29 November 2011
Schoolchildren encouraged to play in Good Dirt for breakfast
Photo opportunity: 1.30-3pm at Dalhousie Building on Thursday, 1st December. Students will be exhibiting their designs, while some of the children involved in the project will be demonstrating the games they co-designed.
Students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) will next week unveil a range of children’s games promoting good nutrition and active lifestyles that they co-designed with primary school pupils from across Dundee.
Around 60 Digital Interaction Design and Product Design students from DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee, spent time with children from primary school breakfast clubs across the city to create games that raise awareness of where their breakfast comes from, why a healthy breakfast is essential for a good start to the day, and the links between food, energy and activities.
The 'Good Dirt' project is intended to convey the positive associations of soil, mud and farming. The project’s variety of games and activities celebrate the rich products of the land, such as wheat, barley and oats. Students produced certificates for all pupils involved, and children from seven of the clubs will attend the unveiling event on Thursday, 1st December.
The students undertook the project as part of their 2nd year Design Studies module. They went to 20 breakfast clubs and interviewed the children about their knowledge of the sources of their foods and what type of activities they found most informative and enjoyable. They then went back to their studios and, working in teams, created 10 different games, which were then tested by the children.
Christine Kingsley, Design Studies lecturer at DJCAD, said the natural honesty of children meant the students received great feedback for their work.
'It's fair to say they didn’t pull their punches in telling the students what they did and didn’t like, but this proved to be the perfect type of user testing as the children were very specific in their feedback,' she said.
'Design students need to develop a sense of empathy for the people they work with, and for the last few years we’ve made a big effort to work in the local community developing exciting solutions to the problems people face.
'Last year I met local farmer Gill Lawrie at an event and we began talking about ways to encourage students and the people of Dundee to engage with the countryside around them, and the people who work there producing food.
'The students have been working in teams, attending breakfast clubs to chat with children and observe the early morning activities to think about what activities would engage school pupils in food and exercise.
'It didn’t take long before the excitement and thought of doing some good kicked in. I’m really proud of the way the students worked, and the ideas they came up with. It’s a good example of what we call 'co-design' - designing with, rather than for, people to improve their lives. In this case, helping children understand where their food comes from and, we hope, encouraging them to think more about what they eat.'
Before going to the breakfast clubs, students were visited by experts who briefed them on food and farming, how children learn and play, and to experience professional partnerships outside the University.
The partner agencies involved in the project included Dundee City Council, Paediatric Obesity Service Tayside, Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), and the Royal Highland Education Trust Angus Countryside Initiative (RHET ACI)
Christine, who won a University teaching award last year for a similar project working with sufferers of aphasia, thanked the project partners for their hard work and support, in particular Gill Lawrie, who is affiliated with the HGCA & RHET ACI, and Fhiona Whyte, the Educational Catering officer at Dundee City Council.
Both will attend the unveiling of the Good Dirt exhibition at Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, from 1.30-3pm on Thursday, 1st December.
Representatives of Dundee City Council will also be in attendance, and education convener Councillor Liz Fordyce said, 'This is an imaginative and innovative project and our pupils will have benefited from this partnership with Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.'
Notes to editors:
The primary schools taking part in the Good Dirt project were:
Blackness, Charleston, Clepington, Craigiebarns, Dens Road, Eastern, Fintry, Glebelands, Gowriehill, Hillside, Lochee, Newfields, Our Lady’s, Rosebank, Rowantree, SS Peter and Paul, St Clement’s, St Mary’s, St Ninian’s, St Vincent’s.
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University of Dundee
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