A teacher at Cockshutt Hill School has taken an innovative approach to Young Foresight. He has used the context of local transport from the TV programme ‘Will it sell’ and engaged year 9 pupils in developing designs for future bus shelters.
I asked my family:
What are the problems with bus shelters?
Grandad:
They are always covered in graffiti and you can’t see when the bus is coming - there isn’t always any shelter - just a pole.
Mum:
There is vandalism and sometimes you can’t see if the bus is coming, either because the shelter is solid so you can’t see through it, or because it is scratched due to vandalism.
Sister:
They are constantly and easily vandalised, and there is little detail provided about bus routes and times. What do you consider the most important aspects of bus shelters?
Grandad:
To keep you dry, clean and comfortable. You need an up-to-date timetable to check.
Mum:
To protect you from the elements, and to be seen by and to see the bus driver. There should be comfortable seating and have information relating to services.
Sister:
They should shelter you when the weather is bad, give information about times and routes, be attractive and comfortable, and not be an eyesore.
Guiding research
To ensure that designing is rooted in reality the teacher pointed pupils to four possible research sources. First he provided photographs of existing bus shelters, which pupils had to evaluate using a design abacus (more on that later).
Second the pupils had to interview people at home about their experience of using bus shelters. Third he provided them with a news article about the problem of vandalism on bus shelters.
Finally he provided a letter of complaint to a bus company. The pupils had to use each of these sources to list problems and were required to name the source(s) of information used to identify each problem.
This is a rigorous approach to research and will serve these pupils well when they come to tackle GCSE course work.
Working out a specification
From the list of problems identified the pupils were able to develop a design brief aimed at tackling some of the problems and a specification that their design proposal should meet. The design abacus is a powerful tool for evaluating existing products and enabling pupils to identify design considerations for developing improved design proposals. It is a simple grid with a +2 to -2 scale on the left hand side with a range of features listed across the top which are important for the design to be successful.
Simply by plotting a +2 to –2 value for each feature in the abacus for a particular bus shelter a pupil has a graphic representation of strengths and weaknesses. Some pupils plotted strengths and weaknesses as colour coded lines for different bus shelters on the same grid. This gives an instant comparison of strengths and weaknesses. Pupils can use their results to identify what they consider to be ‘good’ and ‘bad’ design aspects for bus shelters. In this way the pupils develop their own design vocabulary, which they can use in developing their design proposals for improved bus shelters of the future. This is a powerful technique, which is transferable to any design improvement task.
Meeting the brief
In commenting on pupils’ interviews the teacher gave praise for the effort in obtaining the interview data but was also critical of those pupils who did not use the data to draw a conclusion about the way bus shelters and problems associated with them had changed over time. The pupils produced clear sketches of their design proposals and went on to make scale sketch models in light materials. At this point the pupils then worked in groups to use the design abacus again to evaluate the class’s work and identify the best eight proposals. The successes achieved through Young Foresight do not remain in the teacher’s classroom. He notes what has worked well and describes this in the faculty ‘good practice’ folder for other teachers to share. The teacher’s interpretation of Young Foresight shows clearly how using just one element of the resources can have a significant impact on a school’s KS3 design & technology curriculum.
(Abridged version)