FEZ Berlin requested us in summer 2018 to support them by developing a Lab for Digital Education in the basement of their building for children between 5 - 12 years. FEZ Berlin is Europe's biggest non-profit centre for children, youth, and family. They provide an indoor space with 13,000 m² and an outdoor space with 175,000 m² where children can learn and have fun by exploring nature, visiting the FEZ museums and the theatre, using the sports areas, and experiencing special holiday programs.
Two teams of students worked on the challenge to develop the FEZ Lab for Digital Education. On the one hand, they had to find a way respecting the traditional values of FEZ Berlin as a place for adventure, education, and fun. On the other hand, they had to build a prototype lab which opens FEZ Berlin for the digital future.
In order to bridge the gap between analog and digital education, the students developed a space for a Design Thinking Lab for hybrid forms of education, a space for a digitalHUB for digital education and Education Programs which connect the analog with the digital world. Thus, they met the needs of FEZ Berlin and their customer. These were the most important insights from the interviews: Parents like it when their children train their creativity through in and outside activities at FEZ Berlin and children love to explore nature and they are curious about new technologies.
In this Design Thinking Lab, children can develop ideas for sustainable analog and digital projects like „Our smart and sustainable City of the Future". As a team of innovative city planners, they can develop their first rough prototypes by hand or build directly digital ones in the digitalHUB nearby.
Description of the room: For working with the Design Thinking Method, the room should have „flexible sitting arrangements like one big sofa, lots of plush cushions, bean bags, and tiny sitting tools. A big stair on wheels serves as a podium for presentations and for pitching first ideas. Traditional tables and chairs can be used for teamwork and for building first rough prototypes by hand. Big shelves offer space to store books, analog learning materials, and a tiny robot. Moreover, green is an important element of the room to create a relaxing environment. That is why, the prototype includes indoor plants. “- Students voice
Team A
In the digitalHUB the children had the opportunity to train their digital skills like coding and programming or learn how to use digital devices like tablets, mediaboards, 3d printer, drones, CAD, and programs for video production. During the interviews with children, one girl told us that she could not imagine to work in the field of informatics. All people would sit alone at single desks not communicating with anyone. To avoid this feeling of loneliness, the students developed round tables for the digitalHUB with screens where the children had the opportunity to see their team mates and chill out areas to relax or have a chat with each other.
Team B
Data base for plants at FEZ Berlin
For this program, children went outside for a field research to explore the plants around FEZ Berlin. In this process, they used iPads and drones to collect data about the plants. Next, they returned to the Lab and learned how to determine the types of plants. They categorized the collected data of the plants and used this data to develop a database. In this way, the children learned how to organize a field research with a drone, how to collect data, how to evaluate them, and how to create a database.
The students developed this educational program for two reasons. Firstly, they wanted to comfort the desires of the parents who wish that the children should be outside and explore the nature. Secondly, they wanted to serve for the curiosity of the children about future technology.
FEZlandia
How might we find a way to get food for all in the future?
FEZlandia was inspired by cityxproject.com and the Sustainable Development Goals. The program invites children to work together in a team on analog and digital solutions which help to make the world a better place.
Partner
To be able to offer all these educational programs and digital devices, FEZ Berlin needed coaches, lecturers and sponsors. For this reason, the students suggested to work with partners like: Coding Hubs, CoderDojo, FABlab, electric markets, StartUps, Companies (mobile phone, google, ...), mentors, LABs, Meetups, and Colleges.
For the success of this project, the first two steps „Understand and Observe“ of the Design Thinking Process became the most important one. Therefore, the focus on describing the process will lay on them.
The students had to dig very deep to understand the organizational structure and the values of FEZ Berlin, the needs of the people who work here, and of those who came here as guests. Therefore, they went out to interview people who worked at FEZ Berlin and with parents and children who came there. They interviewed people at Alexander Platz to get an outside view as well. Moreover, they visited coding hubs and potential partners who worked already in the field of digital education for children.
During our first visit at FEZ Berlin, the students walked along the floor and discovered the old wood garage of FEZ Berlin in the basement, well known by a student of the seminar who worked here with wood when he was a child. The students felt in love with this place and decided to keep it for analog prototyping with children. The view outside and the big windows inspired them to develop digital educational programs which include aspects of nature.
Most of our lecturers we had in the rooms which should become the FEZ Lab for Digital Education. The students collected the gain and pain points of these rooms and of the different spaces inside and outside of the FEZ building. I intended that they got a feeling of the power, the history, and at least of the brand of FEZ Berlin which was built up in four decades based on the core values „adventure, education, and fun“.
In order to understand the brand of FEZ Berlin more deeply, I asked the students to collect all the values which guided people in their daily work at FEZ Berlin and which became the purpose for their work. These insight views were gained by an internal workshop with the employees.
From these collections of values, the students selected the four most significant ones and derived the demands for the design of the FEZ Lab for Digital Education from them.
Value 1: Holistic education
Demand: Take care of analog and digital aspects
Value 2: Trust in your creativity
Demand: Offer an inspiring space for creativity
Value 3: Sustainability
Demand: Use sustainable material and offer educational programs for sustainability
Value 4: Participation
Demand: Give all children the access for digital education
In this way, the students learned that any successful digital transformation in an organization starts with the appreciation of the core values of the organization and of those additional values which give people a purpose in their daily work.
Field Research Schaubühne Berlin
To get a view from outside, I invited the students to visit the play TRUST at Schaubühne Berlin. It is a play about the way people lose their connections in the digital world, especially children. Thus, the students could reflect on the pros and cons of the growing digitalization in business and society.
We found out that even when we open education more and more for digital devices, we should not miss the analog part in education. Touching plants and the earth directly, using one’s hands for building first rough prototypes in a team… all these train your senses, creativity, and empathy for another. In this way, you stay connected with people and planet in a more sensual way.
With the prototype for the FEZ Lab for Digital Education, the students supported FEZ Berlin to open their institution for the future by showing respect to their core and team values at the same time:
FEZ Core values
Adventure
Education
Fun
FEZ Team values
Holistic Education
Trust in your creativity
Sustainability
Participation
In this way, FEZ Berlin could become the acronym for a new claim “Findet Eure Zukunft“ (Find Your Future) at the FEZ LabBerlin.
When we tested the prototype at FEZ Berlin, the students received the feedback
„It was good that the prototype incorporated maker space feeling and the idea of discover and try out."
With this new maker space, the story of FEZ Berlin as a place to be for „adventure" continues. Children discover the digital world and try out what helps the world to become a better place for all. Thanks to the work of my students, this might become an inspiration for all who want to develop models for Education in the Future.
