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? IDEATECREATE 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 holiday 30 June – 18 July weeks / 4-5 days per week 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: