Project Square Playful Learning Starter Kit v.1

Project Square Core Team

Cristina Riesen, project lead, founder We Are Play Lab Foundation
Serena Cangiano, design researcher SUPSI
Gregory Pepper, co-founder of Ginger & Pepper Design Studio
Dragan Trninic, researcher learning sciences ETH
Morgane Chevalier, researcher computational thinking EPFL and HEP-VAUD
Franziska Spring, Playful Learning Expert 
Frederique Lazzarotto, Teacher Trainer EPFL

Scientific advisors:

Prof. Dr.Francesco Mondada, EPFL
Prof. Dr. Manu Kapur, ETH

Design Team SUPSI

Serena Cangiano, lead researcher and designer, expert in the domain of design for tech education and open design projects
Lorenzo Romagnoli, interaction designer and teacher of programming and electronics for non-expert
Valentina Meldi, graphic designer
Marco Lurati, co-manager of FabLab SUPSI with an expertise of the fabrication of physical products

Iterative Design Contributors

A first co-design kick-off session for Project Square was organized at LAC Cultural Center of Lugano on May, 5th  2018. The co-design session, aiming at testing the use of the kit materials and the openness of its design system, involved an interdisciplinary group of researchers, designers, educators and entrepreneurs:

Prof. Dr. Manu Kapur, ETH Learning Sciences
Dr. Dragan Trninic, ETH Learning Sciences
Prof. Dr. Matthias Hauswirth, USI Computer Science
Dr. Alessandro Giusti, researcher at IDSIA Institute of Artificial Intelligence USI/SUPSI
Leyla Tawfik, interaction design student at SUPSI
Giovanni Profeta, designer and Ph.D. student at SUPSI
Gregory Pepper, co-founder Ginger & Pepper Design Studio
Carla Marzo, Master student Hochschule Luzern Design & Kunst
Corinne Meier, Director Cercle Scolaire de la Val de Ruz, CSVR
Dr. Serena Cangiano, researcher and designer SUPSI
Lorenzo Romagnoli, interaction designer and teacher of programming and electronics
Cristina Riesen, founder We Are Play Lab Foundation

After the kick-off co-design session, the SUPSI design team focused on the development of the research and design activities addressing the realization of the advanced prototype of the Square playful learning starter kit. The research and design activities have been based on a “research through design approach”, namely the development of research outcomes through the act of designing artifacts during a series of iterations. This approach was applied to the realization of the advanced prototype materials and the design of the playful learning activities in order to respond to the need of providing educators and students with an engaging playful learning experience.

A series of user testing sessions and educators workshops and presentations were organized in Switzerland throughout 2018 and they will continue throughout 2019.

The user testing sessions in 2018 have been possible thanks to the enthusiastic support of teachers of primary schools in Ticino, the CSVR in Neuchatel and the support of researchers of the Department of Learning and Education of SUPSI.

Credits

The Square playful learning starter kit is released under the Creative Commons License, CC BY-NC-SA, allowing anyone to use, adapt and distribute its contents non-commercially by mentioning Project Square, www.projectsquare.cc and We Are Play Lab Foundation, www.wap.rocks.

The materials have been designed to be expanded and extended by the teachers and the community of contributors who would like to create their own activities. Anybody can encode new rules following the activities format and submit them to the Square team. After submission, the new activity will be validated and will become part of the Square community Playbook.

Check www.projectsquare.cc to submit your activity or join the Square educators community of practice to discover and get inspired by activities other educators are creating everyday in their classrooms.

You can send ideas or give feedback on the prototype: cristina@weareplaylab.net