Abstract:

This article presents a field design research experience carried out over the course of six years, through a series of didactic workshops born from the cooperation between education and research professionals at different levels. The collaboration brought together figures that seldom interact directly, seeing researchers and phd candidates coming from the Academia working along with high-school professors to create a fruitful exchange of methods and didactic practices, thus giving the students a first occasion to interact and experiment with the tools and concepts of the design discipline.

The research took the form of an experiment in design-based pedagogy, an approach to education that confronts the teaching of design to non-designers and the challenges that come with it, focusing on its main attributes, namely the non-specialized audience, the open-ended and real-world challenges, the interdisciplinary nature of working teams, the application of design strategies aimed at problem-solving, and the stimulation of creative approach and lateral thinking.

Specifically, the workshops presented here have been structured following a methodological approach that draws on traditional school subjects, starting from what is familiar to high-school students in order to approach the new subject of design.
Thus, mathematical “design expressions" were created to shape wooden folding screens, grammatical "design prepositions" were used to redesign the boundaries of dog parks in the city of Monza, and civic "design behaviors" were crafted to hack the facades of neighborhoods and enrich them with new opportunities for community use.

The paper sets out to analyse this methodology, highlighting the role of storytelling, play and language in the design process, and focusing on how these enable the creation of engaging pedagogical experiences that can succeed in bringing classrooms full of (not yet) designers closer to the world of design.

Keywords:

Design-based pedagogy, Hands-on learning, University & high-school collaboration.