The Wikiseat Project: So Much More Than Just a Stool

The Wikiseat Catalyst

Students in my Design class have been working at home for the past 4 weeks on their Wikiseats. The Wikiseat Project in short is to take a piece of welded angle iron call the 'catalyst' and make a seat from this platform, but it's so much more. 

"WikiSeat explores the possibilities of new teaching methods in core subjects such as science, mathematics, English, and literature, or any other educational application. The Catalyst is geared towards bringing tangibility to intangible concepts, while simultaneously challenging students to think smarter about the problems their generation is faced with.

Every student is provided with a Catalyst (the structural support for a chair), with the goal of building a functional seat.  The student is tasked with finding materials and developing the skills for building on their own. Along the way, the intention is for the student to collaborate with their community, and to be introduced to new opportunities for learning." - wikiseat.org 

Inspired by Many

Brayden's seat for his sister

I was inspired by Nic Weidinger's passion for something that on the outside seems so simple, but in actuality is very complex. There are so many interwoven human, interpersonal elements and physical design components. He was so supportive that he even send me a jig so we can make our own catalysts! This has prompted me to seek out students in our school who are going to weld them for classes in the future. I have never done any welding so I'm actually going to be learning from my work experience student in the coming weeks. My oh my how the teacher has become the student. I hope that we can get the iron donated and then we can make extra catalysts to give away to other schools who want to do the project. 

I could write a whole post about the work of Mr. Sean Wheeler and his literature class' work with the Wikiseat project, but I know I wouldn't be able to capture a fraction of impact that making Wikiseats has had on his students' lives.  I've talked with him and stalked his blog and taken so much from his sage advice. So, you MUST check his students' work out. Thank you so much Sean for your work and the inspiration your students have given mine! 

Curriculum 

The Wikiseat project is the way my design students will be demonstrating their understanding of the design process. The one caveat of the project is that the seat they create must be for someone other than themselves, and it must solve a problem, or fulfill a need for the recipient. Empathy becomes the root of their designs. They have to truly process and understand the needs of the recipient to make a seat that is useable. 

I have started developing a student guide to take with them as they use the design process to make their Wikiseat. I'd happily share it with anyone! It is available to adapt, edit, change to meet your needs. Just email me (coolpoolteacher (at) gmail.com) and I'll send it to you right away. 

Ryley's seat for his mom

Wikiseat Materials 
Many teachers are asking what are the best materials to make the Wikiseats. Truth be told I really don't think it matters. In a way it's not even really about the Wikiseat! (More on that later).  I encouraged students to scrounge materials and not spend very much at all on the project. Most used scrap lumber they found in the scrap bins in our Industrial Arts Lab (yes we are very fortunate to have one in our school). Others spent $4-6 on bannister spindles which seem to work very well for strength. Paint was scrounged for most students as well. Some teachers might choose to tell students in the design brief that they MUST scrounge materials, it might at another 'recycling, re-using' angle to the project. 

It's NOT About the Seats

I have been telling students that I can't wait to brag about their amazing work. About 1/3 of my students are still working on the project to wrap up this week. I haven't been stressing out them not getting them in on the 'due date'. I'm sure all of them will be in shortly. What I'm wanting them to focus on if to communicate how they have used the design process but telling the story of their Wikiseat build, and how they made the seat to meet the needs of someone else:  

Julia's seat for her mom

"I decided to make my stool for my mom and she wanted a stool for her scrap booking table in our basement. She wants the stool because she cant find stool's that are tall enough for her so i'm making a stool that is a little taller than regular stools."-AJ

"[My twin sister] needs a wiki seat to express her inner fashoninsta that makes her feel awesome man!- BRANDEE

"For mine, I am making the seat more for a wider group, I had difficulty thinking of who to talk to then I thought of who visits the most, and my neighbour came to mind."- BRAD

"The probem that I tried to solve was that [my mom] was fifty, so when we go to the gym she gets really sore for a while and is really tired afterwards, so I wanted to make her a chair that is comfy to sit on so she can rest." RYLEY

Unofficial Curriculum

AJ's seat for his mom's scrapbooking table

One unintended but amazing result from students working on their seats is all of the stories I'm hearing from them. This is the 'unofficial curriculum' the learning from their parents, friends, grandparents etc. I'm really looking forward to students' summary blog posts to hear all about how and who they built their seats with. One student AJ beamed about all of the learning from his grandfather because his grandfather was very precise when they were working together. This is one project were I really loved the face that students got help from someone at home! 

To Be Continued
I'm waiting for 5 more stools and then we are going to prepare a Wikiseat exhibition at our school's annual coffee house talent show and fundraiser. I will share students' post project blog posts where they will be summarizing their learning. I can't wait to share students' stories with the rest of the school and community! More sharing to come....

Sketching a Moon Man

Students in block 1 Design class have been working on many different types of sketches. Today I shared with them a sketch that was done by my day circa 1973/74 when he sketched and animated a moon man walking. He captured each of the drawings with his super 8 camera. I'm going to try and get a copy of it from him to share as well. For no, here's the moon man.

Inspirations Everywhere: DIY Sketchbooks in the Classroom

Introducing Design 

One major focus of Multimedia and Design class this semester is for students to sketch and sketch often. We have a sketch a day where I give physical, visual and auditory prompts for students to respond to in sketches. I think that sketches are the foundation of designing.

On Friday I had a 2 hour Google hangout with Fred Galang. This conversation had so many topics that it deserves a post on its own, but what came out of it for me is a totally new look on connecting the curriculum to creative student work. Fred's students are constantly sketching and I really took that to heart. Fred was so generous with his time and advice,  I am trying to internalize a lot of it, but I know it will be invaluable as I start my class this semester.

Sketchbooks can be made from anything, and for about 8 bucks you can get a coil bound book at Staples that will do a fine job. Lately I've been looking at the world and thinking that instead of buying something like a sketchbook, I should make one. One important tenet for Fred is to ALWAYS do a project before you have students do it. This was definitely one of those tasks that I needed to see the project from the other side to gauge difficulty as well as time needed, and how well the it will meet the outcomes in the Design modules.

How To's to the Rescue

I simply searched "DIY sketchbook" and was introduced to a ton of resources.

One site on Youtube that was the most helpful was from Sea Lemon. She has an amazing array of DIY videos. I watched a few of her videos and decided to use the Coptic Stitch method and combine it with her TEXT BLOCK case binding . I wanted to use plain paper from the school as well as some card stock for the covers. The dental floss idea was simply a thought I had because I knew it was cheap, readily available, and had wax on it to easily sew and bind the paper together. There was so much learning in the project. I learned about the history of Coptic Binding, and how it is an ancient technique. The form is perfect for sketchbooks because the final book lays flat. Despite absolutely NO sewing and stitching experience I was able to get the first two signatures bound within 30 minutes, which was REALLY taking my time. All told, the time invested, the learning it provided and the satisfaction of making something certainly made this a worthwhile project. I hope my enthusiasm will rub off on my students when we make sketchbooks this week!

Materials 
I will be using materials for this project that are a little different than on the DIY sites I visited. I will use a corn on the cob holder to poke holes in the paper (awl's cost $30 each!), dental floss instead of waxed thread, white photocopy paper, and 65lb card stock I got at Staples for the covers. Instead of rice glue I'll probably use PVA glue like is recommended, because it is really quite inexpensive. The binding doesn't have to be glued at all so an ordinary glue stick could be used to add the card stock covers.

This project is step one of several in our first project which is to develop a "personal brand" as young designers. Students will get to etch their personal brand into their sketchbooks as part of this ongoing project and introduction to design.