June 9, 2018

Box Cardboard: A Universally Accessible Material

This theme was inspired by Caine’s arcade. I heard about this from a friend called Nina Barbuto, who is successfully running maker programs in Pittsburgh with a program called ‘Assemble’ . While Nina is working to make her programs relevant in Pittsburgh and I in Colombo, there’s something between universal to both these places - the love for, and accessibility of everyday cardboard.

By cardboard, I mean any kind of packaging boxes, milk cartons, shoe boxes, soap boxes..

At the end of the last class the day before, I asked all the kids to bring cardboard boxes.

I too, (In case they didn’t bring anything) went to the local supermarket and asked a friend who worked there to save around 15 packing boxes for me. Sahani also brought several boxes, milk cartons that she had collected from her neighbors. This was the pile the following day:

A Game: Cardboard Jenga

I have to admit, Sahani and I knew we wanted to start the day off with a game, but until we got there, we had no idea what to do. I knew it would be something like Jenga - but without the classic proportions of a module, we made do with what we had. We set it up like a relay of three teams, where the three teams lined up - and each student got mobilized to run into the classroom, grab a box, bring it outside and stack it up high. The next in line would only leave once the box landed on the ‘tower’. There were a lot of squeals - and from somewhere plastic chairs started to get dragged out, and the taller kids were perched on these chairs - accomplishing nearly 12 foot high towers.

Cardboard Construction Methods

Here we were, FINALLY getting to our actual assignment of the day - which was, unknown to the children, a primer for the project the next day.

Each student got a piece of cardboard and a lot of freedom. They can make whatever they want, but we will not be giving them glue today. Instead, what are the ways we can keep two cardboard pieces together? We showed them a simple slot method two hold two pieces of board together, and also provided them with some string. The string went forgotten very fast though, as the kids explored more possibilities with the slotting method.

There was a lot of testing and trying out before the kids came to an actual final product. Sometimes the final product was something totally different to the starting idea. This had a familiar pang to it - it reminded me of how I learned to use 3D architecture software - in the beginning, the tool, the method dominated how the outcomes turned out. Later, I learned to control the tool. The kids were very excited to paint their products afterward, but we ran out of time, so we left that for another day.

June 10, 2018

Big Project: The Cardboard Tower

The three teams were to create a cardboard tower. The tower was divided into three parts - The base, the middle and the top and each team had to stack their tower on top of the other - it had to be REALLY tall. 

What I wish I could change

If the students spent two hours on their group towers, I’d say about half that time was spent arguing. Here’s also where the age gap came into play- where the older students would whip out their cutters and slice through the board with ease - leaving the littler kids, who could only use scissors at a loss. To compensate, they asked the older kids to do most of the work while not being productive themselves. This task was primarily about teamwork (with very large teams) so ensuring everyone’s participation was a special challenge.

This was a good opportunity for me to observe how the kids, when made to work in large groups behave when faced with the need for leadership. Perhaps I should have really read about leadership and how to instill its qualities in an environment such as this. There was one group (middle) that progressed exponentially when compared to the others. There were two older students who took the reign on the whole design - and divided the tasks for their ‘minions’ They themselves took on the more complex tasks, leaving things like paper pasting and window decor to the younger students. What defines good leadership? Is it the outcome? Or how it was come about?