Breaking MindFrames
*
CHILDREN DESIGNERS FOR THE RIGHTS OF
* By Margrét Pála Ólafsdóttir, inventor of the Hjalli Model
BREAKING MINDFRAMES Designers for the Rights of Children
TOGETHER | repair | MHV1011OEI | ALL200-06H | design team
Mentors
Birna Geirfinnsdóttir Massimo Santanicchia
Facilitator
Arite Fricke
Students
Andres Eduardo Pelaez Palencia Ásrún Ágústsdóttir Elsa Vestmann Kjartansdóttir Corto Arcadio Jabali Halldóra Sif Guðlaugsdóttir Oona Sundell
Local Agents
Margrét Pála Ólafsdóttir – Founder and Manager of Hjallastefnan ehf. Matthías Matthíasson – Psychologist at Hjallastefnan ehf. Helena Aspelund Hansdóttir – Teacher, Artist and Manager of Týs Gallery and Helena Travel Iceland Erna Reynisdóttir –General Manager of Barnaheill – Save the Children Iceland Margrét Júlía Rafnsdóttir – Project Manager of Barnaheill – Save the Children Iceland Maríanna Þórdardóttir – Supervising Teacher 3rd class MÞ – Austurbæjarskóli – Elementary School
Website
http://cargocollective.com/together2014/ Breaking-Mindframes
f ChilDren o s t h ig r e h t r o f s r e Design
or of the Hjalli Model * By Margré t Pála Ólafsd óttir, Invent
Arite Fricke
Facilitator
Students
Corto Arcadio Jabali, Ásrún Ágústsdóttir, Oona Sundell, Elsa Vestmann Kjartansdóttir, Palencia Pelaez Eduardo Andres sdóttir, Guðlaug Sif Halldóra of Hjallstefnan ehf – hjalli.is/information/ Local Agents Margrét Pála Ólafsdóttir – Founder and Manager ehf – hjalli.is/information/ an Hjallstefn at gist Matthías Mathhíasson – Psycholo of Týs Gallery and Helena Travel Iceland Helena Aspelund Hansdóttir – Teacher, Artist and Manager Children Iceland the Save – ill Barnahe of Manager General – ttir Erna Reynisdó Save the Children Iceland Margrét Júlía Rafnsdóttir – Project Manager of Barnaheill – rd Austurbæjarskóli – Elementary School Maríanna Þórdardóttir – Supervising Teacher 3 class MÞ –
Birna Geirfinnsdóttir and Massimo Santanicchia
Mentors
TOGETHER | REPAIR · MHV1011OEI · ALL200-06H · design team
ther2014 9th of May 2014 cargocollec tive.com/toge
BRe AkinG MindfR AMes PROjec t develOPMe nt the 3rd – April the 9th , 2014 Course MHV 10110 Design Team II, 2014-1 | Week 10 – 19 | March
th th Week 15, April 7 – 11 :
rd rd Week 10-12 , March 3 – 23 :
Facilitator and mentors develop the project idea. The initial briefing on our Cargo collective website becomes the basis for our work the following 7 weeks. Oran ge task: makin g of a 66 secon d movie tease r, which captu res the socia l issue we are dealin g with. We use the foota ge to redesign our poste r.
th th Week 13, March 24 – 28 :
th th Week 16, April 14 – 18 :
First group meeting. Discussing, exchanging ideas and experiences. Meetings with local agent Margrét J. Rafnsdóttir at Barnaheill – Save the Children Iceland and the artist, teacher and manager Helena Hansdóttir.
Easter break: we have an openended material workshop in our school where we make objects from different natural or recycled materials.
nd th Week 18, April 28 – May 2 :
Blue task: we design an object that represents the ethos of our initiative. The construction is a larger version of the kite we designed and which is used as a guideline for our workshop rd on May 2nd with 20 3 grade students (8-9 years of age). The workshop follows 3 key steps: education - creative work - playtime.
th nd Week 19, May the 2 – 9 :
Green task: final presentation of a movie, the object and a booklet including our poster, a 500-word summary of our project and a complementary illustration of our design th th Week 17, April 21 – 25 :
th Week 14, March 31 – April 4 : th
Red task: design of a poster. Meeting with local agents Margrét Ólafsdóttir and Matthías Matthíasson from Hjallastefnan ehf. We are fascinated by the possibilities and benefits of the usage of open ended material when working with children. We agreed on organizing special tailored workshops for children with recycled and open ended material.
Our solution: “Kite Factory” in the public elementary school Austurbæjarskóli, within the regular teaching schedule. We meet our agent Maríanna Þórdardóttir and experiment with kite designs and materials. We hold a trial workshop with rd two 8-years old boys from a 3 grade class as shown in a movie on our Cargo collective site.
process.
WhAt is nex t? We will organize a secon d work shop with anoth er class of 3rd grade stude nts in the same schoo l. Furth ermo re, it will be imple mented to a summ er party in schoo l were stude nts and parents participate . For the future, we are going to develop other ideas for work shops.
BREAKING MINDFRAMES Designers for the Rights of Children Iceland is known around the world for its high level of wellbeing and access to education.1 However, after contacting our local agents from organizations whose main object is developing children’s well-being, such as Barnaheill Save the Children Iceland; Hjallastefnan pedagogical model and the public elementary school Austurbæjarskóli, we became aware of the struggle that families are facing in the aftermath of the economic crisis of 2008, emphasizing on the fact that many children live in danger of becoming socially isolated and having difficulties in developing their talents and interests, thus resulting in a weak self-esteem. Taking the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children2 as our starting point, we developed a discourse that focuses on the right for every child to have access to an education that develops their abilities in discipline, but that also develops their personality, potential and self-esteem. We began this initiative as designers for the Rights of Children. Our ideology stands on the fact that change is possible through the power of creative thinking. Our outreach concept aims to tackle social isolation through interaction and implementation of new ways for children to develop a creative “self”, to cultivate imagination through playtime activities that trigger children’s instinctive ability for creative thinking within their environment. Our purpose is to empower children by means of exposing them to their own creative potential and social abilities so that they become agents of positive change as the future of this society. According to the philosophy of the Hjalli pedagogical model which was developed by our local agent Margrét Pála Ólafsdóttir, founder and manager of the organization Hjallastefnan ehf, we “broke” our own mind frames regarding upbringing of children in a consumerist society, which diminishes creativity and imaginativeness, hence the ability to actively influence and design an own personal way of life. Also, we learned from Margrét Pála about the benefits of using open-ended natural or recycled material when working with children. After experimenting with different materials and techniques we decided to organize a kite-building workshop that combined education, creative work and playtime. The activity took place May the 2nd, 2014 in the public elementary school Austurbæjarskóli located in the multicultural environment of downtown 101 Reykjavik with a group of 3rd grade students between 8-9 years of age. In going directly to the children we made sure nobody was excluded from our social approach. We tailored the activity to the children’s age and prepared tools and materials to create a safe and equal working environment. Divided into five smaller groups guided by one of us, the 20 children learned during 2 hours how to construct the kite following our guidelines and then added colorful decorations that ignited their creativity. Finally they had the opportunity to fly the kites and share the experience with each other. Subsequently, each child will be able to pass the learned skills onto others, making our initiative sustainable. In the future, designers for the rights of children will become an inherent part of the educational system, organizing similar workshops to expose children to activities that awake their interests, bring their talents to shine and therefore strengthen their self-esteem. This actively supports the ethos of our initiative, to gradually break current social mind frames and empower children with the self-esteem and strength to create a better future.
“OECD Better Life Index – Iceland”, OECD, date of last modification unknown, accessed April the10th, 2014, http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/iceland/. 1
“Convention on the Rights of Children”, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, date of last modification unknown, accessed April the 5th, 2014, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx.
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