Curriculum, learning and teaching
A space for creativity and innovation Ruwan Batarseh explains how her school is promoting ‘maker education’ With the emerging interest in ‘maker education’, Design as a subject is becoming an essential in schools. Maker education is ‘an education approach that positions the student as an innovator with the responsibility to find solutions to relevant problems’ (Wiebusch 2016). Making can contribute to empowering learners and developing a greater sense of possibilities to engage and shape their future (Agency By Design 2015). Jankowska & Atlay (2008) highlight the positive effects on student engagement that can be fostered by creative learning spaces such as ‘makerspaces’ or ‘fab labs’. Locally to Amman Baccalaureate School, Jordan (where I teach), Amman has witnessed a design movement integrated in many fields and manifested in youth design events such as the annual Amman Design Week. In the past few years the design professions have been taking key roles in developing the local community and forging the professional future for our students. Amman Baccalaureate School (ABS) offers Design Technology (DT) in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) as a Group 4 science subject, and Design as a Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) subject. Until recently the ABS Design Technology department included a traditional wood workshop, electronics laboratory, computer lab and classrooms. Although the space was confining in many ways, four years ago Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) was introduced, incorporating Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines and three dimensional (3D) printing into the creation of products. As CAM coupled with the development of Computer Aided Design (CAD) to aid design and modelling, the department leapt to a new level by offering a variety of technologies. Students were able to reach new depths in understanding the design process and applying the design cycle to innovate and create solutions for problems or respond to the needs of users. Winter
Summer |
| 2018
In 2017 a decision was made to renovate the space and provide students with an environment that promotes creativity and welcomes innovation. An architectural design approach of an industrial learning space was adopted that offers openness and transparency. The final design represents a design hub which students can utilise during formal lessons and in other informal sessions of designing and making. An inner foyer includes informal seating areas, laptop charging station, and space to display students’ final products with a digital display screen to present past projects and elements of the design process. This foyer is visually open to the rest of the facilities in the centre and provides access to the classrooms, workshop, computer lab, staff room and electronics lab. The transparency within and between the spaces allows for visual continuity of the space and keeps all learning activities visible to students and visitors of the location, provoking curiosity and adding interest to the centre. A grade 12 student who has studied DT for the last six years adds: ‘I think the new DT department gives off an industrial design feel from the way the interiors are designed, which helps put students in the contexts of the subject being taught. As for the facilities, they are high technological advancements that are usually not offered in schools and they have definitely helped students create their products and understand the way they function, as it is required for us to understand them (being a part of the DT syllabus). Finally, the students’ safety is majorly considered; there are bigger and safer spaces for movement in the renovated Innovation and Design Centre’. The first exhibition in the newly renovated Innovation and Design Centre (IDC) focused on the final design project for the Year 2 (grade 12) Design Technology IBDP students. The
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