February - May 2008
4 month project in collaboration with TOG (Community Volunteer Foundation)
Organization Team: Ece Canlı, Ceylan Uşakierali, Kerem Erdem Göç, Ekin Belek
Purpose
Today, particularly in Turkey, there are many disadvantaged children who are devoid of improving their creativities due to lack of necessary education supports. This project aimed to help these children (aged 10-15) to make them see their environments in a different way via design point of view. Children were supposed to solve their everyday problems by means of using these design approaches including these workshop steps.
Content
C.G.G Project had comprised five workshops as creativity steps for children that sequentially follow each other. Organization team had visited 21 cities all across Turkey so as to train volunteers in those cities about implementation of workshops. Then, these workshops had applied through five weeks as one workshop per a week:
Rhythm: It attempts to make a connection between the ‘rhythm’ concept and its contexts such as continuity, repetition, resemblance etc. It enables children to turn abstract concepts into tangible objects via using both auditory and tactual tools.
Geometrical Forms: Via this workshop, children are supposed to see ordinary geometrical forms, which spontaneously surround us everywhere, in a different way and to use these forms through different combinations by means of several implementations and simulations.
Object Analysis: It enables children to look everyday objects in a different perspective via ripping and analyzing every part of an object (a ballpoint pen as an example). Some of the questions children are expected to ask are how these parts can be put together in different combinations and how they can be useful in different usage.
Robotics: In this step, certain ready components are prepared in a box in order that children integrate them into one piece as both a useful model and a toy.
Brainstorming: This section refers a regular brainstorming method used in every design process. Children are supposed first to look over their daily problems again, and then to generate new design solutions against these problems via storytelling, sketching or modeling.
The project has been sustained across these cities and elementary schools even after visits and trainings had been over. In addition, there have been many positive feedbacks received from both children and volunteers.
