ROLE: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH WITH
TONIA DOUSAY, UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING &
SANDY MALAPILE, INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT SOUTH AFRICA
I agree with Victor Papanek (1971)’s argument that we are all we are all designers because design is a basic human activity that we engage in all the time. This is especially true when it comes to young children whose day is spent in all types of design activities that adults often refer to as “made up games”.
As technologies that are being globally used by learners continue to be mobile, networked, social, and distributed, the research methods and studies cannot continue to grossly undervalue the role of students as design partners grossly undervalued.
In this project we explore the concept of children as designers cross culturally. We have collected data from Windhoek, Namibia and are in the process of collecting data from Wyoming USA, and Johannesburg, South Africa.