Research through design for education.
MYCGRO is a comprehensive educational resource allowing Kindergarten students to learn more about sustainable materials.
This project serves as a study on integrating sustainability education into a classroom evironment, investigating how Design can help solve the lack of tangible opportunities for younger students to learn about sustainability.
This is the culmination of months worth of research, experimentation, prototyping and user testing, resulting in a series of educational materials and their ability to help young learners grasp concepts of sustainability through a scientific lens.
MYCGRO aims to make both learning and teaching about sustainability more adabtable to classroom learning environments.
RESEARCH & CONCEPT
Focused on 3 overarching themes
sustainable practices/systems
biomaterials & applications
educational & instructional design
Visited classrooms & gathered data through observations recorded as freehand notes, paying attention to what students are drawn to and their behavior in an educational environment.
Key Takeaways:
Most children seemed to learn best by working collaboratively.
many were doodling and/or playing games.
Engagement was highest with hands-on/call & response activities.
CONCEPT IDEATION
PROTOTYPING
USER TESTING
Collaborated with Urban Tilth Education program Directors to introduce various trials of the project at Verde Elementary in Richmond, CA.
User Testing Phase 1:
Designed a 2-3 week mock lesson plan for an eighth- grade class.
Students learned how to grow their own mycelium pots using Ecovative’s GIY starter kit.
External factors seemed to prevent the material from successfully growing (sun, contamination, etc.)
User testing Phase 2:
Revised & adapted previous project for a fifth-grade classroom
Designed a slide show to help teachers to deliver a 2-part lesson on mycelium through an illustrated slideshow
This was paired with a collaborative activity where students painted mycelium pots & used them to plant tomato seedlings
The project allowed them to see the full life cycle of the pots as a sustainable material and the ways they can help the planet.
The final MYCGRO Kit includes:
A three-part molding tool and GIY mycelium substrate
Four paint jars with plant-based, biodegradable watercolors
Six paint pallettes
A two-part digital lesson plan pdf.
A printable teachers guide
MYCGRO Observation journals (in English & Spanish)
FINAL PRODUCT
