Week 1: Concept Development and Speed Dating
03.20: Concept Development
On the Friday before Spring Break, we were able to visit Vintage, a senior center, to talk to the staff and residents. Vintage acts more as a community center with different exercise classes such as yoga, educational classes such as learn to use the internet safely, and games such as bingo. They also organizes group outing that seniors can participate in, like going to a restaurant to have dinner. A lot of the seniors use Vintage as a place to socialize with friends.
We were able to speak with a few regulars to gain an understanding of their knowledge and views on sustainability. While everyone had a different depths of knowledge around the subject area, we found that most seniors had a general concept of different environmental issues and sustainable practiced, such as recycling and climate change. We found that the seniors had converse with their grandkids about this subject matter, for example one woman told us that when her grandkid was younger she saw her recycling and the grandkid asked what she was doing, then she explained to her grandkid about recycling and why she was doing it. We also found that most had gone to the museum with their grandkids, but more often when the grandkids were younger (so had grandkids who were teenagers now).
On Tuesday, we worked on concept development in class. We determined that we would be targeting “younger” seniors (50-70 yrs), so seniors who are more active, both physically and cognitively. We also decided to target younger children (4-8 yrs). Because Vintage turned out to focus more on Seniors and they do not really allow children, we decided that we would focus our activity within a home setting or public setting, such as a library. Our ideas focused around 3 main topics
- Interactive Storytelling
- Narrative Games
- Toolkits Based on Hobbies
03.22 Speed Dating
On Thursday, we did speed dating of our ideas in class. We had 4 concepts that we were speed dating.
Concept 1: Sustainable Cooking Guide + Interactive Activity
The concept focused on using the grandparent’s hobbies and interest or activities that grandparents and grandkids may do together as a vehicle for teaching environmental information.
Concept 1: Speed Dating Feedback
People like this concept a lot. People thought that it is a good entry point for conversation. They also liked that it used existing and familiar activities they may already do (cooking) and having a concrete element allowed it to be more accessible and understandable. They also thought it would work best with younger kids. Some things we will need to think about based on the feedback are:
- How can we extend the experience passed the actual activity? Maybe a sharing/social component on a larger scale through the musuem?
- How can the activities be more like guidelines, so they are flexible for different people and their lifestyles?
- How can the activity be flexible so that it can extend when grandkids get older? Link to museum programming/camps?
- We need to think about the kind of content, questions and wording so there is a structure to conversation facilitation
- We need to think about the type of information and wording so that it is applicable to both the grandkid and grandparent (ie. how would sustainable food shopping apply to both generations so they both can relate to it)
- Also how will be keep the attention of the grandkids during the conversations, because young kids can have short attention spans.
Concept 2: Themed Toolkits for Storytelling
This concept focused on a toolkit featuring props that would be used to facilitate a storytelling activity.
Concept 2: Speed Dating Feedback
People liked the narrative and storytelling element of this concept, as well as the sharing element. They also liked the idea of themed kits so there is variety. Some things we will need to think about based on the feedback are:
- How can we make sure that the stories they develop relate to sustainability?
- Will it be a lot for the grandparents to think up stories and incorporate information about sustainability on the spot. Is there a way to make it easier?
- How will we address the sharing concept? How will they record their stories? Maybe audio recording, drawing the story?
- Could this be done at home? Checkout the kits from the library?
Concept 3: Choose Your Own Adventure Children’s Book / Bedtime Story
This concept is a choose your own adventure digital story based on cause and effect.
Concept 3: Speed Dating Feedback
People liked the more structured framework to the storytelling in this concept. People were concerned about screens before bedtime for young kids and they thought it could be done alone (kids could do this on their own). Some thought this could be merged somehow with Concept 2. Some things we will need to think about based on the feedback are:
- How can this be done without a screen?
- How can we make the learning more tangible and active? It is too passive right now.
- How can it be more customizable, both for the kid and the grandparent? Allowing for incorporation of personal experiences? Allow kids to personalize the story characters?
Concept 4: Digital/Physical Board Game of Cause/Effect
This concept is a digital/physical board game where the grandparent and grandkid are animals and must move through the game to help the environment. They are able to see how their actions in the games effect the environment.
Concept 4: Speed Dating Feedback
People thought this concept had the most wow factor but felt that it was more of an interactive installation then a learning tool. Some things we will need to think about based on the feedback are:
- Cost, it seems very expensive
- Connection to education, people thought it looked like a cool interactive museum piece
Choosing a direction
Based on the speed dating feedback, we have decided to more forward with concept 1.
