Practicing social sensitivity

Practicing social sensitivity: at primary school Klein Amsterdam

Troll, Wendela (TU Delft Industrial Design Engineering)

Sonneveld, Marieke (mentor)
Tromp, Nynke (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Design for Interaction

2018-04-13

This project aims to contribute to the development of children’s social sensitivity. In this graduation project, social sensitivity is approached as a fundament for learning in the context of the new primary school Klein Amsterdam. Klein Amsterdam’s mission is to create schools as in-between spaces, in which children learn from society. Collaborating with Klein Amsterdam led to the following scope of the project: constructing learning lines for children to develop social sensitivity at primary school Klein Amsterdam. By studying the development of social sensitivity from various perspectives, the method ‘The Good Conflict’ was developed. The Good Conflict includes a framework of constructed learning lines that enable children to develop their social sensitivity. Research through design showed that children experience difficulties reflecting on their emotions. Learning about emotions starts by expanding a child’s emotional granularity, that is to say, the ability to differentiate between the specificity of emotions. This lead to the following design goal: "I want children of six and seven years old to have a multi-sensory learning experience, which contributes to their emotional granularity, by engaging them in a story both physically and mentally.” The final design is a storytelling experience for in the classroom through which children immerse themselves in a story. The storytelling experience enables children to imagine themselves being the main character of the story. By embodying the story, guided by the narrator, the children safely experience the emotions of the character. With this, they are introduced to the associated body of language and facial expressions of the corresponding emotion. The story is communicated through spoken word (narration), music, sound effects and visuals that represent the context of the story to create a multi-sensory learning experience. The intended user experience was tested with a prototype in a classroom with children of six and seven years old. The test showed that the design goal was validated and the interaction qualities were met. The children embodied several emotions in the learning experience and reflected on these in the group reflection. During the group reflection, children were able to link the emotion(s) to the embodied experience. The outcome of this project is a starting point for further development at Klein Amsterdam.In order for the design to be further developed, the content needs to be altered for different age groups. Guidelines should be made to create appropriate content for the other age groups. Furthermore, new content for the learning experience should be created. If other schools are interested in the design, the learning community of Jeelo will take the creation of content in consideration.

social sensitivity
Klein Amsterdam
Education
Embodied storytelling
method
conflict

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6f3f6172-d2dd-429c-bc37-ddac2dee1841

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

© 2018 Wendela Troll