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With Children, for Children:
A Method for Planning Educational Institutions

Developed as part of a Master’s program in Design and Innovation Management, this project presents a digital tool to assess children’s needs in planning educational institutions. Guided by mentor Hadas Zemer Ben-Ari, the tool uses sandbox-based psychological and gamification methodologies, allowing children to build interactive scenes that communicate their preferences. This innovative approach bridges the communication gap between children and planners, providing actionable insights that communities and public entities can use to enhance children’s quality of life.

Master's Final Project in Design and Innovation Management, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design

2024

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This project addresses the challenge of engaging children in the planning of educational spaces, considering their inherent difficulty in envisioning future environments. A core insight was that children’s input is most valuable at the needs-definition stage, rather than in design execution. The tool was designed as a digital platform to enable scalability, making it accessible for broader community and institutional use. In the short term, it serves as a measurement and assessment tool for identifying children’s needs. In the long term, it holds the potential to establish a new standard of "Child-Oriented Building Codes." Using design thinking and psychology-based gamification, the sandbox tool bridges the communication gap, allowing planners to incorporate children’s perspectives into the briefing stage of planning. This approach aims to enhance children’s quality of life by ensuring educational spaces truly reflect their needs.

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After establishing the challenge and selected solution, initial testing was conducted using a prototype on the MIRO platform, with custom illustrations I created for the test environment. In this setup, children engaged with a digital sandbox to design a virtual school environment. They freely arranged elements and were then asked targeted questions about each addition, particularly regarding safety and comfort. This approach, enhanced by my illustrative input, enabled fast feedback cycles and provided deep insights into children's needs and perceptions.

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The sandbox tool leverages 2D design to allow children to visually express their ideas in an intuitive way—a key advantage I bring as a designer. Observed behavioral patterns in the visual material, along with direct quotes from children, were documented and compiled into a report for planners. This feedback loop not only revealed actionable insights but also provided recommendations for future school designs, emphasizing the impact of professional collaboration—particularly with psychologists—in understanding children’s needs. This project holds potential for transformative impact by shaping educational spaces that genuinely reflect and respond to children’s perspectives.

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