Appropriating a DBR model for a ‘research through codesign’ project on play in schools - to frame participation

Abstract

On the basis of an ongoing research project on designing play in schools, the aim of this paper is to explore how a fruitful combination of designbased research (DBR) and research-through-design (RtD) can enrich both research strategies. Through a number of examples of codesign processes with pedagogues, the paper explores how it is possible practically to communicate, reflect and frame participation inside, outside and beyond research through a codesign project. By exploring ways of participation within situated pedagogical practices and ongoing experiments, the paper unfolds ways for researcher and stakeholders to exchange and challenge worldviews and everyday practices. The main contribution is, first, to show how merging design-based research with codesign can add a focus on stakeholders as important participants by emphasising the systemising benefits of collaborative reflections and, second, to show how a DBR model can be enriched and extended in its understanding of experiments. INTRODUCTION The Research-through-Design (RtD) approach, originating in Frayling (1993), is today a widely used approach to practice-based design research (Vaughan 2017). Since this origin, related concepts such as constructive design research (Koskinen et al., 2011, Gall Krogh & Koskinen, 2020) and programmatic design research (Brandt et al., 2011) have emerged to refine understandings of what happens in such design research practices. Yet, despite their slight differences, what cuts across these terms and approaches is i) the research is typically multidisciplinary and ii) construction or experiments are considered to be at the core of the work and knowledge production (i.e. Bang & Eriksen, 2019). In 2008, Koskinen, Binder and Redström first introduced the framework ‘lab, field, gallery and beyond’ with the aim of mapping different areas and the overall theoretical grounding of design research. The ongoing PhD project: Pedagogical Play Practices (PPP) in focus in this paper could be positioned in the ‘field’ domain as it, among others things, applies a codesign approach and is taking place in the context of two Danish suburban elementary schools. The focus is on play in schools and, beyond the children involved in play situations, the main collaborators throughout the project are the two local teams of pedagogues (Jørgensen & Skovbjerg, 2020). (By the term ‘pedagogue’, we refer to danish professionals with a specific education, trained to work holisticly with children). In short, we characterise this PPP-project as a ‘Research through CoDesign’ project. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2021.49