Abstract :
This paper focuses on a built environment project
with a mixed ability group of learners from year seven
attending Deacon’s School in Peterborough, England.
The School caters for students aged betweeneleven
and eighteen, from a wide range of ethnic and
cultural backgrounds (including a substantial minority
from the Indian Sub-Continent); it is an active
participant within the University of Cambridge Post
Graduate Certificate in Education partnership and
is a ‘beacon school’. In practical studio terms, the
project was concerned with school students
making ‘pop-up cards’ based on first hand observation
of local architecture under the guidance of
the Head of Art. [1] The focus for students’ learning
was on their critical responses to their built environment,
in and around the City of Peterborough. In
particular, students were encouraged to make full
use of their sketchbooks and to engage in active
oral work. The approach taken builds upon that
advocated by Wolff and Geahigan [2] by emphasising
the relationship between students’ personal
engagement with art and design and their personal
response to it through their own art; students were
encouraged to learn about art and design objects
through the process of reacting, researching,
responding and reflecting. [3]
