Social and Public Design Education Course | Promoting the Construction and Development of Child-Friendly Communities

The "Social and Public Design Education" course explores how social public spaces can be used as informal educational settings to achieve the goals of design education. These goals can be achieved through the construction of contextualized models in special classrooms different from traditional school environments.

With the support of the Shishan Education Community in Zhuhai City, a team of 10 master's students led by faculty members were divided into two groups and conducted research in the community to understand its culture, needs, and challenges. Drawing on theories of design thinking, informal education, and partcipartory learning, the team developed child-friendly design education workshops that are tailored to the unique characteristics of the educational community. These workshops aim to promote the construction and development of child-friendly communities.

The course aims to cultivate the following abilities in students by fully engaging their innovative design thinking in various contexts:

1. Familiarity with the background and methods of informal education and participatory design in response to current social needs, and the ability to integrate this knowledge with design skills.

2. Awareness of public design education to lay a foundation for future related practical work.

3. Understanding of ways and methods to participate in social development and serve the society, which helps cultivate design education professionals with a strong sense of social responsibility, versatility, and high-quality skills to meet diverse social needs.

"There’s a place, and we know it”—Community Child-Friendly Design Education Workshop Series (Part One)

Project Overview: "There’s a place, and we know it” is a fun-filled child-friendly map participatory design workshop. The workshop incorporates elements such as stage performances, keyword cards, co-creation of maps, and voting on speeches. As workshop facilitators, the team members use various visual tools to create a role for children as community ambassadors, guiding them to better express their perspectives and exchange ideas. The workshop integrates different concepts, including child-friendliness, community development, participatory design, teaching through games, and peer assistance, allowing teachers and children to design and create a child-friendly map that belongs to the educational community.

"Hey! Let's Go | Look!"—Community Child-Friendly Design Education Workshop Series (Part Two)

Project Overview: Based on the safety hazards faced by students from Xiangzhou Primary School in the educational community when commuting, the teaching team developed the "Hey! Let's Go | Look!" child-friendly community safety renewal program. It aims to enhance children's awareness of road traffic safety, stimulate their thinking about road safety issues, cultivate their creativity and problem-solving skills, help them understand their responsibilities in traffic environments, and enhance their sense of ownership in the community. This design education workshop takes a multi-disciplinary approach and focuses on the slogan "Small Steps, Big Safety." Through teaching activities such as small steps on the road, not underestimating small paths, creating hand-made maps, and proposing ideas as small council members, children's creativity and learning abilities are fostered.