Designs on primary schools

Teaching strategies, time and resources

The education officers were quite ambitious with this year 1 class, expecting them to carry out a product analysis and present their ideas at the end of the workshop. However, because the activities were presented in an accessible, hands-on way, on the whole the children rose to the challenge. It helped that the workshop only involved drawing and talking – being asked to write things down would have been too intimidating for this age group.

During the workshop, the education officers placed a strong emphasis on helping the children to take a creative approach to design. Giving them their own chair to explore and allowing them to do so in a hands-on way proved exciting and motivating. Asking open-ended questions encouraged the pupils to think about the chair from different perspectives and to reflect critically on the design.

The teacher built on this creative approach back in the classroom, giving the children an imaginative context for their chair design work and encouraging them to experiment freely.

Use of time and resources

The class visit to the museum lasted for about two hours, including a 45-minute workshop. It involved two education officers from the museum, the class teacher and the support of a number of parents.