Abstract
Craft education, as a form of design learning, has a special significance in inspiring human creativity, particularly when conceptual and material aspects of the process reciprocally support one another. This article underlines the relevance of craft and design education; 1) the importance of dealing with various constraints and professional design knowledge, 2) the role of the embodied thinking in design and making activities, and 3) the ability to foster students’ awareness and competence in exploring, evaluating and improving their local environment and design culture. Two longitudinal elementary students’ design projects will be described as examples of integrative and thematic school projects. In addition, implications and possible future for craft education will be described.
Keywords
Craft education, design constraints, embodied thinking, making, collaborative designing
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.131
Citation
Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, P.,and Kangas, K.(2013) Craft education: authentic design constraints, embodied thinking, and craft making, in Reitan, J.B., Lloyd, P., Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Digranes, I., & Lutnæs, E. (eds.), DRS // Cumulus: Design Learning for Tomorrow, 14-17 May, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.131
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Craft education: authentic design constraints, embodied thinking, and craft making
Craft education, as a form of design learning, has a special significance in inspiring human creativity, particularly when conceptual and material aspects of the process reciprocally support one another. This article underlines the relevance of craft and design education; 1) the importance of dealing with various constraints and professional design knowledge, 2) the role of the embodied thinking in design and making activities, and 3) the ability to foster students’ awareness and competence in exploring, evaluating and improving their local environment and design culture. Two longitudinal elementary students’ design projects will be described as examples of integrative and thematic school projects. In addition, implications and possible future for craft education will be described.