Creating For Communities in Cape Town

1. Name?

2. Age?

3. What is the language you use at home?

4. What subject do you teach?

5. Where is your family from?

6. Yearly income?

7. Do you agree that dogs are better pets than cats?

8. When did you get your first smartphone?

9. When was the first time you traveled outside of

South Africa?

10. How much does your family spend on food per

week, on average?

Who We Are

Youth Design Studio is a sustainable design class that will teach high school learners to design, create,

and build a project that will benefit their community.

• Skills : design, critical thinking, creative problem-solving

• Mentorship: professionals will work with students

Youth empowerment and leadership

What is a “Design Project”?

• Locally-based

• Low-cost

• Practically implementable

What’s the Process?

IDEATE

CREATE

EVALUATE

Our Curriculum• Introduction: What is design?

• Social Research: Who is your community, and what challenges do they face?

• Project Brainstorming

• Project Determination(skills & tools teaching)

• Testing & experimentation

• Final Project Construction

• Evaluation/Reflection

• Showcase

• Going forward?

How to Implement?

Timing• Main class (art or shop

class)• After school (extramural)• School Holiday

Teaching Possibilities• Teachers• University students• YDS team

Winter holiday30 June – 18 July 20143-4 weeks / 4-5 days

per week 10-25 students

Flexibility

What is social research?

Social research seeks to understand people (their

ideas, behavior, and values) through well-planned

questioning, observation, and participation.

Who is your community?• Activity!–What community are we in now? –Assignment:

Take ONE photo of something that describes this community

Who are they? How do they use this space?

When thinking about community, make sure all groups/ ethnicities/ ages/

genders/ jobs are represented

• Come up with a one-sentence summary of the challenge or question(s) you’re trying to find out more about

• Phrase optimistically!– How do we keep our students from falling

asleep in class?– How might we redesign our classrooms and

teaching methods to keep students more engaged on a daily basis?

What is your research question?

–Note writing? Voice recording?

Video recording?

–Advantages/Disadvantages of

recording devices

–Everyone has a different preferred

method

How are you going to record info?

• What is your privacy policy? • Explain things to your respondent, sign

agreements if necessary • Make sure you interview in a safe place,

are interviewing someone you trust. Interview with a partner, or make sure someone knows where you are

MAKE SURE STUDENTS KNOW THIS

Ethics & Safety

Types of Research

• Written surveys

• Interviews

– Individual interviews

–Group interviews & Games

• Observation

• Participation

The Semi-Structured Interview

• Meet people where they’re comfortable• Start with concrete things: name, age,

etc.• Broaden to more open-ended questions• Let the conversation flow!• Be aware of possibly sensitive issues;

questions biased toward gender/age/culture/ socioeconomic status/etc.

DON’T: Ask leading questions (ones that suggest an answer), or suggest that one answer may be

more correct than another.

• Do you agree that the school board should spend more money on arts education rather than sports?

• Do you think the school board is spending money efficiently?

• What are your opinions about how the school board spends its money?

How to ask complicated questions

• Questions about future or hypothetical behavior can be complicated– “What would you do if” – assess risk, money,

tradeoffs, or other future situations

• Simplify by breaking down into concrete choices.– You have a choice of 2 phones. The first costs

R2000 and comes with no guarantees. The second costs R3000 and comes with the guarantee that if it breaks within 2 years, you will get a new one. Which phone do you take?

• Alternative: Activity!

• You EARN R5000. Each square of paper is R500. How many do you:– Save – Spend on necessities (food, household, transport)– Spend on non-necessities

• You WIN R5000. Each square is R500. How many do you:– Save – Spend on necessities (food, household, transport)– Spend on non-necessities

Financial Behavior Activity

IMPORTANT!!

• Note what people DON'T say

• Be able to adapt

• DON’T feel limited to one method!

• DON’T get too attached to anything: not

your challenge, not your ideas on how to

solve it, not your interview questions.

What will this look like in an actual class?

In Youth Design Studio, students will:– Determine who their community is, &

question assumptions– Decide what questions they will address– Decide what strategies to use to answer

those questions– Record data, and come together to discuss

findings– Determine main challenges in their

community– Decide how to go about addressing

challenges

Data Analysis

• Note coding: main themes/keywords

• Quantitative/qualitative analysis

• Highlighting main ideas/insights

Additional Resources:www.imagine-more.org

http://www.ideo.com/work/toolkit-for-educators