Symposium: Embodied Making and Design Learning, LearnXDesign2015

The aim of the symposium is to discuss the
role of embodied making in design learning. Embodied making is a term
used to describe the united mind/body and its experience while making
artifacts or engaging in other creative activities with materials. One
main aim within this topic is to explore the basic conditions and
consequences of being a body in the world, experiencing and learning
through working in materials. The theme is approached through an
interdisciplinary approach using a variety of methods, like video
recordings, neuro-scientific methods, and stimulated recall just to
mention a few examples. The facilitators of the symposium come from a
variety of backgrounds, like humanities and social sciences – in
particular art and design, design education and craft science,
educational neuroscience and phenomenology.

The facilitators are all presenting papers and
contribute in the discussions. They are all leaders of or members in
research groups within the topic: The Embodied Making and Learning
research group, Telemark University College, Norway; the Handling Mind
research consortium, Aalto University, Finland; and the Human Ingenuity
Research Group, Western, Ontario, Canada. Also participating are
PhD-students from each group, some attending the conference, others
participating online from their home institutions.

The symposium aims at bringing these central
researchers and research leaders together to discuss both the selected
topics of embodied cognition in making and design learning and future
possibilities for uniting the human capital of each group in a global,
co-owned research project.

The symposium is open to other researchers at
the LearnxDesign conference as audience to the presentations and
participants in the plenary discussions.

The symposium has a duration of four hours and is organized in the four sessions available on the first day of the learnxdesign2015-conference: Sunday 28th June
. The first three sessions will be streamed online and members of the
three research groups are especially invited to attend from their home
institutions.

SESSION 1: MAKING, CREATIVITY AND COGNITION (OPEN SESSION)

 Creative cognition and embodied making Marte S. Gulliksen, Professor, Telemark University College, Norway

This paper revisit previous research on the
maker’s experience when working in materials and discusses this in light
of new research on creative cognition and the neurological basis of
making.

Creating the space/conditions for creativity Joel Lopata, PhD, Western University, Canada

Recent research shows that increased frontal
brain activity is related to internal focus of attention (Buzsaki &
Draguhn, 2004; Klimesch et al., 2007; Ward, 2003), creative thinking
(Fink et al., 2009), and creative products (Lopata, 2014). These
processes are reminiscent of improvising artists’ descriptions of the
creative process (Berkowitz, 2007). In this talk Dr. Joel Lopata
presents neuroscientific research, contending that internal focus of
attention is the key condition for creative flow.

Embodied making and creative practice Maarit Mäkelä, Associate Professor, Aalto University

Recently, artists and designers have taken an
active role in contextualising the creative process as it relates to
their practice. Thus, understanding how the creative mind proceeds has
been supplemented with knowledge attained inside the creative process.
This presentation is based on documentation of my creative practice in
contemporary ceramic art that occurred at the beginning of 2015

SESSION 2: LEARNING AND EMBODIED MAKING (OPEN SESSION)

What neuroscience can tell us about skill learning in craft: The promise of cognitive neuroscience in making Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Professor, University of Helsinki, Finland

Handling Mind; Embodiment, Creativity and
Design project aimed at using novel neuroscientific methods for studying
creative, embodied processes and skill learning. We discuss the
challenges and opportunities that use of brain imaging methods,
especially, provides for understanding design activities.

Engaging users in the design of post-secondary teaching and learning spaces Catharine Dishke-Hondzel, PhD, Western University, Canada

University teaching and learning spaces have a
variety of users with diverse needs. Simultaneously physical,
technological, and psychological, space influences learning
opportunities, including pedagogy and access to information. This paper
discusses a year-long investigation of teaching and learning spaces
designed to better identify constraints and opportunities for growth and
programming.

Round-table discussion

SESSION 3: THE BODY SEEN IN DESIGN PRACTICE (OPEN SESSION)

Design and craft thinking analyzed as a form of embodied cognition Camilla Groth, Research Fellow, Aalto University, Finland

This session presents three cases where craft-
and design practices are analyzed as forms of embodied cognition. The
first case involves ceramic workshops with deafblind makers. The second
case involves a Practice-Led study on tactile augmentation in ceramic
craft practice. The third case is examining the role of the knowing
body, in design students’ material exploration process.

Approaching embodied experience of materials and materiality Härkki Tellervo, Research Fellow, University of Helsinki, Finland

We studied students’ relationship with
materials and materiality, especially focusing on embodied experience.
These experiences manifest themselves in multimodal expressions:
gestures, body postures and speech acts. A qualitative video analysis
method was developed to identify these expressions and their linkages
with inherent or associative qualities, materials and materiality.

Round-table discussion

SESSION 4: WORKSHOP (1H – CLOSED SESSION for convenors only)