MARBLE TALK

Students are often encouraged to make use of visually expressive tools in order to express their feelings or state-of-mind. Besides communication purposes, this visual type of expression might be able to give an opportunity for students to initiate personal reflection through analysing and defining their own mood, feelings and experiences. This way of using visual expression can facilitate reflection for students who are just getting to know their way around reflective thinking.

We did a comparative study, and explored if a visual aid as part of multisensory stimuli can lead to enhanced and deeper reflective ability.

Participants were asked to participate in a game of Pictionary. Then, they were asked to pick a coloured marble and insert it in the artifact. Finally, they had to give an verbal reflection.

“I also designed, prototyped and assembled the final artifact.”

MY ROLE

I mostly focussed on constructing the research setup. This meant defining the research method and designing the artifact that was going to provide the data. Moreover, I transcribed and analysed the data together with two fellow team members.

MY THOUGHTS

Since this was my first research through design project, it showed me the potential role of design in research. I don’t see myself as a design researcher. Yet, I do believe that design is a powerful tool to acquire valuable information.