作为MIT X JUND X麓湖A8设计中心联合课程Urban Hacking Chengdu五个研究成果之四，该研究聚焦“环境教育“的重要性，通过设计与科技的结合，鼓励以游戏和探索为核心，促使儿童与生活和非生活世界进行互动，并使其习得如何应对其复杂性。研究将麓湖生态城作为实践场域，通过物联网解决方案，将麓湖社区环境设计成一个有趣的课堂，以激活研究场地并使其适应基于环境的教育计划。

As one of the MIT X JUND X A8 Design Center joint course Urban Hacking Chengdu five research results, this research focuses on the importance of "environment-based education" by combining design with technology, encouraging play and exploration at the core, enabling children to interact with the living and non-living world and to learn how to cope with its complexity. The research takes LUXELAKES Eco-City as a practice field, and designs the LUXELAKES community environment as an interesting classroom through Internet of Things solutions, so as to activate the research site and adapt it to the environment-based education plan.

Project Little Luxelakers

Designer: Yun Wang, Catherine Yang

As the society started to consider more and more on the children’s education, it seems that the traditional educational system, which centers around home and school, cannot satisfy the need for the children’s multidisciplinary development. According to the architect Christopher Day, who has extensive experiences in designing schools and early childhood centers, the environment is not only a space where they live and grow up every day, but also contains the day-to-day, dynamic yet “hidden curriculum”. Such hidden curriculum would incentivize creativity, elasticity, social responsibility for children, which is missing in the traditional format of education. But environment education can be limited by a lot of factors in urban environments, and most children are still experiencing the linearity between the two points of home and school. On the other hand, Luxelake’s geographical qualities and its natural environment provides the best site for children’s environment education. With design and technology going hand-in-hand, the designers research aims to transform the Luxelake site to a playful classroom, and an educational playground. Through the interventions of smart technology and the organization of communal events, we intend to enable children to learn through exploration and play.

自古以来，儿童通过自我指导的游戏和探索进行自我教育。家长曾让孩子们几乎无限地自由玩耍和探索，因为他们认识到这些活动为孩子们提供了自然的学习方式。然而在当代，普及义务教育的观念应运而生。教育被认为是灌输的代名词，而游戏和探索被抑制。该项目介绍了环境基础教育的概念。

环境有时被称为“隐性课程”，旨在激发儿童的创造力，弹性和社会责任感，而这在当前的教育形式中通常是缺失的。从最基本的方面开始，儿童的积极性与他们与环境的互动直接相关。孩子们总是在无时无刻的观察。因此，每时每刻都是孩子学习新鲜事物的绝佳机会。通过与生活和非生活世界进行互动并应对复杂性，儿童被鼓励探索并找到两者之间的平衡。

For thousands of years, children educated themselves through self-directed play and exploration. Adults allowed children almost unlimited freedom to play and explore on their own because they recognize that those activities are children’s natural way of learning. However, in our modern world, the idea of universal, compulsory education arose and spread. Education was considered as a synonym of indoctrination. Play and exploration were suppressed. This project introduces the concept of Environment Based Education.

The Environment is sometimes referred to as a “hidden curriculum” that incentivizes creativity, elasticity, social responsibility for children, which are usually missing in the current education format. Starting from the most basic aspect, children’s activeness is directly related to their access to the environment. Children are always observing. Every moment is a novel opportunity for children to learn about something new. Through interacting with the living and non-living world and dealing with the complexities, children are encouraged to explore and find the balance between the two.

此外，沉浸于环境和学习可增强孩子们对社区的归属感。通过与同龄人的互动和合作，孩子们将能够获得更多的社会责任。通过经历各种社会场景，他们可以发展解决问题的能力和领导能力。研究表明，从环境中学习的孩子更有可能成为：1）高性能终身学习者；2）有效的未来问题解决者；3）体贴的社区领袖和参与者，以及4）关心周围的人，生物和地方的人。

Furthermore, immersing in the environment enhances the children’s sense of belonging to the community. The children will be able to gain more social responsibility through participating and collaborating with their peers. Through experiencing diverse social scenarios, they can then develop problem solving skills and leadership. Researches have shown that children who learn from the environment are more likely to become: 1) high-performance lifelong learners; 2) effective future problem solvers; 3) thoughtful community leaders and participants, and 4) people who care about the people, creatures, and places around them.

该项目提出实施物联网解决方案，以激活研究场地并使该站点适应基于环境的教育计划。

This project proposes to implement IoT solutions to activate the site and adapt the site for the environment-based education program.

在年初的场地调研中，设计师们对当地学校的校长和社区成员进行了数次采访。他们发现麓湖被设计为适合家庭和儿童娱乐的场所，但拥有许多尚未划分功能的空间，可提供更多灵活的学习和娱乐方式。

The project designers have conducted several interviews with the local school principal and community members during their trip to Luxelakes in January. They find that Luxelakes is designed as a family and children-friendly place, yet with many unprogrammed space that will allow much more flexible way of learning and playing.

在春季学期期间，设计师向成都哈密尔顿麓湖小学的父母分发了调查问卷，以了解居住在麓湖的家庭的用户画像，以及他们对采用智能技术，自然和教育的儿童教育的看法。他们从一百多个答复中得出以下结论：96.4％的父母会在周末将孩子带到大自然中；89.3％的父母考虑为孩子购买智能手表；83.3％的父母愿意让孩子使用智能设备进行学习。该项目的目标是将麓湖变成一个趣味的教室，学习的游乐场。

During the spring semester, the authors distributed surveys to parents from Chengdu Hamilton Luxelakes Primary School to learn about the user persona of Luxelake families, as well as their opinions on children’s education with smart technology, nature and education. From over a hundred responses, they conclude that 96.4 % of the parents would take their children to nature on weekends. 89.3 % of the parents considered buying their children smart watches. 83.3 % of the parents are willing to allow their children to use smart devices to learn. The goal of this project is to transform Luxelakes into a playful classroom and educational playground.

这意味着将环境作为被动的课程，教育性的游乐场，能够让儿童参与规划的自治环境。在麓湖的城市环境中，从点到点的体验，孩子从学校到家的放学后路线的体验将变得更加动态。

This means making the environment as passive lessons, an educational playground, an autonomous place where children can engage in planning. In the urban context of Luxelakes, the experience of a child’s after-school route from school to home will become much more dynamic from a point-to-point experience.

该项目引入了三层设计措施：1）活动项目设计，2）现场物理安装设计以及3）儿童智能手表UI设计。设计师通过与与学校和社区的合作来进行每个活动设计与应用模板。例如，某些项目是将已有的教科材料进行数字化的转译。同时，设计师设计的装置设备可以放置在任何地方：操场上，聚会场所，天然植物上或某些社区花园中。

Overall, this project introduces three broad interventions: 1) program design, 2) on-site physical installation design and 3) children’s smart watch UI design. The design of each program and activities are most conducted through the partnership with school and community. There will be templates for application. For example, some programs are the translation from textbook to the digitized fieldwork. The physical installation can be placed anywhere: on the playground, at a meeting spot, on natural plants, or in some community garden space.

设计师提出”小麓屋”的设计概念，一个设计成可爱的鸟屋形式可将智能手表与课程项目链接在一起的交互媒介。当孩子们佩戴智能手表并敲击小屋时，该动作会激活生活在小屋中的虚拟人物，通过手表与孩子进行交流。

The proposed on-site installation is the Lu Hut, an interactive object which links the smart watch with the program. This is designed in the form of a bird house. When children are wearing the smartwatch and knock on the hut, the action provokes an imagined character living in the hut and communicates with the children through the watch.

设计涵盖四个部分：1）太阳能板，2）半透明白色PVC屋顶，3）微电脑处理芯片，4）感应元件+LED灯光，5）NFC感应元件调节虚拟和真实世界的互动。

The design consists of four components: 1) solar panels for wireless self-sustainability, 2) translucent white PVC roof cover, 3) Arduino board, 4) modular sensors and LED lights, and 5) NFC sensors which allow interactions between the virtual and the real.

为了更好地支持活动策划和组织活动，设计师设计了一系列手表使用界面，这些界面展示了麓湖的孩子如何使用手表来更好地彼此和与环境互动。

To better support the event planning and organizations, the authors designed a series of watch use interfaces that demonstrate how the children at Luxelakes can use the watch to better engage with each other and with the environment.

最后，奖励制度鼓励儿童参与，并让他们看到自己的进步。

Lastly, the reward system incentives children to participate and allows them to see their progress.

另一方面，家长将拥有一个独立的应用程序用户界面，可提供更多详细信息。他们将可以访问自己孩子们的地理位置，并能够滚动浏览孩子们所有可能遇到的乐趣和活动机会。此外，家长可通过平台为孩子提前设置每日固定的探索与玩耍时间。

On the other hand, the parents have a separate app user interface that provides more detailed information. They will have access to their children’s location and be able to scroll through all the opportunities and fun their children might encounter.  There is also parental control which allows parents to set up daily fixed free time for their children to have fun in Luxelakes.

设计师通过介绍虚拟人物“小麓客”麓美美的故事来演示智能手表的应用场景。设计师建议次项目与麓湖已有的教育项目进行合作，辅助当地小学老师们设计优化学校里的自然科学课程。学习概念是根据现有课程改编而成的，设计师在此基础上还增加了一些专门针对樱花观赏和动手实践的新学习概念。

The designers demonstrate a use case scenario of the smart watch by illustrating an imagined story for Little Luxelaker Lu Meimei. The designers suggest a collaboration with the educational programs in Luxelakes, where the teachers in the local elementary schools can plan and optimize for the Science classes in alignment with the events. The learning concepts are adapted from the existing curriculum, while the designers have included additional new learning concepts specifically for cherry blossoms and hands-on experience.

特邀客席导师点评

Comments from Guest Tutors

Andrew Stokols

感谢所有的图表和场景设计。是否有探索孩子们与社区其他方面互动的方式？设计有设置与空间的互动，但它更像是一个软件而不是一个有强空间感的提案。设计与这个特定的场地有什么关系？另外，你刚开始谈到了封闭社区及其对儿童教育的影响，那么这个装置是为了连接社区还是仅仅在一个社区内运行？

I appreciated all the diagrams and scenarios. Did you explore other ways that children might interact with other aspects of the community? You have the inter-play with spatial elements, but it is more like a software than a spatial proposal. How does it relate to this particular site?  Also, initially you talked about the closed community and its influence on children’s education. Does this device meant to bridge the communities or does it operate just within one community?

为什么开发者会考虑你的想法作为麓湖的特定设备？或者这是一个可以推销给许多开发者的想法/设备，还是它是专门为麓湖设计的？

Why do you think the developer will take your idea into consideration as a LUXELAKES specific device? Or is this an idea/device that can be marketed to many developers or you think it is specifically for LUXELAKES?

庄子玉

Zhuang Ziyu

在我看来，这个项目引入了一个特定的平行世界：成年人有自己的世界，孩子也有自己的世界。它并没有显示出儿童世界的丰富度，例如，有时人们可能有多个孩子，有时成年人可能会把自己放在孩子的世界、参加孩子的活动。在这方面，我看到了潜力，但也许你可以考虑更多样化的干预和互动。第二件是关于用户界面。我想知道这个界面是不是专门为孩子们设计的。如果你看它的功能，比如和朋友互动，它和成年人的功能需求是一样的。我想知道如何区分孩子和成年人的心理路径，以便去扩大差异化来使之更为明确。

In my opinion, this project introduces a certain parallel world where adults have their own world and kids have their own. It does not give out the richness of kids’ world, for example, sometimes people might have more than one kid, and sometimes the adults might put themselves in the kids’ world and join kids’ activities. In this aspect, I see potentials but maybe you can think about diversifying the intervention. The second thing is about the interface. I was trying to tell is this interface specifically designed for the kids or not. If you look at the functions such as interacting with friends, it is the same function as adults, I want to know how to differentiate the psychological path for the kids and adults. Maybe we can enlarge that distance to identify that.