Contemporary discourse on future learning environments became the catalyst for a cutting-edge spatial project, Pencil vs Pixel, by Dutch design collective Studio Knol. Developed for the MU art space and School Around, an initiative of the SintLucas Creative Community – with support from Anna Dekker, Christiaan Bakker and AugmentNL – the project featured an in-depth exploration of a physical classroom and its potential to evolve into a place for interactive learning.
Students used a new educational format to engage with a design topic included in their current curriculum. The project was divided into four phases that ranged from the entirely analogue to the wholly virtual, all of which were contained within a purpose-built learning space.
The interior was covered in 28-x-28-cm tiles, or ‘transformative blocks’, many displaying various textural identities. The first phase provided only analogue experiences based on physical interaction. The second and third phases combined analogue and digital components, and the final phase offered a totally virtual experience.
Although the project afforded interesting alternatives to today’s learning environments, the research was not aimed at changing the present educational system in the Netherlands, but at informing leaders in the debate on digitization in the classroom. One conclusion was that opportunities provided by digital tools do not invalidate the benefits of a hands-on schoolroom and its relevance to education.
Photos Corneel de Wilde
www.knol-ontwerp.nl
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten