Exploring the impact of whole-school design projects

A case study of Fountaineers: designing an interactive, programmable water fountain

April 2008

Authors: Tash Lee and Tim Rudd
Contributors: Hans Daanen, Clara Lemon, Sean McDougall, Laura Shore

The full version of this report is available to download in pdf format - see box below. On this page you'll find the report's introduction.

Introduction

Fountaineers is an ongoing partnership project between Futurelab, Stakeholder Design and Luckwell Primary School. The aim of the project is to use the design and construction of an interactive, programmable, 'intelligent' water fountain as a vehicle to explore issues around participation, learner voice and alternative approaches to teaching and learning, and to develop a powerful, flexible and unique learning resource that will become a valuable and integral part of everyday school life and learning.

The project was originally shaped around three key goals:

The design process – to involve the whole school and explore new ways to communicate, combine ideas and make decisions, and to promote learner voice.

The fountain design and build – to design and construct a water fountain with MIMO (Multi Input, Multi Output) characteristics which is reconfigurable in multiple ways and programmable by children.

Ownership by the school – for students and staff to take ownership of the design process, and of the fountain itself, integrating it into their teaching and learning practices.

These goals were set against the backdrop of related policy debates, initiatives and trends in contemporary education including the Government’s personalisation agenda, the Every Child Matters framework, the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and Primary Capital programmes and the QCA's Curriculum 'Big Picture'.

The project was also seen as continuing and ongoing, with the fountain acting as a catalyst for ongoing pedagogic research, rather than a finite project with a clear end point. This report documents the design process up to the point of construction and installation of the fountain (scheduled for early 2008) and the impact the project has had on teachers and pupils at the school so far. A further report will follow, documenting use, application and impacts of the fountain in the first six months of use following installation. Lessons learned from the project may inform institutions embarking upon whole-school or co-design projects, learning spaces redesigns (as part of forthcoming BSF or Primary Capital projects) or schools wishing to promote learner voice.