Children’s turn to participate! Educational co-design with children
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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P1 OPINNÄYTTEET D 2017 Kapanen
Authors
Date
2017
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Art Education
Kuvataidekasvatus
Kuvataidekasvatus
Language
en
Pages
143 + 12
Series
Abstract
My master’s thesis Children’s Turn to Participate! Educational co-design with children investigates the role of children and young people in design, and children’s rights to take part and influence the planning, realisation and development of services and milieus directed at them (UN 2009, Pollari 2016). It is a case study that combines research with planning and organising co-design workshops for children and young people (Children’s Turn workshops). The aim of the Children’s Turn workshops (2014–2016) was to develop methods for fostering the participation of children and young people. They also challenged the designers and manufacturers of products to develop ideas from children and to offer children-based products for a hospital. At the heart of my research is my own participation in the co-design practice of the Children’s Turn workshops, and by considering several co-design activities I observe the kind of impact produced by the participatory. The research questions are: Did the workshops create a platform for knowledge production and engaging children in the design process? Did the results inspire designers and manufacturers to create new kinds of hospital products for the children? Did the Children’s Turn workshops support children’s rights to take part in and influence the planning, realisation and development of services and milieus directed at them? Enabling children’s and young people’s participation was a central aim of the series of Children’s Turn workshops. Facilitating effective participation enables children and young people to have a voice and agency. It also helps service providers make sure that what they do is wanted and required. The significance of participation lies in enabling children and young people to have influence and bring about change. (Packham, 2008, 69.) This study offers concrete information on the matter of participatory design with children and young people from both general and my personal point of views. The aim of the Children’s Turn workshops (2014–2016) was to develop methods for fostering the participation of children and young people in the design and planning of public space and services aimed at them. They also challenged the designers and manufacturers of products to develop ideas from children and to offer children-based products for the hospital sector that will support possibilities for children’s choices. This will make the voices of children heard and pass on their experiential knowledge to designers. In the Children’s Turn workshops, empathic learning was used to create ideas for new kinds of designs. The workshops applied the methods of design to various problems. The situation faced by young patients was approached through the fictional characters Saara and Otto, who have had to go to hospital. Saara is afraid the tests will hurt, and Otto is afraid to sleep in the hospital. The children taking part in the workshops put themselves in Saara’s and Otto’s position and thought of what might comfort them and make them feel happy. In my master’s thesis I wanted to study the possibilities of design to increase participation by children and young people. I wanted to find out how to collect knowledge from children and young people to aid design and how to inspire designers and manufacturers to use this information. Could children and young people influence the way public space directed at them is designed and realised? My research suggests that when designers, manufacturers and decision makers work together with children and young people, the new public space designed for them is more likely to meet their needs and can lead to end results of which the community can feel proud. Designing together with children and young people supports their participation rights. Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) elaborates on the child’s right to be involved and taken seriously in decision making (UN 1990).Description
Supervisor
Kallio-Tavin, MiraThesis advisor
Haapalainen, RiikkaKeywords
co-design, design education, participation, participatory design, children