value of design and making in mainstream primary education at a time of impecunity. 'Making as thinking' provokes reflection and helps children and teachers to visualise ideas about how we may protect non-human and human life on earth.
International Journal of Art and Design Education, May 1, 2022
'Life Below Water' aims to establish how creative practice can provide an effective way to nurtur... more 'Life Below Water' aims to establish how creative practice can provide an effective way to nurture self-efficacy and self-regulation in primary education. A constructionist approach was developed to help children explore UN Global Goal 14, through drawing, prototyping and storytelling as collaborative activities. Working in duets and quartets, a group of eight Key Stage 2 children were set the task of 'inventing' sea creatures with magical healing powers. The children evaluated their progress through pre and post-workshop questionnaires, and through discussions with their peers, teachers and parents. Workshop outcomes illustrate how nurturing skills in making can help foster creative agency and metacognition. Cooperating as a design team encouraged symmetrical reciprocity, selfregulation and a 'care-full' approach to environmental protection. The study provides guiding knowledge for prospective developments, based upon tentative findings. The time required to assess the impact of 'Life Below Water' is extended to enable future research efforts, by teachers and practitioners, to inform context-specific interpretations through whole-class workshops and international exchanges.
This research was generously supported by a grant from the Lloyds Register Foundation Safe Ship T... more This research was generously supported by a grant from the Lloyds Register Foundation Safe Ship Transfers Grand Challenge 2016-17. Lloyd’s Register Foundation helps to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research.
'Blueprint Exchange' is the catalyst for a nascent network of children and teachers who are inter... more 'Blueprint Exchange' is the catalyst for a nascent network of children and teachers who are interested in sharing stories and artefacts, concerning the UN global goals, in order to foster critical thinking, creative skills and compassion. My research brings together Participatory Action Research and Constructivist Learning Design to help build personal agency and metacognitive skills. Learning methods transferred from art and design education are applied in primary schools through a series of practical workshops. The toolkit is adapted to whole-class practice by gifted primary school teachers in the UK and India. Children are encouraged to share lived experiences by articulating tacit knowledge through modelmaking and video production across geographic space. Transition Design provides a framework for social transformation by encouraging children to construct a vision of what might be possible in the future. 'Blueprint Exchange' workshops have produced compelling insights that suggest art and design in mainstream primary education has the potential to impact upon cognitive acceleration. Translocated Practice with India and Mexico sets out to build a creative toolkit for teachers and children across continents.
Theatre of the Imagination aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative wa... more Theatre of the Imagination aims to demonstrate that making artefacts provokes a transformative way of thinking about the world while fostering independent learning skills in children. Signature pedagogies from art and design education help to build a learning culture that embraces the concept of childhood as a time of being and becoming. The workshops set out to explore the potential of making as a way of thinking in primary education through a constructionist epistemology, which demonstrates how sharing three-dimensional artefacts can help cultivate mutual respect. Transition design thinking is introduced to foster a socially and culturally inclusive vision for the future. Children and their teachers are encouraged to undertake interventions aimed at incremental change in the way we collaborate with others who live locally and with those who live on other continents. The UN global goals for sustainable development framework is used to set up situations worthy of debate at a time of...
The purpose of Theatre of the Imagination® is to develop a methodology which helps creative devel... more The purpose of Theatre of the Imagination® is to develop a methodology which helps creative development through design and making in primary education. Objectives supporting this aim include: the development of personal agency through metacognition; the development of creative skills and ideas through practical workshops; and engagement with global learning goals through discussion and storytelling. A series of Constructivist Learning Design workshops have generated tentative findings that suggest design and making can help students to achieve these objectives. An analysis of qualitative data arising from the process of Participatory Action Research indicates that the global citizenship agenda, in tandem with design and making, helps to nurture empathy.
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Papers by Robert Pulley