Cassini Nazir
MA Interaction Design University of North Texas
The aim of this activity is to teach students how to see and look for questions. Its a priming activity that students will look back onto. The activity is to take students outside to a grassy space and give each student about a circle of 10 cm diameter to observe and are asked to find as many living things in that circle as possible. The immediate responses are usually, grass, plants, a crawling bug. As they explore more, they start to ask: what’s below, that I cant see? Worms, mycelium? Roots, Decaying materials? The students often get speculative; what if there were bacteria in that circle? Viruses? This helps students have less definite views of their assumptions. Once students have explored the small circle of grass, they’re asked to imagine expanding the circle and probe for living things and systems on different scales, that of the house, the neighborhood, the city, the planet.
The activity is successful if it unsettles certainties and helps students opening to possibilities. It stimulates students to explore with curiosity and reflect