Loading...
 

Metadesigning For Children

Fifth meeting held with Hyaesook Yang, Dan Griner and John Wood on 7th February 2022
See a list of all meetings and notes
See the previous meeting and the next meeting
square-50cm-spacer.jpg
square-50cm-spacer.jpg 3841619 200 3841603 200

DISCUSSION

  1. We had previously agreed to interview children using the following four questions:
    • What would your favourite future look like?
    • How could we make the future look like this?
    • Do you have any other suggestions for making the world a better place?
    • Do you have a question for us?
  2. We had agreed to meet in 2 weeks on 7th December - having gathered some children's answers to the above questions.
  3. John remembered that the Victorians believed that children should be given their own (protected) play worlds.
  4. Dan cited Friedrich Froebel's child-oriented approach to behaviour and children. He encouraged kids to make 'gifts' made from paper.
  5. Cornelia Parker seems to have been less protective - she introduced kindergarten (5 or 6 years old) children to the newspaper of the day and asked them to produce a commentary/response to it.
  6. Over the last 70 years or so, children (in UK) have become much more protected from danger.
  7. Should we ask children to create the agenda?
  8. Hyaesook outlined a 'dream exchange' workshop in which participants swap their visions.
  9. Dan asked how long the workshops ran for Hyaesook said usually between 5 and 15 minutes)
  10. Dan noted that we should not put 'children' in one category...each is a unique person who has experienced the world differently.
  11. We asked ourselves what our starting point was. Dan suggested that children think more 'naturally' (e.g. free from prejudices and financial constraints) so John asked whether we would, therefore, learn (as much) from children as they might learn from us.
  12. Dan reminded us that we should encourage the next generation to run things better....
  13. John wondered whether children believe in the received notion of human rights (e.g. without responsibilities).
  14. He was reminded that, although animals can't discuss ethics, they have a keen sense of justice. If this also implies that children share the deep idea of fairness, could we take this as a foundational fact/truth?

For Next Time

  1. MORE INTERVIEWS - maybe also categorise kids (town/country/girls/boys/younger/older)
  2. USE DAN'S BOOKS - maybe use them to locate gaps in the children's books?

This content is licensed under the terms of the Copyright.