Research Assignment

This post has been edited to indicate a better order of the tasks. Complete the story boards as the final task of the assignment.

Based on the discussion from Monday we have put together the Research Assignment for phase one of studio. Please work in your teams to complete this assignment.

1. List of Annotated Web Based Resources

Each team is to create  and post of list of helpful resources for the design of the school. The resources should cover two distinct catagories.

Educational Mission of the School 

Constructivism, Multiple Intelligence, etc... see the project overview entry. 

Cultural Context of Finland

Important cultural issues, forests, light, music, arts, modern design, city life, rural life, festivals, sauna, summer cottages

Each team is to create a minimum of 36 entries. 

• Link to Original Source
• Describe the relevance to the project (2 paragraphs)
• Have a minimum of 15 video resources and 15 text and image resources. 

2. Interviews of Experts 

Each team it to interview their experts and post audio files and transcrips of each interview. The team is to create a list of questions and then meet with the faculty to review and assist in editing the questions prior to the interview. The team is to receive permission from the person they are interviewing prior to posting any transcripts or audio files. If permission is not provided then you will need to take steps to limit access to the information. 

3. List of ideas (brainstorming of tangible ideas). 

Each team is to generate a list of ideas for their school during the research assignment. These ideas are to be represented in the form of tangible, implementable proposals. Each idea must be supported by two paragraphs and an image or video. 

• Provide a list of tangible, implementable, buildable ideas as you conduct your research
• Describe how the idea supports specific curricular objectives and/or cultural context
• Each idea is to be a combination of words and text

Although the ideas are to be tangible, be very creative and do not worry about appropriateness, crazy ideas are encouraged. 

4. Create a "A Day in the Life of Finnish School Children" Story Board for three students at the proposed school. 

Each team is to create three user storyboards that represent the day in the life of the following students. 

Maija is 8 years old and comes from a family with a single mom. She is interested in dance and music and is constantly moving and expresive with her body. She lives in a small apartment in the center of the city and must spend a lot of time on her own. The family has very limited economic means and often struggles to pay the bills. She communicates with her father every day using text and video conferencing. The class that she is in is currently studding the the Forests of Finland as the big picture topic that spans all traditional subjects. 

Timo is 10 years old and comes from family with a with a mother, father and older sister. He was born with a disability that limits his ability to use his legs from his waste down. He is generally confined to a wheel chair, but prefers to be out of his chair when ever possible. Timo loves to build models, make drawings, and solve math problems. Using his hands to make "stuff" is very important to him. He love's to show off his work to others and often brings his latest creations to school. He can be a bit messy and is involved with many projects at the same time. The class that he is in is currently studding photography as the big picture topic that spans all traditional subjects. 

Liisa is 12 years old and comes from family with an older sister and younger brother. She is very social and loves to be in groups and talk with others. She is very well organized and puts emphasis on her relationships with her friends and family. She is very active during the day maintaining her friendships both face to face and on the computer. She comes from an affluent family, but they have often struggled to find time to spend together. Both her mother and father spend a lot of time traveling as part of their work. She is studding Light in Finland in her class as the big picture topic that spans all traditional subjects. (Or you can choose your own Finland cultural topic of your choice in consultation with Merita.)

When creating the story boards use the following guidelines

Use a narrative format -- Tell a story from the child's point of view. Use images to illustrate concepts. Be detailed in words and images to make a clear story with a beginning, middle, and end. You may want to approach this project as if you were a team of film makers ideating about how to make a documentary or film about your school through the eyes of the child. 

Each child should have 12-15 boards to tell the complete story. Each board is to have illustrations, photos, or other visual information to support the story and a written narrative of 2-3 paragraphs. 

The story should emphasize the educational experience through the child's eyes and the cultural context of Finland. Weave together home, educational projects from the big picture and traditional subjects (math,science, language, etc...), and cultural aspects of Finland when telling your story.

You team is to select a specific location in Finland and assume the children listed above attend the same school. 

Final Format

This entry will be updated in the near future in regards to the final outcome format for all of the above requirements. Technical specifications and other information will be discussed in class on Friday during the squarespace workshop and posted by the beginning of class Monday, August 30. 

Be prepared to submit your work in two formats, both digital, one on squarespace and one in PDF. This is not to dictate the use of the computer to generate work, please hand sketch and use other non-digital means when you feel it is appropriate, but make sure you can scan, photograph, or transform the information into a digital format for final presentation and submission.