Art and Design Commons^™

Craft Education: Authentic Design Constraints, Embodied Thinking, And Craft Making, Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Kaiju Kangas

Learn X Design Conference Series

Craft education, as a form of design learning, has a special significance in inspiring human creativity, particularly when conceptual and material aspects of the process reciprocally support one another. This article underlines the relevance of craft and design education; 1) the importance of dealing with various constraints and professional design knowledge, 2) the role of the embodied thinking in design and making activities, and 3) the ability to foster students’ awareness and competence in exploring, evaluating and improving their local environment and design culture. Two longitudinal elementary students’ design projects will be described as examples of integrative and thematic school …