Teaching Design: What Makes a Cup a Cup?

"What makes a cup a cup?

For your answer, please take some time to carefully consider the question and to compose a thoughtful response.  Each response will also need to include a legal picture of a cup (If you don't know what I mean by a "legal" picture, please see me.  You can also look up Creative Commons licensing.)

Your answer will need to be spelled correctly and it needs to be an example of your very best writing." 

- First online forum assignment of the Wikiseat project.  August, 2011.

In thinking about how to approach the Wikiseat project with a networked group of over 4000 students, I think it might be useful for me to go into greater detail about exactly what this whole thing looked like in my 10 grade US Literature class last year.  This way, as we begin to develop a network of teachers thinking about how to tailor the Wikiseat project for the learning needs of their students, we can discuss how to adapt, modify, and supplement what was done last year.

The "What Makes a Cup a Cup?" assignment was developed to get students thinking deeply about the notion that design solves problems, as well as introduce them to concepts of form and function.  On the day before we start this lesson, I ask students to bring a cup to our next class so that they'll have it in front of them as the lesson begins.  "What makes a cup a cup?" is actually a very difficult question to answer.  As you can see from the exchange below, students not only posted responses, but also engaged in a bit of argument, which, as a Language Arts teacher, allowed me to begin working on our evidence and support standards:

(And I guess I should start looking into this "onternet."  Oops.)

But eventually, students came to give responses like this:

After we began to classify aspects of student responses into descriptions of either form and function, students began to come to an understanding of how form and function work in other objects.  We looked at shoes, thermostats, audio speakers, and students desks, among other things, and students were quick to display a pretty firm understanding of the basic principles of design.  However, I was pushing for them to learn something more.

The follow up question in class for the day after the students posted their "What Makes a Cup a Cup? responses aimed to have the students begin thinking about what problem a cup actually solves.  Sure it has a form and a function, but why would anyone make it in the first place?  We had a bit of fun in class thinking about the person who invented the first cup.  I asked students to think about how that person must have felt about having to walk to a river, stream, or lake everyday to drink.  The students easily understood that the cup was invented out of frustration.  And then they came to understand that this frustration led that first cup inventor to find a solution to the problem.  I asked students to consider the ways in which the form and function of a cup serve as a clearly tangible solution to the "I-don't-want-to-have-to-walk-to-the-water-source-to-drink" problem.  Towards the end of class, we played a game in which I pointed to any man-made object in the classroom and they shouted out what problem the object solved.

I think a discussion about form and function as related to problem-solving is applicable in a wide-variety of learning situations.  A biology teacher could discuss the ways in which evolutionary traits are responses to environmental problems.  Maybe a history teacher could discuss how government systems are formed and function to solve issues of a civic nature.  I look forward to how the growing network of teachers working on the Wikiseat project will adapt, modify, and add to what was an exciting first step in what my students accomplished last year.  I'd appreciate any comments or questions that help us to think about how this would look in classrooms around the world.

Next Post:  So what problem will your Wikiseat solve?

Catalysts for a Change.

by Sean Wheeler

"Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books.  Hence, Instead of Man Thinking, we have the book-worm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

In perhaps the most provocative line in his "American Scholar" speech, given in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 31, 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson makes a distinction between two conceptions of education.  On one side, that of the "book-worm", students are to go about the work of studying greatness.  ON the other side, and the one engaged by the WikiSeat project, is a conception of education that promotes thinking and the actual potential for greatness of the students.

The Wikiseat project begins with what Nic Weidinger has called a Catalyst.  A Catalyst is a welded support structure that forms the beginning of what will eventually be made into a functional Wikiseat.  It's been one year since I first placed a set of Catalysts in front of the eighty-five students in our 10th Grade American Literature classes, and as I approach a second go at this project with a new batch of students, I find myself drawn to this distinction made by Emerson in 1837.

I want my students to become thinkers, not book-worms.  I want students who not only study the views of those who have gone before them, but also students who put forth views of their own.  In this digital age, with all of these outlets for speech and expression, I want students who can think critically about information, issues, and problems. I then I want them to communicate, collaborate, and create. And I want them to learn all of this by making a Wikiseat.  

At the core of this project, is a lesson in the design thinking process.  Students learn to identify a problem or need (Where could I use a chair?), and then move into considerations of form (What should my chair look like?), and function (What should my chair do?).  They then sketch, prototype, build, test, and finally, produce their Wikiseat.  Students are encouraged to freely collaborate regarding materials, access to tools, and ideas concerning each other's work and progress.  Whether this be for a first grade classroom or a high school one, teaching students the iterative process is fundamental in helping students learn how to be thinkers and makers.  

As a Language Arts teacher, I found ways to both work in some great literature, as well as use that literature to inspire and spur on students as they began actually constructing their Wikiseats.  We sat with our catalysts in front of us and read Whitman, Thoreau, and mainly, Emerson.  I was able to gauge student reading comprehension, and they had a purpose for reading in that the actual content served the overall purpose of their work on the Wikiseats.    It isn't difficult to imagine tie-ins to other curricular areas.  A math teacher could use the triangle inherent in a three-legged Wikiseat as an opportunity to talk about angles and measurement.  A biology teacher could link the design thinking process to the scientific one.  And a history teacher could find a way to take form and function into thinking about government systems and historical innovation.  And maybe a few groups of teachers could try all of the above with an elementary school classroom.  

And as students begin to share their work with other classrooms, the Wikiseats will begin to tell a new story about what our students are capable of, of what we should actually be measuring, and what could change when given the right catalyst.

LHS2.0 WikiSeat Project: Ladies and Gentlemen...

by Sean Wheeler

No way. 

Today has easily been one of the greatest days I've ever experienced in a classroom.  The students did it.  They knocked this one out of the park.  I couldn't be more proud, and to be honest, surprised, at the work that was turned in today.  We had a great time seeing everyone's work.  There were tons of stories to tell, celebrations to be had, and risks that paid off.  In the afternoon we had a chance to talk with Dr. Nicolas Weidinger, the creator of the WikiSeat project, via Skype and it was a perfect cap to a tremendously rewarding day.  There were so many people helping us in this project and we can't be thankful enough to the friends, family members, and colleagues that  shared in the work. Wow!

There's so much to say about all of this, but I'll start by going back to something I included in the first TeachingHumans post on August 15th.  If you're new to following this project, I'd suggest checking out the GoogleDoc that guided my process in teaching the unit.  The experiential learning graphic from that document is really on my mind as I look forward to the next steps.  This is really where the learning is going to sink in and I'm going to be able to gauge what the students are taking away from the project.  

We just did it.  No doubt.  But now comes the "What?", "So What?" and "Now What?" parts.  Nic was great in laying out a few challenges for the students (more about that in the next post), and I have a couple of my own to add.  I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to ask those questions and see what the kids come up with. 

The Wikiseat Project: The First Wikiseats are in!

by Sean Wheeler

Wikiseat by Analise

It's working.  The first four Wikiseats have come in and the kids are rocking it so far.  The Wikiseat above was created by Analise.  Here's what she said in her Wikiseat Manifesto two weeks ago, just as she was about to actually start real work on the project:

"I have been bullied about being a nerd, most of my life. Yes that's only fifteen and a half years but it wears and tears at you. I like to read, I openly admit it. I like to think of this as being a non-conformist. "Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist". My friends have always been the ones that say: they hate school, they hate the teachers because they make you do work, they just want to get it over with. When I think of classes and teachers and working, I try to think of the good things and focus on them. Knowing what to look forward to in a lot of things helps get you through the hard things. In my mind those rules apply to the whole world. You can’t do anything more if you have already given your 100% best and someone else doesn’t like it. “To be great is to be misunderstood”. I learn to get scholarships so I can follow my dream. When families say they're tight on money, cut their money in half, that’s what my family has to do to send two children to college and another through high school with expensive athletics and extra-activities. The chair can help me be more calm, more focused. It can help with my work efficiency with my grades and with my sports. Having little to no extra stress on an already stressful life is a blessing to me. But this is the real world, not a fantasy. Things don’t come easy, and I don’t want them to. I was raised to never except things you haven’t earned. I will not take a grade I do not deserve. This seat project will help because it will be made completely from our hands and in doing so, we have all rights to get the grades based on our work." Here's David's chair and Wikiseat Manifesto.  It's interesting to note that the form of his idea changed, but the function didn't at all. Wikiseat by David "My Wikiseat needs to be mine. Not just a chair that has my name on the bottom of it. I want to make a chair that has so much of my personality into it; you wouldn’t even have to ask who made it. I want to not even have to put my name on the bottom of the chair. And I don’t mean that I’ll paint it my favorite color. I mean that I'll design it in the same way as my art style. I want to put things I like all over it. I love to rock, so I’m making a rocking chair. I don’t want a bland square wood rocking chair. I want to build a chair that would never get mixed up with any chair in the world. My chair will be a nonconformist. It will be more than a representation of my personality; it will have its own personality.  My chair will rock to a different beat than any other chair ever. Yeah, it may turn out completely ugly. But I won’t care. I’ll never care. I’m going to build a chair for me, and I don’t care if you think I could have had a better idea. I don’t care if a rocking chair is a stupid idea. I like the idea, I love the idea, and it will be my utmost greatest creation. I want a masterpiece, and I’m ready to work for it." Nickolas wrote a great Wikiseat Manifesto and the results really matched up with his intentions. Wikiseat by Nickolas "As Ralph Waldo Emerson said in Self Reliance, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide". If you were to design a chair by looking and using other peoples designs then what is the point of you building one? There would be no point because you are not trying to stand out or be extraordinary but you are just copying someone else's work. "The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried." If you just give up because others say that you won't be able to complete or make your chair and you believe them then your not even using your own thoughts. When you think to yourself that you can't do something it is mostly because you are acting lazy and or even trying. When you say that to yourself you just ruin your self-confidence and self-esteem. When you actually try something you will realize that you most of the time can do it even if it takes you a couple tries to do it. "The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them." When you just do things to please others you are most of the time not pleasing yourself. Therefore you are not even using you own mind but using others to see how they want you too look or do something their way. If you listen to them all the time then you mine as well not even be there because you are not thinking for yourself but focusing on you peers decisions. If you make a chair that is different but you like it then make it don't let other people say that "your chair is ugly you should throw it away", but don't even listen to them. Do what you want because you will feel better knowing that you stand out in the crowd but are not just another average person like everyone else." Roy's chair might win for the most solid construction so far.  He really turned in a great looking Wikiseat and I actually used it a bit in class today and can vouch for it's consideration of height and comfort.  Here's his Wikiseat and what he wrote in his Wikiseat Manifesto. Wikiseat by Roy "Thinking about "Self Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson helps me with my chair that I'm making. If someone tells me I can't do it, I won't listen to them. I'll still try. Or if someone tells me that my chair looks goofy or dumb, I'll think to myself thats it's what I like and what they say isn't going to change the way I think about this project or the design of my chair. "Envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide. " This means that there is nothing special about your creation when you copy someone else's idea. And that if you do, then you're nothing except for an imitator. I will try not to copy any one else's idea while making my chair. I will make it all original with my own creation. I will take Ralph Waldo Emerson's words into consideration while designing and building my chair to make it 100% mine." I think the students' work speaks for itself.  I'm impressed at their follow-through, commitment, and engagement in this Wikiseat project.  There is so much to be learned from all of this, and I can only hope that the reflective process that will follow will be as deep as I think it will be.  Stay tuned and leave a few comments.  I'm very interested in what anyone else makes of this.

The Wikiseat Project: Emersonian Wikiseat Manifestos. ( If you want to make a chair out of TVs, make a chair out of TVs.)

by Sean Wheeler

Ralph Waldo Emerson in a chair.

Last Friday we dove into some more Ralph Waldo Emerson as a way to get us thinking about our approach to the Wikiseat project.  Here's what we read:

Excerpts from, Self Reliance (1841), by Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being.

Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser, who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? my friend suggested, "But these impulses may be from below, not from above." I replied, "They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the Devil's child, I will live then from the Devil." No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it.

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

 For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure. And therefore a man must know how to estimate a sour face. The by-standers look askance on him in the public street or in the friend's parlor. If this aversion had its origin in contempt and resistance like his own, he might well go home with a sad countenance; but the sour faces of the multitude, like their sweet faces, have no deep cause, but are put on and off as the wind blows and a newspaper directs.

 The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.

 A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. "Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood." Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. 

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841

After spending the whole day on the text, (btw - flexible group scheduling is great!), I asked the students to think about all of the ways that Emerson's text connect with our Wikiseat project.  They are about to start heading off to their own workspaces, teaming up with friends, calling up uncles, etc. and I asked them to end the day by writing a Wikiseat Manifesto.  I explained that a manifesto is a statement of both principles and intent.  I asked them to adopt the principles set forth in Self-Reliance and combine them with their intent to design and build their own Wikiseat.  There are so many great responses.  So many students wrote epic manifestos, and I'll be sharing them here for awhile, but here's what Courtney wrote.  Following is the prompt that the students received, and Courtney's response.

For this journal assignment, I'd like you to write a personal manifesto in relation to our work on the Wikiseat Project and our work on Emerson's, Self-Reliance.

A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions.  I want you to write a passionate and inspiring statement that relates Emerson's principles to your intentions on carrying out the Wikiseat Project with a high degree of success.

"I am one of those kids that can’t stand school. I’m the person that complains about being at school all day every day. That was true up until this year, when we learned about Ralph Waldo Emerson, and were introduced to “the chair project.”  “Self reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson makes it clear that you are who you are and no one can change you and that being yourself is key. “There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide;” What Ralph means by this is that if you don’t do what comes from your heart then you are just following someone else’s idea. I do not want to follow, I want to lead.

                When we were introduced to the chair project, my ideas were pretty basic. I planned on making just a basic chair. That would be a followers thought, but now I am thinking more on how to make my chair “me.” I want people to look at my chair and know that I made it and that it expresses who I am. Only I can think up my idea. My chair is going to be different, creative, and unlike no other.

                Ralph says “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.”  This is very inspiring because if you think about it, most decisions people make are based on what other people think. For example when you get dressed in the morning, you don’t want to wear something that your friends don’t like, because you don’t want to be made fun of. Be yourself. If you like “hippie” outfits, then wear a hippie outfit. If you want to make a chair out of T.Vs, make a chair out of T.Vs. It is important to do things your way and if others don’t like it… then that’s too bad, because you know that it is always fun to do something out of the ordinary. This is what lead me to the idea of my collage chair."

Wikiseat Project: Chair Design Journal #4 - Meta-Learning Goals

by Sean Wheeler

After asking students to outline the steps that they will take to get materials and begin work on their Wikiseat, and after asking them to discuss their plans to document their work at home, I asked them to do write down a few learning goals that were more personal and over-arching.  Following is the prompt, and a whole slew of responses that really impressed me.  I'm especially glad to see the studentsreally investing in these goals.  There is a real sense of determination in this writing and I'm starting to feel optimistic about our results.

I would like you to be very specific in telling me what you'd like to get out of this project besides a chair.  What will you know about yourself and how you learn by the end of the project?

“When you first told us that we were going to be making chairs, I thought you were joking, or that we were going to make design ideas and send them to a chair company. It will be a big accomplishment for the people who complete this chair project, and I'm excited to see how these chairs look."

• Justin

"I'll get if I'm good at building things. The only time that I can remember building things is when I was little and I played with Legos. I would also like to spend time with my grandpa, because I don't really get to see him that much lately."

• Branden

"By doing this project, no actually by  simply preparing to do this project, I've already learned that I'm still a procrastinator. I'd like to get out of this project most a sense that I'm overcoming that."

• Doriyan

"I really hope to learn how to use my originality in school. I think I have a strong imagination. But since school , I haven't been creative with myself. I hope to put my imagination out there for the whole world to see."

• Jumoke

"One thing I hope to learn is keep on working, even if it's a difficult exerience for me. Another thing I expect from this is to learn to be patient. I know this will take time, so patience will be a major factor in this."

• Owen

"What I would like to get out of this project is to learn how to use old materials to make something new."

• Roy

"I want to get out of this a sense of pride and knowing that it's okay to screw up thing sometimes. Not everything is going to be perfect but you can't let it get you down. I want to learn about myself that I don't always have to "go with the flow".  I can stand out. "

• Jenna

"I'd like to discover a new side of myself. i want to find out whether i am the handyman or the guy calling the handyman."

• Alex

"What I would like to get out of this project is to get the satisfaction of knowing that I have thought of this project that I thought to be really hard, then actually building it. At the end I will feel so proud of myself. I will know that if I put my mind to something I can accomplish anything."

• Dan

"Besides the chair, I am hoping this is really going to help my learning and the way that I go about doing other projects and my school work. Usually, when I get homework or a project I don't think I can do or that I don't understand I kind of just ignore it and make a bunch of stuff up at the last minute. I want this to be over at the end of this project and I think I will learn that I can do something that I have never done before and succeed."

• Alison

"Something I am hoping to get out of this project is to learn how to finish something I started, and to be proud fo myself and my work. I will know about myself by the end of this project that I learn better when things are more hands-on and fun."

• Bailey

"I hope this project increases my ability to operate tools and to learn to do more hands-on work. The designing of the chair is important because I don't want to make anything "normal", I want my chair to stand out so that instead of me looking at others chairs to see how to make mine they will do that with mine."

• Nickolas

"I would really like to learn how to stick to a project once I start it withough giving up. Usually, when I do a project for school by myself, I wait to the last minute to get it up and it usually doesn't turn out well because I gave up during the process. When I do something that's not related to school that's difficutlt, most of the time I give up half-way through. I want to avoid doing that from now on and I feel like this project will help me reach my goal."

• Sarah

"What I'm trying to get out of this project is making an object all by myself and being able to stick with it. Even if i don't finish it I will not stop trying. Which I think is the real point of the project. At the end of this I will learn how to accept failure and to not give up. Chair or no chair."

• Emmet

"By the end of this project I hope to think like a real constructor would think and learn about being handy like a man. By the end of this project I am sure to figure out that things don't come easy. You have to really sit down and evaluate what it is that you want to, because sometimes just doing it as you go will lead you nowhere."

• Jasmine

"The thing I want most out of this project would be spending time with my dad and having something that shows and will have memories of just my me and my dad doing something."

• Gabrielle

"I would like to get something that me and my dad did together and know that its homemade and not just bought and maybe someday I can show it off to my kids someday and tell then that anything is posible even if you dont know to do it."

• Samantha

"I have a pretty close relationship with my dad, but I'm hoping that it can grow through this project."

- Lillian

Wikiseat Project: Chair Design Journal Assignment #3 - Materials

by Sean Wheeler

As we've discussed in class, the Wikiseat project will require a good deal of ingenuity from you.  Perhaps the most essential question will center around materials.  What are you going to make your chair from?  How will you get these materials?  Is your plan realistic and achievable?

(Please do not simply answer the questions.  Give this some thought and give me your response to the whole issue of materials.

"My biggest problem doing this project is getting the materials to build it.  I have asked my family members and they said that they would be able to help me a bit with this problem. My grandpa said I can look around in his garage if needed. Hopefully I can find some metal to make the legs out of, really, anything but wood for the legs. As for the seat I was going to use wood, then drape some cloth over the wood so it won't be so hard. Lastly I'll need screws to hold the chair all together. I believe that my plan is realistic, but not easy to do." - Branden

"I would like my chair to fit comfortably for the sitter. I would like it to be cushiony nad relaxing. In order to fulfill my sitter's desire I think I want to use cotton, styrofoam, and anything else that I can maybe find for cheap. I hope these materials will make me a good chair so I may need help from a professional chair builder or someone close to it. I'm going to have to get my materials for cheap. I will search yard sales, garage sales, lawns, or from people that aren't using materials that I need. The plan that I imagine I feel like it may be realistic with a little help, but on my own I don't think I may be able to pull it off. But overall, my chair will come together and hopefully it's a success." - Jasmine

"My first major challenge in the making of my chair would be for me to figure out what my chair can be made of while also keeping the idea realistic and the cost at a medium range. I would like to build the frame of my chair out of wood then make my arm rest, backrest, and seat cushioned. I’d like to have a foot rest coming from the bottom of my seat that is retractable. It would stand on three wooded legs. I would like to make my seat reclineable so I would have to look into getting the piece that allows my chair to recline and also have to figure out if my wood frame will allow me to have a reclineable chair. My secondary problem would soon become getting these materials I would use pieces from the old chair we have in our basement and I would ebay the needed piece to make my chair recline.  Asking family members and friends, I believe, will take me a long way to achieving a medium cost range chair with the power to hold me up." - Jianna

"My chair will be somewhere cozy! Its gonna have fur! Its not gonna be from an animal or anything its gonna be just like one of those fake furs from the store or something! I will get the legs.  from Home Depot. Then for the cushion and the fur, probably Joann Fabrics. It's one of those stores where you can gets arts and crafts from. I think i will be able to do it. Right now it doesn't seem that hard but when I actually get working on it I hope it won't be too difficult. It shouldn't be! I think the hardest part for me will be getting the cushion to stay on and making sure the bottom isn't too wide and making sure the top is perfect! My fear for this project is cutting something wrong then having to redo the whole project again. But I know for a fact it's not gonna turn our perfect the first time. Wer'e suppost to screw up on our chair. It's how we learn!" - Morgan

Wikiseat Project: Chair Design Journal Assignment #2 - Influences

by Sean Wheeler

I'd like you to use this journal entry to occasionaly post pictures of things that you find interesting or perhaps useful in the design of your chair.  You shouldn't limit yourself to only finding pictures of chairs. 
For a great example of desing influences, check out this page.  If you look in the left hand column, you can see the way that jet design influenced Marc Newton's chair designs.

This assignment was intended more for student use, so I'll not be posting any of their responses here. 

Wikiseat Project: Chair Design Journal Assignment #1 - What's the Problem?

by Sean Wheeler

For this journal assignment, I'd like you to write a paragraph that takes into consideration the following questions:
- Where do you envision your chair being used? (ex.  Is it an outdoor chair?  Does it have to fit in with the decor of your bedroom?  Will this chair be used everyday, or just once in awhile?)
- Who will use your chair? (A kid?  You?  A specific person?)
- What problem do you hope to solve with your chair?  (We know a chair is for sitting, but what, specifically, does your chair do that would be useful.  Essentially, I want to know the specific function of your specific chair.)

"Have you ever got that feeling that you just want to sit in a chair and chill with your favorite music? Or when you have to do home work and you just want to listen to something to get your mind off of the boring work, and want to lay down because you had a rough day. Well that’s my problem. So I’m going to do something about my problem for me and others that have same problem as me. I will make a chair that you can listen to your favorite tunes in and not just for sitting but laying down in also. This chair has speakers that you can hook onto your iPod, iPhone, and cell phone. The laying down part of the chair is that you can fold it back from a chair to a bed. " 
- Chris

"My room is going to be remodled as an arabian genie in a lamp theme and I need a chair that will complement my new room. I don't have any seating other than a rocking chair that not only does not go with my theme, but it is also very uncomfortable to sit in and I use it more as clothing rack than a source of seating. My colors for the room are fuschia, aquamarine, bright orange, and gold accents."
- Kali

"My room has alot of collages on my walls. There is one empty space in my room and it would be the perfect place to watch tv comfortaby in my room. there is not a good space to watch tv in my room right now because it hurts my neck to look at the tv for too long in my bed.

I think it would be really cool if I made a collage chair to fit the empty space. It would match my room perfectly. I would make sure that it is very comfortable, and will have a foot rest with padding. I also like the idea of a collage made out fabric, like a quilt pattern on my chair, that way it would be a very comfortable place to sit in my room. I also like the idea of using parts and pieces of old bikes.

I can picture this as the perfect place to watch tv, and I won't have to watch tv in the living room with my parents anymore, because I will be perfectly comfortable in my room, and my neck won't hurt anymore. Also, my room will no longer have an annoying empty corner anymore." 

- Courtney

"I want my chair to solve problems that others may have. Lots of chairs seem to hurt people’s backs, or strain their legs, so I thought of a more curved chair to make things a bit more comfortable. I also found that armrests seem to be nice also, so I will try to put that in with my chair. Chairs are almost everywhere you go, from in the park, to in your bedroom. I would like my chair to be located in someone’s living room where it would be used the most often. Not only are chairs everywhere, but on top of that, they have their own textures and colors, from leather to wood. They can match, but they don’t have to. I think that if a chair matches everything else that it is around, it just adds to the room, where if you have a chair that does not fit the room at all, it may make the room look bad, because of that one thing which stands out. I would like my chair to be the one that fits in best."

- Andrew

The Wikiseat Project - Getting the "Catalysts" and Emerson's "The American Scholar"

by Sean Wheeler

The "Catalysts" were handed out on the 14th of September, and I've been a bit busy since then!  The video above shows the first group of students as they picked out their "Catalyst" and the project suddenly became very real for them.  It was a great day and I was sure to take tons of pictures and conduct a few video interviews.  I haven't had a chance to edit the interviews together yet, but I can honestly say that the whole project took a definite turn when they got the parts in their hands. 

The "Catalysts" were constructed by John Malloy, a local tradesman, as a side-project/favor and they turned out great.  Our pieces still need the holes drilled, and might require some paint, but John was super helpful with his pricing and he came through for us as I was starting to worry if this thing would ever get off the ground.  He documented his process and will be meeting with the students to discuss his process in the upcoming week or two.  I look forward to having my students get a glimpse into the steps that John took in learning how to build the part, as well as the discussion that my students will be able to have about their own learning process as their work on the Wikiseat begins.

We're reading Ralph Waldo Emerson as well.  Last week had us working with "The American Scholar", this week we're tackling "Self-Reliance".  In the opening of "The American Scholar", Emerson lays out what he saw to a crucial issue that he hoped the American students would come to both realize and confront, 

It is one of those fables which out of an unknown antiquity convey an unlooked-for wisdom, that the gods, in the beginning, divided Man into men, that he might be more helpful to himself; just as the hand was divided into fingers, the better to answer its end.


The old fable covers a doctrine ever new and sublime; that there is One Man, -- present to all particular men only partially, or through one faculty; and that you must take the whole society to find the whole man. Man is not a farmer, or a professor, or an engineer, but he is all. Man is priest, and scholar, and statesman, and producer, and soldier. In the divided or social state these functions are parcelled out to individuals, each of whom aims to do his stint of the joint work, whilst each other performs his. The fable implies that the individual, to possess himself, must sometimes return from his own labor to embrace all the other laborers. But, unfortunately, this original unit, this fountain of power, has been so distributed to multitudes, has been so minutely subdivided and peddled out, that it is spilled into drops, and cannot be gathered. The state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk, and strut about so many walking monsters,--a good finger, a neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never a man.


Man is thus metamorphosed into a thing, into many things. The planter, who is Man sent out into the field to gather food, is seldom cheered by any idea of the true dignity of his ministry. He sees his bushel and his cart, and nothing beyond, and sinks into the farmer, instead of Man on the farm. The tradesman scarcely ever gives an ideal worth to his work, but is ridden by the routine of his craft, and the soul is subject to dollars. The priest becomes a form; the attorney a statute-book; the mechanic a machine; the sailor a rope of the ship.

The students and I got pretty deep into this one.  I started by asking them what they wanted to be in ten years.  They told me they wanted to be doctors, veterinarians, athletes, business executives, salon owners, artists, and rappers.  It was a set-up question, of course.  I pointed out to them that nobody said "happy", or "in love", or "interested", or anything of that ilk.  They all told me that ten years from now they wanted to be a job.  They didn't say anything about wanting to be a person.  What would Emerson think of these answers?  He'd say we hadn't learned anything since he pointed out the problem over 100 years ago.  My students have the message loud and clear.  They go to school, to get into college, to get a job and then they can start their "life".  Emerson holds that the American student should be more closely tied to what Walter Gropius referred to when he said of his work with the Bauhaus academy that,  "Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life, necessary for everyone in a civilized society. "  With his admonitions to "study nature" and to acquire an "active soul", Emerson calls on American students to recognize and confront the dignity of creation as a vital component of our educational mission.  He goes on to point out that all too often, "Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given; forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books."

This project, for us, is a way of exploring Emerson's ideas.  The students are doing instead of getting, making instead of regurgitating, and engaged rather than being passive participants in their learning.  I've got tons to process and the project keeps moving forward at a rapid pace.  I'll be posting the journal assignments (and hopefully a few student responses), posting random interviews and pictures,  and discussing all of the interesting turns the project is taking along the way (ex.  The Geometry teacher and I have been holding cross-curricular classes for the past three days!).  Stay tuned and please be patient as I try my best to work with the kids, plan the next step, and reflect on the vast amount of learning that has gone on thus far.

Wikiseat Napkin Drawings

The Wikiseat Project: So You're Going to Build A What in English Class?

by Sean Wheeler

A Wikiseat by Nicolas Weidinger

This past spring I stumbled onto an interesting project designed by Nicolas Weidinger called, Wikiseats.org. Nic explains the project by writing,  "A Wikiseat is a three legged stool that is built by hand. Each WikiSeat starts with a Catalyst that acts as a central support structure. The creator of a WikiSeat has the freedom to gather materials and find their own methods for building the seat."

The "Catalyst"

At the time, I was immediately struck by a desire to give it a go.  But I'd never built a chair before, I didn't know how to get a "Catalyst", and I'm terrible with tools.  I felt stuck before I even got out of the gate.  Navigating the project and learning all I would have to learn seemed so daunting.  My seat would probably stink anyway.  After a few weeks of having this gnawing feeling that I really did want to have a try at building a Wikiseat, and falling back on my litany of fears about actually learning how to navigate the project successfully and have it not end in abject failure, I realized that this was exactly like so many of my students feel when working on schoolwork.  It's a case in which the will to learn is there, but it's consumed by an inability to actually dive in for fear of failure or frustration.  I needed to learn how to learn, to navigate, and to talk about the process with someone who might listen and help.  So I decided to order 100 "Catalysts" and make the Wikiseat project the main focus of our first quarter in 10th grade American Literature.

A brief bit of context... I teach in a cohort of students and teachers in a program called LHS 2.0.  The teaching group consists of 9th grade and 10th grade core-subject teachers (Math, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts), an academic coach, and three Special Education teachers.  We use mastery grading, flexible block scheduling, blended online instruction, and problem-based learning as the core foundations of the program.  Each grade level contains a mix of randomly assigned students taken from our regular and special education population and the average class has 25 students.  Each student has been assigned a school-owned netbook.  The 10th grade team often uses a large lecture hall as a classroom, and we frequently hold classes with all 100 students at a time.  We work in two time blocks, each consisting of three 40-minute classes, and students take electives and lunch in the middle of our school day.  Cross-curricular and content area specific units share time throughout the school year.  

The thrust of this unit is towards building a basis in our classroom culture for what it means to learn.  The design process lends itself as an excellent model for real learning, and the Wikiseat project is an ideal way for students to participate in the design process.  Encountering a "Catalyst", be it a few sections of metal at odd angles or a problem that needs solved, is the first step in learning.  The problem compels the learning.  This is contrary to most current teaching practice in that most text-book based classrooms allow what is supposed to be learned to dictate what "problems" students should have to do to acquire the skill.  They've got it backwards.  After encountering a compelling problem (i.e. "I've got this chunk of metal, how am I going to make it into a seat?") designers then begin brainstorming, hypothesizing, modeling, and drafting.  Each of these skills can be found littered throughout our academic content standards, and when students have something to accomplish (like making a chair or writing an essay) I've noticed that these steps don't feel tacked-on or tedious.  The actual composition of a finished product requires a healthy willingness to fail, learn from mistakes, and seek feedback and input from outsiders.  Students, all too often, get mired in frustration and freeze at this stage of the learning process.  Either that or they rush through in a half-hearted effort to get it done and over with.  Design is only realized in use, when it is interacted with by an audience.  The more real the audience is to any designer, the more important that it has an effect on that audience.  This is also true for learning.  My students have shown a tremendous concern for the quality of their work when they have the opportunity to share it in an authentic context beyond our classroom.

The Wikiseat project will be the main focus of my posts for the near future.  I hope that people will follow along, comment, and help me to teach my students something that I really need to learn.

(Next Post --> "'This Is American Literature Class, Isn't It?': Ralph Waldo Emerson's, The American Scholar and the Wikiseat"

Wikiseat.org

by Sean Wheeler

I'm in the initial phases of planning a unit involving student construction of WikiSeats.  Here's what WikiSeat's creater, Nic Weidinger,  posts in the comments section of his WikiSeat Instructables post:

"So when it comes to marketing, one target audience is students and shop teachers. But the real opportunity starts when students – seeking to learn new skills – can work along side master craftsmen who have perfected their skills. This seems like a great way for people to collaborate and learn from one another. “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.” The WikiSeat project is a medium that span across generations and professions by allowing anyone to create something useful within the framework. Every WikiSeat has the same basic elements, but every detail is ultimately up to the builder."