Wonder deck : a design thinking workshop for primary school students living in public rental flats

• Main Author: Tan, Zhuo Hui
• Other Authors: Lisa Winstanley
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Drawing, design and illustration
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78206
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Income inequality manifests itself in vastly different life experiences and opportunities. It results in educational inequality, where the amount of extra enrichment opportunities one has access to is dependent on the financial capability of one’s family. Wonder Deck is a community and volunteer-based alternative to expensive school holiday programmes for children from lower-income families. For the past year, a group of primary school–going children have been exercising their creative muscles at weekly “Make n Play” sessions organised by Beyond Social Services. Gathering at the void deck, they draw, paint, cut, tape and create anything and everything from cardboard, duct tape, paper, string, and other recyclable materials. Wonder Deck aims to expand the potential of their organic creativity with a framework for problem solving: the design thinking process. The empathy stage teaches them to design with understanding; and the prototyping and testing stages encourage them to think critically through the making process. For this introductory workshop, the children get a taste of the whole design thinking process through designing a gift for their friend. The prompts and games in the activity book were designed concurrently with the workshop to suit the children's aptitude and interests. This introductory workshop is the first part in a series of workshops that will hopefully empower the children with the skills to share their ideas with people.