Dear All
Very interesting observations.
I have to say, personally, I'm intrigued
with some habilities observed in children behaviour, mainly on the "natural"
capacity and speed of learning.
I'm PhD researcher in MediaArts and Design at University of Plymouth, UK
researching cognitive dissonance in mental models in Design of interaction,
but actually what had intrigued me is observe my two daughters (respectively
10 and 11 years)
studying and living in UK (during my PhD).
They can learn english more quickly and efficient than me and my wife
and mainly, when they are playing Playstation 3, they navigate extremely
faster in some menus and submenus to choose their options, build some models
and scenes
using tools similar to CAD, combine colors, etc (despite I have worked with
graphic design for more than 12 years).
I taught them to do everything in Playstation and computers, etc..
but after a while, I can observe that gradually they are much more competent
than me
in some many aspects.
Maybe, various aspects of this kind of "intuitive learning" can disappear,
cause after a while, Their minds become mechanized by the consistency of
patterns that
our (digital) culture imposes us in different ways, directing our lives.
How is it possible to preserve the intuitive ability in children
powerful intriguing but at the same time innocent?
Sincere apologies for any errors of English.
Best
--
Marcio Rocha
Transtechnology Research
University of Plymouth, UK
http://trans-techresearch.net/researchers/marcio-rocha
+0 7553 614185
Federal University of Brazil
Visual Arts Faculty
Graphic design Department
www.fav.ufg.br
www.ufg.br
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 6:36 AM, Ranjan MP <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Keith
>
> Wonderful observations. I have always been fascinated while watching
> children play and Lego has been an all time favorite for me. I did set an
> assignment for my class in furniture design many years ago where the
> students analysed Lego from the systems prespective to appreciate the many
> levels at which they work. I am sorry to see that Lego is loosing market
> share and have had to discontinue the large quatro blocks. When Lego
> crossed
> their 50th year in January 2008 I had posted on my blog "Design for India",
> a note on my thoughts and insights from Lego and the way we had used it for
> design education assignments here in India.
> <
>
> http://design-for-india.blogspot.com/2008/01/lego-toy-for-all-ages-can-it-be.html
> >
>
> The second part of your observation is on how human children seem to very
> quickly loose their ability to experiment and learn to play by the rules, a
> poor setting for the sustained use of design thinking within our education
> systems. Here too there are opportunities to look at the content and
> delivery of formal and non-formal education in our society and design has a
> huge role to play here. In India we have been facing a sort of crisis in
> design education which too has reached the 50 year landmark with the
> setting
> up of the National Institute of Design at Ahmedabd in 1961 which is
> celebrating its 50th year this year based on a report by Charles and Ray
> Eames in 1958. The Government of India had announced a National Design
> Policy in 2007 and this year they came forward with a proposal to set up
> four new NID's. However the manner in which these were being proposed led
> to some of the NID's alumni to express their concern and a form of
> democratic design activism has taken root here with the formation of a
> group
> calling for "Vision First" as a way forward. Vision First is a movement and
> a volunteer action group that is calling for a rethink of design education
> as well as a broader call to look at the manner in which design is located
> and used with in government action across all its ministries. You can see
> more about this initiative here on the Vision First blog that is mapping
> the
> unfolding thoughts and action here in India.
> <http://visionfirst.in/>
>
> Last week I was in Amsterdam to deliver a keynote at the conference "What
> Design Can Do" that I titled "Nature of Design: The Need for Nurture in
> India Today". The definition of design is expanding and design education,
> research and use of design by government and industry all need to be
> reviewed and taken to new levels of integration into our way of doing
> things
> here. My paper and presentation can be downloaded from my blog from this
> link here as a 2.3 mb zip file in pdf.
> <https://files.me.com/ranjanmp/rlmjp1>
>
> We are proposing a series of regional round table meetings here in India
> followed buy an International conference that could bring many diverse
> stakeholders for design thought and action to the table so that we could
> explore the new directions that design education can take in the days and
> years ahead. I am hoping that this list too would join in these
> deliberations in the days ahead and that we can draw considerable benefits
> of insights from members of this list as well. The problems taht we are
> facing here in India may not be unique and other countries too may be
> facing
> similar challenges and I will be happy to hear about initiatives and ideas
> from list members on the directions that design education would need to
> take
> in the future.
>
> I and my colleagues on the Vision First group look forward to suggestions
> and discussions from the list.
>
> With warm regards
>
> M P Ranjan
> from my imac at home on the NID campus
> 6 June 2011 at 11.05 am IST
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> *Prof M P Ranjan*
> *Design Thinker and author of blog -
> www.Designforindia.com<http://design-for-india.blogspot.com/>
> *
> E8 Faculty Housing
> National Institute of Design
> Paldi
> Ahmedabad 380 007 India
>
> Tel: (res) 91 79 26610054
> email: ranjanmp@g <[log in to unmask]>mail.com
>
> <[log in to unmask]>web site: http://homepage.mac.com/ranjanmp
> <http://homepage.mac.com/ranjanmp>web domain: http://www.ranjanmp.in
> <http://www.ranjanmp.in/>blog: <http://www.design-for-india.blogspot.com>
> education blog: <http://www.design-concepts-and-concerns.blogspot.com>
> education blog: http://www.visible-information-india.blogspot.com
> <http://www.visible-information-india.blogspot.com/>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> On 6 June 2011 09:14, Keith Russell <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Watching my three year-old grandson playing with his quatro lego (four
> > times normal size - discontinued) I noticed how free he was of the
> > "rules of lego". That is, he tried impossible things. More
> > interestingly, he worked in ways that don't sit all that well with the
> > structure. For example, he changed his mind about the base frequently -
> > this lead to a few crashes and it led to him working upside-down. His
> > upside-down work reminded me of accounts of the process of Gaudi on
> > turning models for the Sagrada Família upside-down to see how gravity
> > worked. My grandson wasn't looking for gravity but he also wasn't
> > trapped into the presumed logic of the blocks.
> >
> > Soon he will forget this freedom.
> >
> > Keith Russell
> >
> > OZ Newcastle
> >
>
--
Marcio Rocha
Transtechnology Research
University of Plymouth, UK
http://trans-techresearch.net/researchers/marcio-rocha
+0 7553 614185
Federal University of Brazil
Visual Arts Faculty
Graphic design Department
www.fav.ufg.br
www.ufg.br
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