A "Good"bye to Casey

Well I have to say that the design club party went great! I can't believe how many people showed up. It might be the first time that the CU students were actually out number, either way it was close. It's a great feeling when you have spent so much time and effort working with the Casey students to see all their families show up to support what they have been doing. It's also great to see all our Casey students excited to show what they have done to their families. Lastly it's just great to get to hangout and party with the Casey students that we have been working with all semester. What even more important is that I think after two semesters of design club at Casey we are actually starting to make progress towards having an actual sustainable design class. I know that Casey has allot going on but I'm optimistic that we have started a legacy with design club that will be carried on hopefully at Platte but if not defiantly at the new Casey. Either way after these last few weeks and last year of design club for me, I know that our Casey design club students will carry on what they have learn for the rest of their lives. Furthermore when they look back on their years at Casey I hope they know that they also left a legacy behind by participation in design club. This has been a long haul for me and I have spent more time then I could have ever imagine at Casey which makes me realize that I will really miss working with the student and even the old rickety school.

Ben

Design Club Party

The Design Club party went really well. I was a little worried when only 2 parents were there at 5:30, but soon pretty much all of the kids who attended arrived with their parents. The movie went really well, after working out a few glitches with sound and I think that the parents and kids enjoyed watching their accomplishments over the semester. I think that the kids had a really good time explaining their designs to their parents and they seemed proud of their accomplishments. The prizes added some excitement to the night and the kids seemed to really enjoy their target and Barnes and Noble gift cards. I think that the Party was a perfect wrap up for the end of design club. It was cool to see all of our semesters teachings and progress. Even though at times I felt like the kids were not interested, from their designs and excitement I now know they took a lot from design club. I only hope that they will now teach their friends and parents about sustainability, and that they themselves are more eco-conscious in their everyday lives.

-Kaley

Final Thoughts

Well, it was quite a semester. We experienced good days, and bad days. While the bad days seem to stick out in our minds, the Design Club overall seemed to be a success. Per the students' surveys and just the individual-type interviews we completed, it was obvious that basically every Casey student who stuck around till the end basically loved it and would do it again. One thing that certainly seems obvious upon looking back is the varying success of the different activities. The two that seemed to be the most popular, based on how everyone spent the bulk of their time on one or the other, were the sustainable communities and the green roofs. From this it seems clear that to everyone, the best activities are those that are hands on and involve everyone from start to finish. The other activities, like the carbon calculator and activity packets, were obviously less interesting and exciting. Also, when the architect came and essentially gave a lecture concerning the new school, it was quite obvious that it was not quite as successful, and the only part that the students seemed to enjoy was getting to see the designs for the new school. I think these were important lessons to learn about working with middle schoolers, which certainly helped us near the end, and will help the CU students and the future of the class to find success in future participatory work. As I said, the Casey Design Club was truly a successful program, despites its flaws and problems along the way. While there are things to improve for the future, everyone learned something valuable and EVERYONE can take something away from this great experience; I was glad to be a part of it.

Casey Design Club Final Evaluation

It is not the end of our semester with the Casey Middle School students and our Design Club. Despite the rough start and the doubt that I had that it would actually result in any positive outcomes, seeing all the kids at the presentation tonight showing off their models to their parents and friends shows just how strong working with the community can be despite all odds. We presented our final projects of video evaluations of design club, papers of the benefits of participatory processes, and manuals that would help future participatory projects succeed, tonight at the presentation. I think getting the parents reactions to what we did and how we tired to work with the kids as opposed to using them really turned me around on the whole process. At first I wasn’t sure that an entire community would want to get involved or would understand thee importance of a project like ours, but I heard that one of the fathers offered to help next time we created a design club by donating materials, time or whatever we needed at the time.
I think all in all the Design Club was a success. We definitely made an impact on the kids and I think they learned why sustainability is so important in design and lifestyles these days. I think one of the most successful parts of the club was the relationship that we developed with the kids. They really started to open up to us and I think that the relationship made the experience a much more positive one and hopefully the kids will be willing to be more involved in the future. I think in a participatory project that is what keeps it alive is teaching the students how to be involved and eventually they might begin to start their own community project an eventually the movement will become much greater.
I feel that the activities we did for the most part were good with the students, those who did them remembered them and felt that they did learn something from it. The most successful was the model building which I think was so popular because it was really a chance for them to express themselves and drive the activity as opposed to be taught it. They really liked the hands on experience and I feel that we were just there to facilitate things and observe their work. However, I feel that the project would have been more successful if we had created a bigger recruitment strategy. We didn’t have many students and the CU students still outnumbered them. So in the future I think early recruitment would benefit in the long run.
I loved working with the kids and I think I came away from the experience a better designer. I look at a design in a totally different way than I did before. I look at how it fits in with the surrounding environment much more both in appearance and in how it might obstruct their activities or enhance their activities. What do they use the building for and how does that differ or relate to that of the owner of the building. I think about all of the stakeholders now and not just the primary use of the building. For example, how do the parents use the building as opposed to the teachers? How does a janitor use the building as opposed to a gym teacher? There is a lot more to look at and incorporating all of that into a design is what makes it truly sustainable due to it’s efficiency and the connection made with it.

-Brittany

What a Great Finish!

Today we had our final celebration for our Design Club, and what a great success it was! I arrived early to help a few kids finish up with their projects. They all finished earlier than expected so they helped us by designing the layout of the room so that all of the work could be viewed in the best way possible. It was like taking the participatory process to that final step and having them help out with every last detail. As the starting time for the party rolled around, there weren't very many people at the party yet. It was a little worrying until a surge of parents and teachers showed up! It was great that almost every design club member was present! The kids seemed to really enjoy showing their projects off and telling what they had learned about in the past seven weeks. The adults seemed to be very impressed with what we all accomplished. I was thanked multiple times by parents for having been apart of the club. The prizes that we handed out were a great success as well! Everyone got a bunch of things with the explanation that they had worked very hard so thats why they were getting extras. It was a great gathering and I think that everyone enjoyed it. Even the siblings looked like they were having a good time. It was strange when I felt sad saying good bye to the club members, but they were such a great group of kids that it was hard not to get attached.
I think that our participatory process experience was a great success. Everyone learned something that we will be able to use in our day-to-day lives. I'm really happy with the whole process and am glad that I was able to be a part of it.
Chelsea
30 April 2008

Design Club 4/23

It seems like design club has been going really well recently. Even though we had some rough patches at the beginning, it seems like the club has really taken off. All of the Students seem really excited about the activities we are doing and the club as a whole. When talking to the children you can tell just how much they have learned and how much they truly care about the ideas of sustainability.
They are all really great children, and their ability to build the models like they did was really amazing. They all had a pretty good plan of what they wanted out of the model and how they were going to get there. My group knew they wanted a ‘deer elevator’ from the very beginning and this week they finally built their ‘deer elevator.’ The amount of planning that went into that fairly small addition was amazing. They really got into it and were really excited to see their final result.
My group was also very excited to have this final banquet. They were talking about what they were going to tell their parents. I think it is a great idea to give some sense of closure to the design club. Rather then just ending on the last day and being done with it. It also gives them a chance to show off what they have worked on.
The only problem we had with the green roof, is that our flowers were moldy. I think that if we do a green roof like this again we need to consider how long until the roofs are actually presented before planting. I am not really sure what the flowers are going to look like by the day of the banquet.
Overall, I really feel that design club really made a turn for the better. We were all getting worried that it wasn’t going to workout, but it really ended up turning into a great experience for all of the children and CU students involved.
--Laura

Ideal Communities and Green Roofs Equal a Fun Time

Well for the last two weeks the Casey students have been busy at work making either green roofs or their ideal community. I think that this has defiantly been their favorite activity probably because it allows them to use their imaginations, its hands on, there's a glue gun, and they get to make a huge mess, I mean what could be better than that it even sound like fun to me. Also for the first time this year it seem like all the Casey students are actually fully participating in the design club activities. What even more exciting is that they are all incorporating things that they have learned in design club about green roofs, sustainability, and other green features into their models. I mean they are still coming up with some crazy ideas but at least they have to do with what we have been teaching them. After our low point in design club right before spring break I was beginning to doubt if the students were there for the right reasons but these last few weeks have restored my faith in our design club students. I'm glad things are ending on a good note and am looking forward to seeing all the students present their model on our final day of design club.

Ben

One Last Day

So we had our final day at Casey, and I have to say it was kind of sad to finish up there. Hanging out and building all sorts of cool with the Casey students was a fun and unique situation that we probably will never again get the chance to do. Even though turnout wasn't perfect, I feel like we still had a good number of kids, particularly of the kids who were the most interested in finishing their projects. I felt like the kids accomplished quite a bit, while also learning a lot about sustainability. Overall, for a final day, Thursday went just fine as projects kind of wound down and everyone kind of finished up what they hoped to do. We certainly found success in keeping students entertained until the end, and students certainly seemed to want to continue the process further past that day. By keeping everyone interested, we succeeded not only in our goal of sustaining participation, but it meant that we were able to continue the education process, while continuing to provide entertainment for the Casey students. I certainly hope the Casey students appreciate the experiences, while finding it fun, useful, and educational at the same time.
~Austin~

All finished up!

Our final design club meeting went as quick as it came. In no time the groups continued to work on their green roof designs, and began to consider what they would say when presenting at the final party. I couldn't help but think about the seeds Galen and I planted in the green roof model today as a metaphor for the design club. I really hope that "seeds" were planted in the kids minds that generates a new sustainable generation in the years to come. It is sad to say goodbye, but our work here is done. Can't wait to see their presentations at the final party! (jon bortles 4/29/08)

Last Day: Design Club

The Design Club went really well again today, everyone just touching up and finishing their models. We didn't really have a lot more to do and it seemed like most of the kids were satisfied with their green roof designs. All of the models looked great and I was really impressed with all of the kids knowledge and commitment towards sustainability. I feel like now all of them have the basic elements if green design under their belt after learning about solar panels, wind power, ecological aspects, transportation, and sense of place within communities. Design club is a really cool idea especially in Boulder and after seeing everyones projects the headway that we made toward participatory is beginning to sink in. I really hope that the parents are as impressed with what their children have learned and created in design club as I have been.

-Kaley

The final day at Casey

Our last day at Casey Middle School was bittersweet. It was exciting to see all of the designs the students had made of the green roofs coming together and for the students to have a chance to display and talk about their accomplishments. It was nice and relaxing to a have a day just to complete the designs and gave the CU students more of a chance to talk with the Casey students and to interact on a more personal level. The students all seemed very excited about the green roofs they had created and were eager to share their ideas and knowledge on them. Although the beginning days of our Design Club were not as successful as we had planned, the final weeks displayed how a participatory project can work and how it can really benefit youth participants. The hands-on projects really got the students involved and gave them a chance to display what they had learned through their own creative ways. It was a great experience working with the 6th grade students from Casey Middle School and I hope they had as much fun throughout these last few weeks as I had!!


Stevi

Last day of design club

Thursday was the final day of design club for the Casey middle school kids. I was very impressed by all of their designs and ideas. There was one boy designed a fully sustainable city. He had solar cars, a water collector, solar panels on the roof, green roofs, they grew their won food, wind turbines, and used sensory watering techniques! He had thought of everything! One girl designed the new green roof of the Casey middle school and even thought of xeriscaping! There were points in the semester where it seemed the kids were learning nothing, but today proved they were. They have picked up on all the lessons and were able to apply them a real life situation!

04/24/08 at Casey

I have to say, I am a bit sad that this week was our last design club before the final party/presentation. It seems as if everything was finally coming together and working well, and now we are finished. I am very proud, however, that we were all able to pull everything together once and for all. I would have been a bit disappointed is every design club was like the first few we had. You just have to focus on what great weeks we have had during the second have of design club. And I would like to say that this week was a great way to finish design club. With the exception of Odie and Harrison, we had our regular children attend, we had a really fun activity that everyone loved, and it seems as if the kids were really having fun. I am really excited for the final presentation and party because I will get to see all the kids from the Wednesday design club (which I never got to attend) and we will get to hear some of the kids talk about their projects and hear some of their ideas. Like I said earlier, I am a bit disappointed that we couldn’t get great results right away, but I do believe that these past weeks have been awesome.

Joanna Kropelnicki

Last Real Casey Meeting

Our last meeting with the Casey kids was mostly a finish up of projects. We had the kids fill out surveys about the club, handed out flyers to invite their parents to our presentation, and let them finish up with their projects as much as the liked. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere. It really showed what kind of a connection we have made with this group of kids over the past few weeks. They were all comfortable and joking around with us. It was a really fun and relaxed day that was a great wrap up for our group.

Chelsea

24 April 2008

Casey Design Club: Week 7

This was our final week at Casey for design club. Overall, I feel like the entire process was a success as all of the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and did in fact learn a lot about sustainability. As we finished up all of the models the students had started the two weeks prior, CU students encircled the group and took down comments and interviews on film. The students explained their models to the camera and were able to point out the multiple elements of sustainable design in their models. We were able to finish up all of the models today, as well as get the green roof designs completed. We even tested a couple of the green roof designs that had irrigation systems in place, and they worked, as planned, to perfection, as well as the amusement of the Casey students. Afterwards, we gathered all the students to complete a comprehensive survey the contained a multitude of questions spanning the course, which covered their feelings about the after school program in general. The results, at least from what I saw, were that the kids enjoyed their time with us, as well as in the after school program, especially towards the end of the course when they were able to get hands-on with design. Next week we look forward to presenting both the CU projects with faculty and personnel, as well as presenting with the Casey students work to Casey and parents/faculty.

Columbine this week, however, was not such a bright turnout, as many of the younger students seemed easily drawn off task with an absent teacher. However, at least for my group, we were able to finish up our sustainable communities within our group. I was even able to draw out a few original ideas from my kids on what they could do in their communities to achieve a more sustainable site. Next week should be back to normal, however, as their teacher will be back in charge and should prove positive in allowing us to wrap up out models with the Columbine students.

-Ian

April 22nd Columbine ES & 23rd Casey MS

This week was very interesting at both Columbine Elementary & Casey Middle because they both seemed to go in different directions this week. Last week we did not go to Columbine and this week the second graders had a substitute on the day that we worked with them. I think that the sub represented a sense that “we don’t have to do anything” to the kids because to some degree, they were out of control. We worked with clean child-proof clay this week and some of the kids put it in their mouths and were spitting it at each other. They seemed to have lost their interest in the actual design process which was a little disappointing because when we last went two weeks ago, they were on task and excited for the whole hour. In contrast, we accomplished a lot this today at Casey MS. I worked with a young man named David who has attended almost every day at Design Club so far. He began coming on both Wednesdays and Thursdays a few weeks ago and really has become excited about designing his community, that he named "D-Tville." I was astonished to see how much he had done on the Thursday of last week when I was not around. He added gardens with soil, a few homes, and roads to his sustainable community. He was excited about explaining the sustainable concepts to the CU students making films and he seemed to really take a liking to this project. Next week will be our final presentation at Casey and I’m excited to see how David presents his project that he has worked so hard on. He should really be proud of it, because I’m very proud of the progress he has made over the last several months.

Brett

April 22nd at Columbine

Today, I and a few other students from the class took a trip to Columbine Elementary for the second week. The activities for this week were simply to finish up the community models we began the last time we met. However, as we concluded last time, we needed to incorporate more ideas of sustainability into the community models. This task, however, is very difficult when working with this group of kids. It may be their age, or it may be the fact that their regular teacher was absent today, but the children were rowdier than ever! It was hard enough to get them to stay on the topic of the models without fighting over materials with the other groups. So since we had to spend most of our time trying to control the children, it was hard to try to teach them about sustainability. We did, however, get the children thinking about trees, and how they can benefit the community. Overall, whether or not the few hours we have spent with the second graders proved to be successful, it seems that everyone had a really great time building the models. We are planning to meet with the children one more time next week to compare everyone’s models and talk about sustainable communities.

Joanna Kropelnicki

April 17th at Casey

As we are nearing the end of the after school design club, I believe that the last few weeks have been the most successful weeks of the whole semester. As of last Thursday, we have about 5 Casey students who have come every week for the last 3 weeks. As far as this last week goes, I believe that the children love the hands on activities and the one on one interaction with the CU students. The activity for this last week was successful in a few different ways. Not only did we have enough Casey students to have the ideal student to student ratio, but the kids also had a lot of freedom in what they decided to do. Unlike every other design club meeting, this week, the children had their choice of one of 3 activities: continue their community model, create a physical green roof design, or create a green roof design using sketch up. This is the factor that the kids loved the most. Of course it helped a ton that we had Dominoes delivered to the school. But overall, I believe that the Design Club meetings are getting better every week, I just wished that we had more time with the Casey students.

Joanna Kropelnicki

Continuing Success

So this last week we seem to have sustained our success and our numbers, which I think largely has to do with the projects we are taking part in. This week, students had more free reign for what they wanted to do, participating in either the continued construction of their previous projects, or the use of SketchUp, with several of the students were certainly very excited to start. I stayed behind with the students building models, assisting them as need be and watching the learning experience. From those who tried to put together a green roof to those who were still wanting to finish up their towns, the students seemed to actually be having fun while learning something useful about sustainability and green design. Not only was the experience fun and beneficial for the Casey students, it certainly seemed to be important for the CU students as well, as we were all interested in the outcomes of the projects, while enjoying spending time with the students. It seems clear to me that the secret to the success of Design club is allowing students to choose for themselves what they want to do, and doing something hands on. As a side note, however, I think it was a very good idea to start providing snacks, because the pizza this week was very popular with everyone involved, causing the kids to get ramped up a bit before beginning, and providing a bit of a morale booster to always hungry college students :).
-Austin-

GREEN ROOF

Over all Thursday’s design club went well! We had all of the same kids back, who have by now become regulars. They were all very excited to begin the green roof projects. Most of them had opted to build their model instead of using sketch-up. However, there were two boys who knew sketch-up and seemed to be very interested in using the program. One of the kids got straight to work as soon as we got into the lab. But the other boy most fooled around. It was clear that he knew how the program worked, but wasn’t so interested in the actual project. It wasn’t until near the end that he started even working on a design. Interestingly enough, the reason he had not shown an interest in the design was because he didn’t understand why he was being asked to do so. He began coming later in the semester, so he never received all the information most others had. This taught me that in any process where people are allowed to come and go freely it is always important to keep track of what each person has been a part of. This way no one gets confused or left behind. - Sam

Week six--Continuation of Community Models

I remember that earlier in our class we had learned that the way to get the most out of the participatory process, both in the number of participants and the quality of input that they provide, is to develop a relationship with your participants. This is the third week that I have worked with the same boy and I think that between us we are able to achieve more than I had working with a different kid every week. The student I worked with seemed very interested in continuing with is recycle material community model and we spent the entirety of our day working with that. We came up with new ideas on how to build his water tower that would allow for the community to be more efficient. He added solar panels onto the roofs of both the water tower and the recreation center. We discussed how he would want to present his community at the open house and how he would like to describe it to get other people excited about new design ideas. I really feel that our design club has taken a big turn around and is beginning to attract some attention and even begin to spark an interest in kids to get more involved in the future.

-Brittany

The Green Roof project is a really interesting project. The girls that I have been working with really seem to like the project so far. They are really into planting the plants. I feel the planting is what they are most interested about. I was really impressed about how much they remembered about green roofs. We didn’t talk about the benefits too much last time, but they clearly remembered each of the different benefits.

I thought it was really cool how excited the girls were about the project. Two of the girls were so excited that they went to the Farmer’s Market and purchased their own plants for the Green Roof. I think that really shows how much they are thinking about what they are learning and how excited they are to continuing working on the project.

I also thought it was good how excited the girls were to show their parents what they are doing. Again, this shows that they are excited about the program and really want to tell people about what they are doing.

I feel that this project relates to the lecture in a bunch of different ways. The way that seems the most relevant is how he talked about the project continuing to grow in popularity as years go on. I feel that if we were able to keep these kids really interested and get a teacher that was really invested in the club we would really have a lot of success. In a project I have worked on before there were two teachers that were there every single time the club met and very invested in the project. They thought what we were doing was cool and they saw how it helped the students. I think if we were able to get something like that at Casey we would really see a lot of success with the program.

--Laura (Design Club 4/16)

Another Successful Model Build (4/16/08)

Today at Casey we continued our project building sustainable communities. This seemed to be just as successful as it was the first week we tried it. The students really seem to be getting a grasp on the principles behind what we are trying to teach them in this process. The most significant ideas that seem to be sticking with these sixth graders seem to be how cities benefit from using green roofs and other efficient elements like solar panels. By building these model cities the students are finding out how easy it can be to incorporate these ideas into their design. They are now at the point where the CU students don’t even need to ask them if they should include them into their design, they just do it as if it was second nature. It is really inspiring to see that these ideas actually mean something to these kids because they can back up their design ideas with reasons why they are important. Hopefully the next two weeks will be as successful as the last two have been.

-Brett

Green Roofs

Today we created green roofs with the middle schoolers. The group that I worked with was entirely self sufficient and great. They even brought their own plants to add onto their creation! It was great. They were so into it that they had thought about it all week. Their initial design looked nothing like the final outcome, but that's how the design process normally goes in real life so it was a good learning tool for them. They seem saddened by the nearing final date of our design club meetings, and eager at the prospect for continuing on with it when they move to Platt. Hopefully we will be able to continue working with these club members since they have a great drive for sustainable design and participatory planning.

16 April 2008

Chelsea 

Casey 4/16/08

Today's design club was my first day really working "one on one" with a Casey student. Up until now, there has just been too many CU students to really work this close. I really enjoyed the experience, particularly because my partner seems to be the one Casey student that is not in one of the two cliques in our club and tends to be alone. However, one of the girls did come over to offer compliments which seem to perk up his spirits. I am Looking forward to next week! Cant believe we are almost done with design club! (jon bortles)

Michael Duffin and Casey

This Wednesday (4/9) the Casey Design Club had a great turn out. I am glad to say that we really do have a sustained group of kids that we can count on each week. Today I collected some information for my project in asking each kid "if you could do one thing to be more sustainable, what would it be?" The answers I got seemed to be thoughtful, and I was glad that each kid had a unique answer to their specific lifestyle.

The Michael Duffin presentation left me with mixed opinions. Part of me was pleasantly surprised with the supporting data he had found that supported place based education. On the other hand, it really came across as a sales pitch. For all the "objective" data he found, he sure left out anything negative. Checking out his website worsened the issue when I found out he really does "sell" these results. All-in-all it was still thought provoking and worth the while. (jon bortles)

Casey Design Club: Week 6

Week 6 of Casey Design Club was another success. We worked with a large group of Casey students again, and began to design green roofs, as well as continue with completing their previous community designs. The day started off with informing the Casey kids about our intentions for the remaining weeks in the semester, as well as to get insight on their thoughts and ideas about what we should use the remainder of our time on. After we discussed our intentions, we set out to design both green roofs for building-tops and finish up the communities that some of the students started two weeks ago. The day, overall, went over smooth and was informative, I feel, to both the CU students as well as the Casey students. We were able to gather imaginative ideas from the green roofs that the students designed, as well as offer advice or answer any questions that they had about them. Afterwords, we discussed the possibility of presenting their ideas and designs in a final wrap-up presentation, where the students would be able to stand infront of their works and describe to viewers what their thoughts were behind their designs. This seemed to be something that most of the kids were interested in, and should be interesting to see how it works out over the next couple of weeks. Next week we are going to finish up the green roof desings and conclude the course with the students.

-Ian

Green Roofs and Role Camera

Today was the first day that I started shooting video and have to tell you wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. Really it made me feel awkward and I don't think that some of the Casey students like it. We started off with and introduction of what green roofs are and how there will be one on the new school. The student looked at the new school's design plan so they visualize where the green roof was going to be and then we went back into the computer lab to teach them more about green roofs and look at their picture of sense of place. It was exciting for the Casey student to get to look at their pictures even though not many really had to do with a sense of place but I think that it was still a good activity. Next we took the student to the EPA green roof site and let them explore like past similar activities on the computer it went OK and I'm beginning to think that their are better ways to teach kids about sustainable design then on the computer. We then went back out to the library and started on the green roof design. The Casey student seem to enjoy this more and came up with some good and creative ideas which has got the ball rolling for next weeks activity and further green roof design. At this point I asked one of the students which wasn't really participating the green roof design to help me get some footage and surprisingly it work very well. I just asked him if I let him use the video camera that he had to ask the other students about green roofs and their design and he ended up doing a great job.

Ben

Fun Activity

At the design club on Wednesday, everything seemed to go very smoothly. All the kids from the week before were back and they all seemed pretty excited about what we were working on. They liked the pizza that they got, but they inhaled it in about a minute. All of the students surprisingly new a lot about green roofs and the benefits of green roofs. I was working with the same two girls that I have worked with in the past and they were both really into the idea of green roofs.

When we started working on the activity they really got into it. There were many different uses that they knew they wanted included in the roof, but there were also many things that they knew they did not want on the roof. For example, they absolutely knew that they wanted to be able eat lunch on the roof and work on the roof for different science projects.

On their roof, they split it up into two different parts. One was social and the other one was educational. The social area was to be used for lunch and breaks. The educational area was going to be used for different planting/ botany projects.

I really felt that this activity turned out really well and got the kids engaged and thinking about what they would want in their new school.

--Laura

 

Enthusiastic Week at Casey (4/9/08)

This week at Casey Middle School we began our session by looking at photos that the students took around Boulder that represented the place to them. Some of the kids did not have their own pictures, but everybody eventually had some shots to look at and describe how they thought the photos may describe a sense of place. Our next activity on the computer was searching and exploring all the benefits that green roofs can bring about to a city. We studied how they help reduce the “heat island effect” while at the same time they contribute to the aesthetic beauty of a place that most generic roofs simply cannot achieve. After we did our research we began to design the ideal roof for the new Casey. I worked with Victor and David, and they were both making decisions that were environmentally friendly and looked pretty good. Most of the kids were excited about next week when we will either be working on Google Sketch Up or building models again. I think that the opportunity to get their hands on some materials and step away from just talking about the process and getting some ideas on a physical surface. I think all of the activities we did were successful and really fun.
-Brett

This week in class we were required to watch a lecture, recorded on DVD that was given by Michael Duffin Ph.D., on the C.U. campus a few nights before. The topic of the lecture was Place Based Education, and I was prepared to learn more about the subject than I actually did. From what I could understand, Place Based Education is a certain approach to teaching that involves getting students involved with the local community through service projects, and using these experiences as a base for their studies in the classroom. The lecture itself consisted mainly of Michael Duffin giving examples of programs around the nation that have applied Place Based Education to their programs, and the successes they have had. In relation to our work at Casey, I think there are many elements of the new school design that have incorporated some of the principles of successful Place Based Education. The one that first comes to mind is the design for the new playground, which focuses on local systems, themes and content. I think that all of the plans for the design are also relevant to the students at Casey, and can contribute to a lot of learning that will take place on-site in the school and local community.
JCM

Landscape Arch Visit

The landscape architect working with RB+B came today to show the kids their design for the outdoor areas. Most kids liked the cool, intricate design. Some actually knew the specific names of all the math patterns and stuff. Once the entire site was explained, the students did not waste their time. They jumped right into designing the gardens, banner bars, climbing walls, benches and more. The activity ran all the way up to the last sec of the class. This does not happen often because the students want to leave early.
The students are getting more and more excited to use sketchup as the weeks pass.

Steinmark

Building the City

Working with my student on creating the city was an awesome experience. It was a little hard at first to break the ice and start to work on the project. Once the basics were established, then the recycled material started to take shape in to a city, complete with a skyscraper with a slide as an escape. The coolest idea my student had was to create a moving windmill to produce extra power for the building. By the end of the session, my student wanted to keep working on the city. I think he will pick it back up in the next week or two.
More kids are starting to show up to the program!! Hopefully things stay upbeat through the rest of school.

Steinmark

Duffin's Talk

Duffin's talk was very interesting. Most of the time it felt like he was trying to promote some other company or something. He did have some very good points in his presentation. It was full of facts and data. However, I felt like some of it did not have a direct affect to our class. He was just showing the benefits of using such a program in a district and how spark can be started by first graders. It was an inspiration to see how enthusiastic he was about implicating such programs in school districts.

steinmark

Reflection on Columbine Elementary

I have to say, I was really excited when we were given the opportunity to work with the second graders from Columbine Elementary, which is why I was so quick to volunteer for the rest of semester. The plan for the second graders was to do the “ideal sustainable community” activity with the kids and have them build a model just as we did with the 6th graders from Casey Middle School. Because the kids from columbine have not had any formal education on sustainability, we also had to attempt to teach them a little of bit about what sustainability means and how it can be incorporated into a community.
Overall, I think the hour that we had at Columbine went extremely well. I would almost say that this day was more successful than some of the days that we have spent at Casey Middle School. At the beginning, the kids seemed a little uneasy about strangers coming to the classroom, but they became very enthusiastic once we described the activity. We divided up into four groups and the girls that were in my group were extremely excited to have me working with them. I even had one girl cling to me because she didn’t want to be separated from me, I though it was cute. They were very eager to talk about their community and even more eager to build the model. I did find a few errors in the day however. I found that it was really hard to keep the girls on the topic of their ideal community, and even harder to keep their attention on sustainability. It seemed that they were more concerned about adding small details such as people to the model, and making sure it looked pretty. I was able to keep their attention on the real purpose of the activity for the first half, which is when we talked about having a park and a lake, and a school. But once we got those features down they all began to add poof balls as people and even separated them into age groups.
Although we were not able to get the ideas of sustainability across to the kids, I believe that this day was still very successful. Everyone, both kids and CU students seem excited for the next time that we go to Columbine. I think for the next session, I am going to try to keep the girl’s attention on the components of a community, and how to expand the ideas we have already come up with. And if at all possible, I would really like to incorporate more sustainable ideas into the model, and get the kids thinking of how they can be sustainable in their own life.

Joanna Kropelnicki

Landscaping Success

This last week’s design I think marks the fact that we have finally hit our stride. The numbers and faces remained basically the same from the last week to this one, and we seem to have the students who are truly interested in the content remaining, which is great. This week, we found success through bringing in the landscape architect, having her tell the students about the project and her current plans and ideas. However, the best part about the day, for the students, was the fact that she actually wanted ideas and suggestions from the Casey students, something that rarely happens on a project of this scale. The students seemed excited to finally get a say in the project, and they took to the task of creating design ideas swiftly and excitedly. Working with the students we got to see their individual interests, with the groups dividing up the tasks and doing everything from designing culturally significant poles to researching the different parts of the world that lie along the N 40 degree latitude line that bisects Boulder. The students seemed genuinely interested in partaking in the design of the future Casey Middle School, even if it was just a small aspect like the green roof or a rain garden. I hope that we truly have hit our stride and can continue the success throughout the final two weeks of the Club, without declining in numbers or quality.
~Austin~

Michael Duffin's Talk

Michael Duffin's talk on place-based education relates to our program at Casey in many ways, but also displays how our participatory design process is different and not as successful as we had hoped. Within our program we use team teaching by having the CU students participate in the teaching of sustainability and green design to the middle school students. I feel that we could improve on this and have the CU students take more responsibility in teaching the middle school students and also to allow more freedom for the middle schoolers to decided what they want to do and learn. The examples that were shown by Michael of place-based educational success stories were student initiated and directed. The students took a problem that was present at their school and within their community and took the initiative to learn more about this particular problem and then set up ways to alleviate them. This is not how our program began and I feel that because of this there is a lack of student participation, involvement, and agency. The Casey students have begun to show a greater interest in our projects, but I do not feel that they have ownership over them or a great say in the learning methods.

Our program does center on environmental issues and we do address certain aspects of community and creating a sense of place, but there is not outside participation from the larger community and the students have not had the opportunity to engage parents and community members. Because our program is focused around the design for the new middle school, we are not addressing issues of why and how environmental degradation affects some people more than others, especially those of lower socio-economic standing along with people of color.

Although our program is centered on the environment and in particular the surrounding areas of Casey, I feel that we have not fully achieved the benefits of place-based education. There needs to be more hands-on activities, along with a greater understanding and exploration of the local community and its natural surroundings. The students need to have more agency and individual students skills should be harnessed and built upon.

Stevi

Michael Duffin

Watching Michael Duffin's lecture on dvd, was not quite the same as seeing it in person because you could not hear many of the questions. However, it touched on placing the choice in the hands of the students. By allowing students to problem solve through hands on projects, and creating a learner-centered education that adapts to students individual skills and abilities, eventually allowing these kids to explore their communities. He studied the impacts on place based education and found that it had profound effects on learning experiences for kids. He used the dose response theory, standardized testing, interviews, and observations all as research for his theory on place based education. I recall from his lecture that he found by taking kids outside and learning about ecology for a couple weeks, most all the students after scored higher on their science exams.
I think that place based education is still a very new concept and has not yet caught on, however I see that it does have many positive effects on children and teachers. There are still many more studies to do and this theory needs to become more mainstream before it is used in all schools. It seems that this could be a good solution for a faulty education system, and kids are proving to be learning more through Duffin's research.

-Kaley

Design Club: Landscape Architect Presentation

I think that this activity went pretty well overall. The landscape architect brought some scales for drawing for the kids to keep, which they seemed to be excited about. Showing the kids what their playground was going to look like and what sort of designs they were working with also seemed to get them excited along with the materials they were going to use. She did a really good job letting the kids know what was possible as far as realistically considering certain aspects for the outdoor areas. I felt like my partner and I could have used a little more time, however most people seemed to be finishing up right at five. The girl I was working with had a hard time coming up with something she wanted to work on. She wanted to add some art to the tiles of the sidewalks so we started to work on the 40 degree latitude design that will follow the sidewalks at Casey. We started researching the various cities that we could put on the line and came up with a few ideas, however unfortunately did not have enough time to get them all down onto paper.

-kaley

Excited for the future

We again had many kids show up, most of whom were returning from last week. I guess a little bribery goes a long way. On my way into the middle school I heard someone calling me and was surprised to see one of the kids from last semester. I asked her how she had been and if she knew the design club was still going on. I was stunned to hear that she had never heard of it at school. We had sent out numerous flyers and made announcements in the school, and yet many students were still unaware of the program. It sounds like the school isn’t doing their part in advertising.
Anyway, she was very thrilled to hear it was still going on and said she planned on attending everyday until the end. It just so happened to be that on the same day the landscape architect had come in to get the kids ideas and directly implements them into the school. All of the kids were extremely excited to see that they really were helping to design the school and that their artwork would be a permanent feature in their new school. They all listened intently as the architect brilliantly explained what her plans were thus far and what she needed their help with. (And in language that any kid could understand too!) The kids all came up with some beautiful and original ideas. They took this day very seriously and worked very hard to come up with the types of ideas that everyone would be happy with.
The girl from last semester was born in Mexico and really wanted to incorporate some of her heritage into the new school. (Many kids at Casey have a Hispanic background) She came up with two great ideas for this. One was recreating a smaller version of a Mayan temple that would also serve as a fountain. The other was to have a learning wall where there were different blocks for each country giving a little bit of information for each, and a nice picture. So far, every week just gets better and better. I’m excited to see what next week will bring!

Sam

This Week at Casey

The turn out for the Design club this week was encouraging and I hope that it will be carried on throughout the rest of our time there. The most influential and meaningful part of the day was when the students were looking online at what a green roof was, the benefits it provides and also what goes into creating a green roof. The student I was working with was genuinely interested in the website on green roofs and asked many questions about how one was built, what could be used in the construction, and how it would actually help out the building it was built upon. After the students looked at the green roof website and the photos students had taken the previous week, we tried to have them draw a model of what they would want Casey's green roof to embody. This was where we lost some of the student's attention and their interests turned to other activities. I think it would have been more productive and fun if actual objects and materials were brought in to help create an actual green roof. The students were not quite sure what to include in their model and perhaps more information prior to the drawings would have been beneficial.

Stevi

This Week at Casey & Columbine (4/2/08)

This week at Casey we built our ideal community with the students, it seemed to be a big hit. They all had great input into the design and throughout the process we incorporated sustainable design principles to help them understand the process as a whole. I also went to Columbine Elementary School and did a similar activity with second graders at this school. They were enthusiastic about working with me and the three other CU students. They had limited knowledge of sustainable principles in design, but they all had great ideas of how to make their city efficient. There was also a lecture that was relevant to our class taking place at CU. This week our class watched a lecture by Michael Dufflin. His work is centered in New England and focuses on shifting early education away from the No Child Left Behind strategy. His work promoted learning through programs that are focused outdoors and using methods that inspire real life application to classroom work. His lecture was a good example of how programs like the ones we are conducting at Casey and Columbine are popular and successful all over the country.

-Brett

Simple foods are better!

Wednesday at Casey, I saw how some kids function better with simplicity. It was good to work with different club members because of this. Some kids like to be told what they're going to be doing next and given guidance. It's a very big change than the go-getter type kids that I've worked with thus far. But, the result was just as impressive, if not more cause it was more of a solo act. Looking through my buddy's pictures was great because it was so simple. There wasn't deep thought put to "take pictures of what Boulder means to you." It was cut and dry, 'here are some pictures of nature, and my dad. That's what I like.' It was funny that the kids were saying that they wanted "simple" pizza rather than fancy stuff, because that was the lesson I learned from working with the kid I worked with: sometimes, simplicity is better!

As a side note, the Michael Duffin lecture did not seem to inspire any new thoughts with our club. It seemed like he was making a sales pitch rather than educating us on participatory planning. What he was saying seemed to contradict what I have learned while working with the  Casey kids. 

Chelsea

10 April 2008 

Week five April 10--landscape architecture

This week was a real treat for the kids in the design club. Most of the same students returned again this week so I think that we are becoming more successful in grabbing their attention. The landscape architect that is working on Casey for the new design came to talk to them about the design that they have come up with so far and to see if there were any suggestions on what they could add or do better. The architect was very helpful and had a way with kids that got them involved and interested in the design and I think this was probably the activity that got them the most excited. She had a variety of options the kids could work on and design themselves such as the climbing wall, the design and color of the soft material surrounding the big rock, and sidewalk designs of the 49th latitude. All of the kids took very different directions and had so many designs. I worked with the same student as last week and it still amazes me at the ideas he comes up with. He stressed an interest in taking his ideas and connecting them to the model he had created last week. I am really excited to see that we are making an impact not only on getting them involved in their school design, but also getting them to explore their creativity and know that they can have an effect within their community.

Brittany

Casey Design Club: Week 5

Week five at Casey, and things just continue to get better and better as our course draws closer to its conclusion. This week we again had a larger turnout of Casey Middle Schoolers, which helped immensely. The project for this week was divided, but in the end we chose to get the kids thinking in terms of sustainability in order to have them design part of the future Casey site. After the introduction into what we would be doing this week, we let the Casey students lead the way in designing parts of the new Casey landscape. Elements that were designed included outdoor rock climbing areas, the green roof, the community garden area, and others outside of the future Casey building. This activity seemed to really take hold, as many of the students enjoyed expressing their ideas through graphical means. There were a few minor bumps along the way, however, I feel that this weeks activity was a success, as many of the Casey students gave numerous examples of sustainable design in their works. Next week should be, again, another good week at Casey, as we are moving forward into SketchUp and also revisiting the models we made last week, adding finishing detail as necessary.

-Ian

Casey Design Club: Week 4

This week we got hands on with the casey students as they were asked to plan out or design their ideal community. Specifically, we instructed the kids on sustainable elements around communities and tried to get them thinking in that mindset for the project. We formed multiple groups and set out on designing our communities. There were some interesting ideas that came about, such as solar powered soccer posts, and duel or multi use fields that could contain both soccer, as well as football, and be used as a track/alternative field. It was interesting to see the strong tie between the students and the outdoors and recreational areas. In the William Shutkin lecture, he discussed that many young people tend to have a sense of place, or attachment to areas of the outdoors where they are able to engage in activities they are intersted in. I feel like this week at Casey went over alot smoother and with a greater, more positive outcome, than previous weeks. The six students we had all enjoyed designing their communities, and seemed to learn a little more about sustainable planning and basics from this activity. Next week looks promising also, as we are going to get more into design with the students.

Also this week was the first of our three sessions with Columbine Elementary School here in Boulder. Wednesday, we were able to work with a handful of elementary participants, with each ofthe four CU Students being paired with at least two little helpers. Our first project with Columbine was to create a model city, one in which there were both sustainable elements present as well as one that created a unique space, or sense of place for the people who live there. The students seemed really enthusiastic about working with us, and the model project went down as a success in the books. I'm eager to work again with this group, as many of the participants were already anxious for the next visit, when we can finish up our model communities.

-Ian

Week four April 3—sustainable community building

Our new efforts to attract participants to the after school program were very successful this week. We had six students this time and with the numbers we had from our class we were able to work either one-on-one or two of us to a kid. I feel as if we achieved so much more this week than in previous weeks and the kids seemed to be really into the whole project and excited to get started. The activity that we put together for the day was to use recyclable materials such as cereal boxes and plastic bottles to build their ideal town or community. The kids were very good at including ideas like big parks, efficient irrigation tunnels, and also how the streets worked to decrease vehicle transportation. I think the thing that surprised me the most was how vivid the image of this community was in their minds. When you asked them questions about what they were designing or if they wanted your help building something you tended to be more in the way. I sat back and just listened to the boy I worked with as he discussed and created what he saw in his mind taking no other designs or methods into account. Each took so much pride in their vision and each was very unique. I think this process of working with the kids is one of the first steps that one can take into incorporating a place based education into a curriculum. We listened to a lecture by Michael Duffin in which he discussed the benefits of a place based education. He talked about how this new education can change the culture of the classroom and how people look at learning. I think that small activities such as the ones that we planned have this hands on work that changes the way the students think. It might be difficult to plan, but the effects it has on how open the kids are and how much more they engage themselves when they work with the real world instead of hypothetical instances. I think bringing the curriculum closer to home for them rather than learning about the Amazon thousands of miles away allows them to be clearer in the impact they are capable of.

Brittany

Michael Duffin's Talk

I attended Michael Duffin's talk on place-based education on Thursday and have to tell you it wasn't what I expected. It pretty much started off as an open discussion about why we were there, our thoughts about place-based education, and what it's benefits are. It turned out being more of a Q and A session for people that were trying to implement place-based education rather than an actual presentation. I guess this is because this is such a new concept and it is just starting to implemented at the educational level so there is still allot to be learned. This really put things in perspective for me in how important what we are doing at Casey really is and how it will help students learn, connect them and the school with the community which will start transforming school culture, and make the environment more of an importance. We are lucky to be involved with starting a placed-based educational program such as our Casey after school design club and I hope that this will help spark acknowledgement, interested, and continuation for future types of education at Casey Middle School. I know that our after school program is just a start and definitely could have a stronger place-based educational focus but it is a learn process for not just the students but for us too. What I took from the talk is that this a going to be a long road and it is how future programs will build off of what we have started which will ultimately make place-based education a higher priority in the current educational system.

Ben

Creative Model Making

Today at Casey we built models of our ideal community using mostly recycled materials or things that we just had laying around the house. This turned out to be a good activity for the students which I think that they really enjoyed. I mean when you give some 6th graders a whole bunch of junk and a hot glue gun of course they are going to have a good time. Overall the students came up with some interesting ideas some of which actually had some ecological and sustainable features which was great. Specifically we had a wind turbine, a welcome sign which stated that this was a community that recycled, a whole bunch of solar panels, and a water power wheel. I think that if we were going to do an activity like this again things would go a little more smoothly if we had established a little more structure for the community before hand. I like that we left it open for the students to use their imagination but sometime a little guidance can go a long way and it could make it more of a learning experience which was focused on making a truly sustainable and ecological functioning community.

Ben

First Day at Columbine Elementary

I was part of the group that went to Columbine Elementary School today (April 8, 2008) and it turned out to be a great success.  The four CU students involved each worked with a group of kids who analyzed their idea of a great neighborhood and then we proceeded to design these ideal neighborhoods with the mostly recycled materials.  The kids had lots of energy and enthusiasm for their projects, and also to have the chance to be working on them with us as well.  I felt like this was a much needed boost, at least for me, because the sessions at Casey have been so lacking in participants and enthusiasm.  Though today's lesson may not have been as educational as we may have hoped (as the kids were more interested in doing their own things),  their enthusiasm to work on the projects definitely made the day feel much for successful.  

Alyssa

Michael Duffin and Casey

Last week was a new week in the Casey Design Club, with I believe six students this time, including one new student and several returning from previous times. We were glad to work with a larger number of students finally, and we all found the week to be a success, as opposed to the previous weeks. Thursday night, following the club meeting, I attended Michael Duffin’s lecture about place-based education. This speech happened to pertain very much to our class and its current activities, making it a relevant talk to attend. One of the major overriding themes that I felt permeated throughout his speech was one of social mobilization beginning with a small group of students, spreading outward and upward like wildfire. In his speech, Duffin explained about how numerous example groups that he was involved in started as a small group of young students learning some concepts, who then would spread the ideas out to other students at different levels, eventually branching out of the school completely. Likewise, Casey’s Design Club can be just like this, because the students in the club can learn all about sustainability in a fun way, while ingraining the knowledge in them. Through good habits and word of mouth, the students can help teach their family and friends, who can in turn spread the word further outward. Michael Duffin clearly believes in grassroots education, and with either place-based design or sustainability, a small group of students can educate the people around them.

~Austin~

A Successful Day at Casey

This Wednesday, we created communities out of recyclables with the middle schoolers. I was very pleased to see how involved the kids were with this activity. In the group that I worked with, we let the kids take total control. They asked for help when they needed it (mainly cutting out windows or drawing on film canister cars). They had great ideas, starting from simple then progressing to the complicated. The outcome was a great and complex little main street. They wanted to get into the details before the basics, so we sneakily advised them otherwise. They even went as far as to make solar panels out of hersey kisses wrappers and an electric car charging station! It was great. I can't really find a way to relate this experience to what Michael Duffin was lecturing about. He lectured about what we do in our class, but on a much larger scale. Same idea, but bigger. From what I can see,we relate by the increase in environmental awareness in the Casey kids.
Chelsea
4 April 2008

Model Making

Yesterday actually went really well. It was a surprise to show up to six Casey students. The activity was a good way to bond with the kids and just hang out, while at the same time trying to touch on a some aspects of sustainable design. I think that the kids really enjoyed doing this activity because it did not involve too much thinking, and was a fun and social project. I think we could have been more effective on the teaching of city planning if everyone was to work on one big model, however it seemed like most the students wanted to do their own... which worked out and was still a learning experience. I was really surprised by some of the creative things the kids came up with putting into their cities. One kid implemented a space center, another put the wind farm on top of buildings because he argued it would be windier higher up and therefore more efficient. In the end they were thinking of sustainable factors that play into cities, so all in all it was a success.
-kaley

new beginnig

Today’s after school program was far more successful than any others this semester. For the first time ever, the ratio of Casey to CU students was almost 1:1. Not only this, but the kids seemed to be genuinely interested in our activity. I believe this was due to the new flyers that had been sent out to the entire school. The flyers were more exciting than the others, promising fun and prizes. Today we had the children design their ideal community, while keeping in mind ecology and sustainability. Some of the kids included solar panels, windmills, green roofs, and their own road system. I hope this was an indication of how things will continue to happen.
Today I also attended the Michael Duffin talk. Although the subject was very interesting, the delivery was not. The way he presented the information was not like an academic scholar presenting his findings, but as a sales man selling his product. Anyone who did not already know about the topic would immediately be turned off to the idea because of the sales man mentality.


sam

Hopefully a turn for the better

This Wednesday at Design Club there were a total of five students, which is an improvement from the two that showed up the previous week. The session started off a bit slow because we had two new students who had to be introduced to the entire group of CU students. I am not sure if this was the best way to grab the attention of the new students, but it is important to create familiarity right away. Two of the girls who had been to a previous Design Club began the project of building their ideal city, which turned out to be a great activity, engaging the students while reminding them of ways in which to be sustainable and energy efficient. The two girls were very meticulous about their design, including a major road through the center of the town, a station for hybrid cars to re-charge, and solar panels to give electricity to their buildings. The other group of students went about the making of their town in a different way but was still conscious of energy efficient ways to give electricity to their town. The main logo for their town, once you entered through the solar paneled entranceway, was "Please Recycle." Overall, this activity went quite well, maybe the best one we have experienced so far. I think that hands-on projects that include building, manipulation, and creativity are the best way to engage the students while teaching them about sustainability and green design.

Stevi

Design Club Wed 19th

The Design Club this time around did not turn out as well as we had all hoped. Only two students showed up in comparison with the ten CU students who were there. We were supposed to do a sustainable scavenger hunt, where the students were to go around the school finding ways in which their school was either sustainable or not. We did do this activity with the two students who came, but the affect was not the same. They showed us around their school and we looked for ways in which the school could be improved upon and also for ways in which it was already energy efficient. The students seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by the ratio of CU students to Casey students, but did relax a bit once we started the activity. Hopefully the next session will bring more students so the projects can be more interactive and benficial to both the middle school students and to us as well.

Stevi

Interviewing the girls

For a different class, an assignment required me to interview a child about his or her primary modes of transportation (mainly to and from school) and about their neighborhood and sense of place. This was made much easier since I already knew of some pretty cool Casey kids who would be completely willing to partake in this type of interview. My partner and I interviewed three girls from our Wednesday group. The first half of the questions we asked were primarily about how they travel. They all said that they prefer biking because it's healthy for them and for the environment. They all said that weather is a big factor in if they get rides or not, but when they do, they carpool with one another. This showed me a bit of background to how they came to be so environmentally knowledgeable: their parents. It was great when one of their mothers showed up and told us about how the girls were raised and how they have all be taught to compost, eat organic, grow as much of their food as possible, etc., all proving why these girls are so keen on keep nature above any other element of design. The rest of the questions were about community. They told us a lot about the Boulder community that we do not see as college students and could never see unless we had grown up here. They are given a lot of freedom, they know all of their neighbors, and their neighborhoods function in what seems to be a small co-op manner. Again, this information was helpful to understand why the design in the manner that they do. Neighborhoods are important to them, unlike many kids who don't feel any sort of attachment to where they live because they aren't allowed to experience it. It is also interesting to me that these girls seem so much older than most kids their age. I can't help but wonder if its due to the great amount of safe freedom they've been given while growing up. I'm very happy I was able to do this interview with them since it made me understand so much (that I did not expect out of it!) about how they function within the club as young designers.
2 April 2008
-Chelsea

Late Post/Looking Back

On March 10th, one of the architects came to speak to the Casey Students in our Design Club. All of the kids seemed captivated when he was speaking, although I honestly think he was not doing the best job speaking to them. He presented it in a very uninterested way as if the kids weren't worth his best 'show'. But, nonetheless, the kids thought it was great. Especially when he did the three-d model example. Afterwards, we broke into groups to let the kids design a portion of the future Casey campus. The girls who I worked with were very into this and had some great ideas. They're very nature conscientious kids so a lot of their design ideas revolved around how they could manipulate nature into their environment. I was disappointed with the architect's reaction when the girls were showing him their design plan. I know that some of the ideas were impractical, but at least it was showing some primary concerns that they have, but he sort of (again) acted uninterested. But they were still thoroughly pleased with the whole day. This design process I saw then showed through again today while they were designing their recycled community. Same values, principles, and nature infatuation; same important elements overlooked (but added in with sneaky suggestions by us), same disregard for design "rules" that most designers hold fast to. They already have a solid foundation for how they design which is amazing at such a young age. This shouldn't shock me since I think a lot of artistically minded kids have this foundation at this age, but I have overlooked it and forgotten what it was like to be in 6th grade. This must be why designers do not find the input of kids to be important or substantial enough for serious consideration, but really these ideas are totally worthy.
Posted 2 April 2008
Supposed to be 10 March 2008...
Chelsea

Recruiting

Last Wednesday I went in the morning and did recruiting in the different classrooms. We went to all the different classroom, but Kaley and I went to about 15. When we went to the different classrooms we got a really good response from all the different students. It seemed like the sixth graders were much more interested in the club then the classes full of eighth graders and the seventh grade classrooms were somewhere in between. The sixth grade classrooms all seemed really into the after school club and their teachers were really encouraging them to participate. All of the teachers seemed really excited about the design club.
I was really surprised to hear that the turnout was less then usual in the next sessions. Just from going around the school I though that we would definitely have atleast an additional 5 students. I think that a lot of the kids have things going on after school because a couple of the students told us that they could not participate due to previous arrangements. I hope that the recruiting will work this week, but we will just have to wait and see.
Laura

An Improvement? 'Fraid Not...

Well, we thought we had hit the low point last week with only two Casey students on Thursday, but we outdid ourselves (even more so than the Wednesday group that only had two students show up) and only one student showed up this time. It was impossible for the planned activity to go on as planned, considering multiple groups were needed for it to function as it was supposed to. Once again the majority of CU students had to leave because we were essentially unnecessary, and I had to leave with several other students. The lone Casey student who came to the meeting did seem pretty interested, but unfortunately for him, his experience was hampered by the lack of his fellow classmates. This also negatively affects the CU students who trek down to Casey every week, only to be told they can leave, while also potentially hurting everyone's final projects due to a possible lack of available material, depending on the students' individual projects. In terms of correcting the issue, the only thing I think can happen is try to do something particularly interesting to many students, and then advertising and recruiting beforehand to lure more students in. We did find out that two of the potential club members were out sick that day, but regardless of illness, we should still have more than a total of three students coming when everyone is healthy. If this cannot rectify itself soon, the entire program, curriculum, and class may be in jeopardy if the support, membership, and interest just are not there. Hopefully after Spring Break we will have more success!

-Austin

The next week

Well maybe I should have kept my mouth shut but today when I showed up at Casey their were only two Casey students. Things have really started to go down hill and I hope that we can rebound from this some how. I asked my teacher how many kids showed up last Thursday and she told me that only two had shown up then too. Then I found out that early on Wednesday other students from our class had even shown up to do some recruiting but it not looking like it helped. I just don't get whats going on things weren't like this last year. There was only a day or two that we didn't have at least six Casey students. Maybe its just that last year was kinda more of a social thing and this year its been sort of like a class and the students aren't into it. It could be that we got such a late start since we started recruiting much early last year or that we had a classroom right next to the main entrance and kids would just pop in because it looked like fun. Either way, the only thing I can think of to spark things would be try targeting students that would like to do the Sketchup part of the design class but it might just be too late. To bad we can't just bribe them to come though I guess that would defeat the purpose of having a class that supposed to be based on participation. Well only time will tell, we will just have to wait to see what happens after break.

Ben

Boys will be boys

We started with two truths and a lie which went well and the kids seemed to enjoy until the boys started doing flips on the coach. This has seemed to be a common theme with these boys and I'm not sure if they really want to be here. Derek did a nice presentation for the kids and they seemed really interested and excited to see the new school that they aren't going to get to use. This was the only down part of showing them the new school is that they were bummed that they weren't going to be here. Some of them decided that they were going to flunk so they could prolong their time a Casey one more year. After looking at the design we let the students pick a part of the new school they wanted to help in the design. For the ones who were interested in designing this went great and they came up with some really good ideas. For the boys on the other hand they just weren't into it and it just getting hard to control them. Beside Spanish coming in handy to get them to settle down they just don't want to participate. I guess this is just the way things are and we will see what happens next week.

Ben

Pretty Bad Day At Casey

Today two Casey Middle School students showed up for our Design Club Meeting and I think it was pretty discouraging for all of us. We all showed up and a few students had tried to earlier in the day to recruit students from 7th and 8th grade. Unfortunately this did not seem to have any direct effect. The two boys were really excited to get going in the club however we couldn't really run the activity as planned due to the small numbers. We planned on having some kind of competition with the results of the Sustainability Scavenger Hunt, which turned out to be somewhat of an unsuccessful activity. The reason for this was because the results of different groups' findings could not be compared because there was only one group. I really hope that things in the Design Club will shape up when we get back from Spring Break. Hopefully the timing this week was the issue rather than the alternative reason for them not showing up, but it will be very disappointing if they have all lost interest before we get into the Sketch-Up design portion of the Club. After Spring Break we are really going to need more participation from these middle schoolers in order for our project to be successful.
-Brett

Casey Design Club: Week 3

Week three of the Casey Middle School after school program and things have turned an unfortunate corner it seems. While efforts were made earlier in the day to recruit kids for both the afternoon session as well as the Thursday class, there turned up only two participants. We had three people lead the two Casey students in the planned activity for the day, while the rest of us had a group discussion. Unfortunately, this was a bust for the week; however, I feel that it had a positive outcome, where various options were discussed for going forward from this point. Next week is a down week, which should give us all enough time to figure out what the next move is in this process. Upon our return, we should be able to gather the necessary amount of participants as the popular Google SkethUp will be utilized in the weeks to come.

-Ian

A Lackluster Turnout!

Thursday was certainly a strange twist from the previous week, considering our numbers went from seven to two. I think there were about ten of us from CU, including Debra, and this was obviously a failure of recruiting. Three students supposedly could not go because they were leaving soon, but our numbers should be sustainable enough that missing a couple kids occasionally basically devastates the day’s plans. I, like several others, ended up leaving early because having 5 times the number of CU people to Casey students would have been exceptionally overwhelming and not exactly useful. Hopefully this issue can be corrected this week, but I feel that we really need to work on recruiting because, as Debra said, it’s not worth all of our time if nobody is going to come to our Thursday meeting, and cutting out Thursday is not really an option (the two students who came can only come that day, and most of the CU students are limited to Thursday). This is a serious problem that can be rectified by merely bringing more students next time, which I believe is very doable. By following Debra’s suggestion of sending a few students to recruit during school on Wednesday morning, we could easily find a few students who might be willing to try it out after actually meeting someone and putting a face to the program. If not, we can certainly show up a little early Thursday and walk around for some “spot-recruiting” as we can. I certainly hope we can find a solution and make Thursday a productive and useful part of the Casey Design Club afterschool program.
-Austin

only 2 kids, 2 future architects

When we arrived at the school on Thursday we were all surprised to find there were only two kids who had returned from last week. There were four other boys who showed up, but said they were unable to participate in the program because of a basketball game. This story turned out to be a lie. It wasn’t because of a basketball game; they only came to play on the computer. We attempted to recruit a few kids from around the school. Unfortunately by that time the only kids who were still at school were already involved in a program of their own.
The two kids who stayed were great! They were so excited to be involved in the program. The planned activity was to show the kids the architect’s plans for the new school, and then have them design the outdoor areas based off of that information. One of the kids expressed he wanted to become an architect. He was so eager to design that he wasn’t even interested in seeing the architect’s plans. He wanted to design his own school, from scratch. Given that we only had two kids, today was surprisingly successful. I was glad that we were there for the boys who came. I believe they really enjoyed themselves, and learned a lot about design as well.


sam

Thursday the 13th

Not much to say about today because only two kids showed up! Actually Garfield (I changed his name for security purposes, clever name I think) was on of the students that stayed on thursday. We split up into two groups, almost all the CU students left and we because to draw on trace over the plans from the architects. Garfield decided he wanted to design his own school so we help encourage his thoughts to encompass many forms of sustainable design. He enjoyed the activity and was so involved that his mom, who was waiting for him for 30 min had to come up and get him. It was really cool to see how supportive she was in her son's architectural and design passion. Hopefully we can recruit more people in to the club next week!

Steinmark

Thursday's First

The first day with the students was not what I was expecting at all. Only seven students showed up and there were even more CU students. The events kinda felt put together at the last minute so I think we should do a little bit more preparation on our part. The boys in the design club were more focused on the games on their computer. However, once we split them up on different sides of the computer lab, and even the library, they settled down for some ecological learning. The girls on thursday, like usual, were on task and enjoyed the activities (at least from my perspective.)

Steinmark

Productive Week 2

Wednesday March 12 was a much more productive and focused day than our first week of the after school design club. The day started off with the icebreaker activity and similarly to last week had a slightly goofy feel to it. Many of the boys were trying to be silly and mess around like last week. They were misbehaving until Luis told them in Spanish to behave. The architect’s arrival helped shift the mood of the group. Derek is the name of the architect for the future Casey Middle and his mannerisms seemed to shift the focus to a much more intelligent and focused manner. The 6th graders seemed interested by the Sketch-Up models of the proposal for the new building. Some of them were so excited about the building where they will never go to school that they suggested that they wanted to fail and stay back a grade in order to experience going to the new school. The next part of the design club was a fun activity where the Casey students worked with CU students to design a portion of the school on trace over the actual plan for the new building. I had the opportunity to work with Victor on his ideas for the green roof and he came up with some valuable ideas about the layout and his intensions for the use of the space. Overall I think that the tempo of the group is building momentum and definitely improved from last week.
-Brett

Casey Design Club: Week 2

The second week at Casey Middle School for the design club (after school program) went fairly well, I think, in multiple regards. We started the class, more or less, with an introductory presentation from one of the architects working to design and build the new Casey. This seemed to really take hold of the student's attention, as many of the Casey participants couldn't help but ask questions about the new school. I found it interesting when the students realized for themselves that their little brothers and sisters were going to be coming to the new Casey, and some of them even wanted to stay an extra year to see it after it was built. After the architect had presented his overview of the new site and building, we went into a design charrette, in which the Casey students were able to design any aspect of the new building that they wanted, which I thought beneficial to them as they were able to use their design skills and think about what they wanted or thought necessary at Casey. Overall, I felt like the second day at the design club went over ALOT better than day one, and look forward to next week when the kids will be able to learn more on sustainability, which is the end goal of the program.

-Ian

Design Club: Day 2

The second day at Casey was a flop. Wednesday everything seemed to work out well, however on Thursday only two kids showed up. The icebreaker game two truths and a lie went really well and I think the kids enjoyed it. It would have been a little overwhelming for the Casey students to work with so many CU students, so many of us left after the icebreaker. Hopefully next thursday will have a better turn out, if not we may have to figure out how this can work for the rest of the semester.

-Kaley

The second session of the after school program went quite well, with the Casey students showing a great amount of interest in the designer's presentation and in the following design project. The ice-breaker of two truths and a lie seemed to draw most of the students attention towards the larger group and provided a way for us to get to know a bit more about each other. A few of the student’s attention were lost afterwards due to the delay before the architect's presentation, but that should be expected with sixth grade students. The plans provided by the architect of the future Casey school greatly interested the students, initiating many questions and concerns about the new design and what specific elements will be included. The 3-D model of the design of the school also generated questions from the students, particularly about the gym, the outdoor lunch area, the cafeteria, and especially about the addition of an elevator. The architect could have answered the students in greater detail with more interest, but he did provide the students with a better idea of how the new school will turn out. Overall, the day was a success and I hope the students will bring the same amount of interest, concern and new ideas to each session.

A Disappointing Day

Today was an extremely disappointing day for Design Club in many aspects. I had heard and seen good reviews of the Wednesday session of Design Club, so I had planned on the Thursday session going well. However only two kids showed up, and while these two individuals seemed extremely enthusiastic about participating in Design Club, the sheer lack of students in attendance was disappointing. I even ended up leaving, with quite a few other students because having too many CU students present would have been overwhelming and a waste of time. However, one positive thing that I noticed was that the two truths and a lie icebreaker game had an encouraging result. Though there were only the two Casey students and about twelve CU students, I felt that those two students seemed genuinely interested in hearing our stories, and vice versa. In the same respect, though I tend to approach "icebreakers" with trepidation, I felt that this one gave even the CU students an insight into their peers, whereas in the past couple weeks I have felt that I did not know much about any of my classmates.


alyssa lile

They're back!

Being the second meeting of our after school program, much of the nervousness was gone from the air. The kids were seemingly excited to be there (or at least out of CSAPs), and we even gained one more girl in our group. Today the architect came, and the kids were extremely excited to see the plans for the new school. However, there was a minor problem that came from such an impressive new school: “I want to fail and get held back a year so I can go to the new school,” one of the boys proclaimed. Of coarse he was joking (I hope), but nonetheless it emphasized how crucial it is for us to make alternative incentives for the kids to participate, despite the fact that they will not be attending the new school. For example, most of the children have younger siblings who will be attending Casey. Perhaps this will be a good talking point to keep our 6th graders eager to participate in the Design Club, for the sake of their siblings. (Jon Bortles 3/14/08)

Week Two--Design Charrette

Today was really difficult to try to get anything achieved. We had a lack of interest to return to the design club the second week. There were only two kids that we worked with today and only one was a return. Despite the low number, the two boys that we worked with were very interested in being there and learning about the school design so it made it a little more enjoyable to work with them as opposed to the rowdy kids from the week before. We started off by doing one other icebreaker activity to get to know one another. Then since the architect was not able to be at both days of the after school Design Club, we talked about the set of plans for the new school with the kids ourselves. They seemed to be really interested in the design of the school and I think this is what got them to participate more than the previous week. We asked each of them to design their own part of the school. One kid wanted to design his own school entirely and the other was interested in giving his input on the outside spaces of the school. For the most part he described an interest for the same things that they did with the photo activity at the beginning of the process, but we were all surprised when he came up with a design to incorporate the skateboarders of the school into the activities of the surrounding area. I feel that we actually learned a lot from the two boys and hope that there are some improvements on the number of participants we get next week.
Brittany

Familiar Faces

This was actually the first day of our after school program and I have to admit that I was quite surprised when I walked in. It turned out that almost all the students were ones who had participated in last years design club. This left me with a reassuring feeling that what we had started last year had stuck with the students, they had enjoyed working with us, and come back for another semester. This also helped create a more comfortable atmosphere for a first day meeting since I knew most of the students and they knew me. What is even funnier is that out of the three students that weren't in the program last year two of them had been in my group the week prior. We started with the "name game" you know where you pick a word which is associated with the first letter of your name. I think that the kids really enjoyed the activity and whats funny is that middle-schoolers had a better memory then the college students. In fact they had to help us out which turned this into a really great participation activity for the kids. Next we headed to the computer lab to do a carbon footprint calculator. I think that this was a great place to start with teaching the students about ecological concepts and really got them thinking about how significant their footprint is compared to other countries. The student that I worked with wanted to go through and see what the difference was when we picked the best options and worsted and he even knew what had a negative or positive effect on the footprint which was great. When we finished the carbon footprint calculators we asked the kids some question about what they thought, one of the girls commented on how ambiguous the question were and next time she would want to do one which was a little more detailed so this was great to hear from someone so young. Of course some students didn't get as involved with the calculators and were more interested in the daily game that they had pirated on to the computers but overall this was a good first day and got the ecological ball rolling.

Ben