Hasta La Ideas

Over the next months we will be highlighting award-winning projects and ideas from this year’s Core77 Design Awards! For full details on the project, jury commenting and more information about the awards program, go to Core77DesignAwards.com

Designer: aruliden, Bernhardt Design, The School at Columbia University
Location: New York, New York, USA
Category: Notable for Design Education Initiatives
Award: Notable

Tools At Schools

Tools at Schools was an initiative to teach eighth graders the value of design as a problem solving tool at The School at Columbia University. The students were immersed in the entire design process, from research to ideation to 3D modeling and ultimately launch.

The brief we created was to demonstrate to 14 year-olds that everything around us is designed, and allow them to understand the value of design by merging math, science and art to create valuable end products that solve for something.
Our main focus when approaching the curriculum for this class was to emphasize the PROCESS of design and the methodology of design thinking, rather than the end product. We were fully immersed with the students on a weekly basis over the course of six months to ensure that for every problem they identified they also fully though-out a design solution. The students were also engaged with us, and each other, out of the classroom via their social network to maintain a continuously collaborative dialogue throughout the experience.

To be successful, the class needed to be as applicable to the real world as possible. So we started with something familiar. We asked the students to look to their everyday classroom environment as a launching pad for their ideas, and to conceive the classroom of the future. Furthermore, we asked American manufacturing company, Bernhardt Design, to partner with us in this effort and actually create prototypes to make the process real.

As a result, the students were fully immersed in the entire product development process, from research and ideation to 3D modeling and final prototypes. In the end, they utilized their thought process and problem-solving skills to create valuable and functional classroom products while clearly articulating the problems they were solving.

Core77: How did you learn that you had been recognized by the jury?

aruliden: We received an email from Core77 to tune in, and were like “HOLY SH#%@%#T! We gotta tell the kids!” Then we watched the results live as an office.

What’s the latest news or development with your project?

We’re doing the whole process over again, but this time with the faculty. We will be injecting innovation into The School at Columbia University’s professional development program by asking them to rethink how they do EVERYTHING in the classroom. From snacks to homework to recess, we will re-imagine the school of today.

What is 1 quick anecdote about your project?

We often dismiss the importance of the locker in a school environment. We learned that instead “the locker is like your bedroom for the year.”

Read on for full details on the project and jury comments.

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