Reading / notes in preparation for my 20 minute ‘microteaching’
Material culture is rooted in sociology and anthropology.
Jules Prown / Mind in Matter
‘Material culture is the study through artifacts, of the beliefs, values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions of a particular community or society, at a particular time’.
Prown, J. D. (1982). Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method. Winterthur Portfolio, 17(1), 1–19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1180761
The Jules Prown method of object based learning has 3 stages;
1. describe
2. deduce
3. hypotheses
An experiential learning technique.
See Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb 1984)
Active learning.
Research & enquiry based learning.
Further reference: Innovative Pedagogies Series: Wow: The power of objects in object-based learning and teaching Dr Kirsten Hardie
‘People make things, but things also make people‘
Planning in progress for micro-teach;
Possible learning outcomes of object based learning;
OBL can impart subject-specific knowledge and instill transferable skills like communication & collaboration.
Speculative thinking (thinking about our relationship with the future and our responsibility inherent in that relationship)
Teamworking
Communication
Observation
Visual literacy
critical analytical skills
Problem solving
Design awareness & knowledge
Could focus on advertising and semiotics (i.e Roland Barthes)
Questions to ask;
what is its function, age and target audience? Who designed and manufactured it?
What does the object communicate and what values do you think it has? (e.g. financial, social, historical or cultural)
How does meaning get into the image?
Advertising is intentional
Signs in images / cultural knowldge is required to ‘read’ or interpret some signs. i.e the colours of the italian flag.
The meaning of vision and perception is not objective. Images are polysemus.
Possible objects to examine in 2 groups;
A mobile phone (extension of self technology) Marshall McLuhan
A pack of cards (analog play)
A printed photograph (mnemonic object)
Activity 1 idea: Object 2060 / breakdown;
1. Take your phone out of your pocket, observe and examine it without ‘using it’ in the way you usually would. (what material/s is it? consider how was it designed & manufactured? What is it for? what are its functions?)
Put it away out of sight.
2. You have just time-traveled to 2060. Imagine a vision of 2060. What does it look like? How do we live?
3. You are now in 2060. Take your phone out again. Discuss what value this object has in 2060? Consider the materials, design, manufacturing process, and crucially the function it had in 2022.
Activity 2 idea: lifespan thinking
1. observe & describe the item
2. what is its use?
3. what is its afterlife?
Further reference:
Object-based learning in higher education: The pedagogical power
of museums HELEN J. CHATTERJEE
https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/18452/9349/chatterjee.pdf