Dear Chris,

I'm enjoying learning about your work and this
exchange !

You said in your next to last post:

"BUT!  As soon as they went back to their normal
design projects, they
went back to old habits, lost their will to experiment
and were
basically unable to transfer the qualities or
strategies they'd
acquired in my course to their other projects."

How familiar! This is truly the conundrum we face as
we try to impart the independent initiative,
open-mindedness, cognitive flexibility, situational
awareness, expressive capacity, technological
facility, high standards and values and humane
sensibility to our students through particular
projects, courses and experiences. It is the best
argument I know for trying to get closer to how the
mind works, and to adjust to the individual needs and
differences in our students. If students understand
how different ways of thinking respond to different
objectives during design and their own capacities
regarding them, then they should be able to break
through old habits (of mind.) But, habits of mind find
their roots in how prior experience is assimilated
into the knowledge base of the individual - to become
the background mediating their intention and
interpretation of the situations they address. Lawyers
and doctors have learned to turn case based learning
into a (more or less) creative way of thinking and
Schon has noted a useful dynamic in the reflective
thinking of practitioners. Schank has pointed out the
significant role of situationally anchored, easily
visualized "scripts" in how we recall and apply prior
knowledge in similar situations. Kolodner has also
studied case based reasoning applied to architectural
design and learning. Understanding how knowledge is
assimilated and recalled is crucial to our task. As
design educators we need to place more emphasis on how
we think and less on the form of the outcome (without
ignoring that of course.)

You also said:
"I think the most interesting observation was that the
imaginary
character acted as some kind of mediator or messenger
between their
world of association and the semi-real world of the
product. They were
able to mentally shift between the two."

At one time I taught an introductory studio in
architecture. I assigned my students the task of
designing a house (to the model stage) for a client of
their choosing, coaching them as they went. Typically
they chose their girl or boy friend, parents,
grandparents or some relative who actually wanted a
new house. The dialog as they questioned, explained
and developed their design was highly motivating,
challenging and educational. It also sharpened their
understanding of what they were learning and people
who cared about them understand the issues involved.
It also forced the students to deal with differences
in a creative yet diplomatic way. Actual clients were
also introduced in 3rd and 4th year level projects in
product design. My point is simply, that introducing
reality in the studio can also work as a powerful
learning incentive.

Keep up your good work.

Best regards,

Chuck

Dr. Charles Burnette
234 South Third Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: +215 629 1387
e-mail: [log in to unmask]