This document is a thesis proposal submitted by Ashwath Anand to the faculty of the Industrial Design Department at Savannah College of Art and Design. The proposal focuses on developing Nucleus, an interactive, hands-on, collaborative learning ecosystem for Generation Z. Anand argues that the current education system does not cater to children's natural creativity and problem-solving skills are more important for Generation Z to learn. The proposal outlines research questions on ideal learning environments, alternate platforms, modern education approaches, and tools available. The literature review identified four areas of focus: helping Generation Z learn, reframing learning, obstacles to change, and facilitating a new way of learning. The proposal describes the design process and methodology that will be

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Nucleus: An Interactive, Hands-On, Collaborative Learning
Ecosystem for Generation Z.
A Thesis Proposal Submitted to the Faculty
Of the Industrial Design Department
In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Industrial Design
at
Savannah College of Art and Design
Ashwath Anand
Savannah, Georgia
© May 2015
Michael Felix, Committee Chair
John McCabe, Committee Member
Bruce Claxton, Committee Member

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I dedicate this thesis to
My mother, my tree of life and
My father, my northern star

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Acknowledgements
This project has been very challenging emotionally, physically and mentally for me and I
attribute my success to my tribe.
The first part of this tribe are my Professors:
Michael Felix
Bruce Claxton
John McCabe
Sarah Jo Johnson
Thank you for guiding me through this journey. I cannot place a value on the amount of brain
power and time you all have dedicated to me.
The second part of this tribe are my friends and fellow designers at SCAD:
Tyler decker
Alexandra Patron
Nupoor Rajkumar
Jason M Hyland
Shanmugasundaram Selvaraj
Shreya Mehta
Amar Chadgar
Cathy Gu
Dhivyasimhon Shridharan
Ali Murtaza
Eva Dunne
Thank you all for staying up at ungodly hours and going out of your way to help me.

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Table of Contents
List of Images and Figures 1
Abstract 3
1 Introduction 4
25 Word Subject of Study 4
Claim 4
Background 4
Problem Statement 5
Opportunity Statement 5
2 Literature Review 7
Introduction 7
Research Questions 7
Helping Generation Z Learn 8
Reframing Learning 11
Obstacles for Change 15
Facilitating a New Way of Learning 17
3 Methodology 21
4 Design Process 23
Stage One 23

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Stage Two 25
Stage Three 29
Stage Four 41
5 Observations and Feedback 46
Student Feedback 46
Teacher Feedback 46
6 Conclusion and Future Steps
Works Cited 50
Appendix A 53
Appendix B 57
Appendix C 59

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List of Images and Figures
Fig 4.1 Students interacting at a weekly home schooling session 23
Fig 4.2 Weekly home schooling sessions with a teacher 24
Fig 4.3 Talking to Ms. Maria Williams of Independent Learning Network 25
Fig 4.4 Students interacting with a teacher at Charles Ellis Montessori School 26
Fig 4.5 Observing Students interacting with materials and classrooms 28
Fig 4.6 Two eight year olds solving a math problem at Charles Ellis 28
Fig 4.7 Books referred for understanding Montessori materials 30
Fig 4.8 Handmade paper and cardboard prototypes 31
Fig 4.9 Teachers reviewing the paper and cardboard prototypes 32
Fig 4.10 Teachers reviewing the paper and cardboard prototypes 32
Fig 4.11 Miss Christy reviewing the timeline prototypes 33
Fig 4.12 Students demonstrate how to use the timeline 33
Fig 4.13 Laser cut puzzle pieces exploring two concepts 34
Fig 4.14 Reviewing the laser cut puzzle prototypes 35
Fig 4.15 Teachers from other departments reviewing the Golden ratio kit 35
Fig 4.16 Miss Christy and Tanya reviewing final prototypes 36
Fig 4.17 Mr. Gary Davidson reviewing the final prototypes 37
Fig 4.18 Building a cardboard prototype to house the Golden Ratio Kit 38
Fig 4.19 Finished Cardboard box for Golden Ratio Learning Kit 38
Fig 4.20 Testing final prototype with cardboard box 39
Fig 4.21 Final box being built in the workshop 40

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Fig 4.22 Test session with students using the final learning kit 40
Fig 4.23 Test session with students using the final learning kit 41
Fig 4.24 Designer‟s customer journey map 42
Fig 4.25 Teacher‟s customer journey map 43
Fig 4.26 Designer persona 44
Fig 4.27 Teacher persona 44
Fig 4.28 Student persona 45

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Abstract
Nucleus: An Interactive, Hands-On, Collaborative Learning Ecosystem for Generation Z.
Ashwath Anand
May 2015
This thesis focuses on creating Nucleus, a platform for collaboration between Designers and
Educators to create a better learning ecosystem. Nucleus serves as a forum for discussing
projects and collaboration opportunities, Nucleus also has a gallery of projects for anyone who
is interested to see what has been produced and a section with all of the author‟s secondary
research, available for anyone who wants more details on the foundation of this platform.
Keywords: Education, Toolkit, learning, Generation Z, platform, facilitators, designers, teachers,
Montessori, golden ratio.

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Chapter 1
Introduction
25 Word Subject of Study
I am studying the essential components of learning to develop an interactive hands-on
collaborative learning eco system for Generation Z
Claim
Although going through a formal education system helps children learn essential skills.
This system is based on an outdated and flawed call and response model that discourages
curiosity and self-expression.
Generation Z will benefit from learning how to solve problems and challenges more than
anything else academics can teach them. Creativity needs to be at the core of problem solving
and this can be achieved by creating an eco-system of products and services that caters to their
natural curiosity and help them learn how to solve problems in an iterative, hands-on, interactive
way.
Background
The main inspiration for this Thesis is the author‟s learning experience to make projects using
the Arduino platform. Arduino serves as a common ground for Artists, designers and engineers
to collaborate and work on interesting interactive projects.
In its bare essence, Arduino is a simple hardware product. It is open source so anyone can
develop products for Arduino and there is a massive online community that shares what they

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make and answer questions with nothing in return, all driven by a passion to create, learn and
share knowledge.
Since this feels like a very ideal way to learn, there is a need to expose children between ages of
nine and ten to it. They are part of Generation Z, the next Generation that is going to tackle
challenges of the future. Formal education is probably not preparing them adequately for the
complex problems of their future and children need a platform to explore and expand their
creativity and intelligence.
Problem Statement
Our current education system is based around standardizing knowledge and this does not cater to
childrens‟ natural creativity. The system has a lot of focus on remembering facts and there is no
longer any value in that. Mistakes are punished and that hinders creativity.
The current system has been in question for many years with education experts like Ken
Robinson leading the charge for change. There have always been alternatives like Montessori
schools, home schooling, magnet schools and many online resources like Khan Academy,
Classle and MOOC but still in Fall of 2014 49.8 million students went to public Schools in the
United States. Most of them are typically underfunded and/or overcrowded.
Therefore in spite of a lot of awareness and alternatives, many children are still falling through
the gaping holes that is the education system.
Opportunity Statement
Future challenges need problem solvers, collaborators and creative thinkers. Our current model
of learning is struggling to arm our youngest generation with these skills. As Mentioned before,

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there are many physical and digital learning resources and platforms for anyone who is looking
for alternatives. In theory we could take the best of these components and make a new education
system that works. There are many lessons to be learned from existing alternate platforms and
products can be generated by them, for them. But instead of trying to change a Goliath sized
system, we could just create a new David sized agile, efficient and clever system.
So there is immense value in creating a cohesive package of digital and tangible products and
services for them to aid learning. This service can bring together people who are deeply
passionate about making sure education is heading the right way and don‟t have to wait for big
level policy changes.
Nucleus can be that platform for these people who want to make a change and do not want to
wait for big level policy changes. Change no longer needs politicians, lobbying and years to be
deployed, change needs to be immediate and change needs to cater to the hour‟s need and secure
our future.
Here knowledge will be shared and sought after, questions can be unique and answers can be
individually tailored. All stakeholders involved: students and facilitators can experiment, learn
and share knowledge all while having lots of fun. Mistakes will not be looked down on and will
be considered a stepping stone and a learning opportunity

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Chapter Two
Literature Review
Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of literature related to the differences between education and
learning, the essential components of learning, skills that are essential for generation Z to be
effective problem solvers and what can help them learn these essential skills.
Research Questions
The following research questions were generated to gain knowledge about the components
necessary for effective learning, how it can be achieved and the limitations to achieving them.
These questions lead to articles, papers, books and blogs that were further affenitized to form
four major areas this thesis will focus on.
1. What are the components of an ideal learning environment for children?
2. How have alternate platforms impacted learning in children?
3. How is modern education catering to children‟s natural learning abilities?
4. What is the impact of learning tools available in the market today?
5. How are current systems of learning catering to Generation Z‟s future needs?
6. What is the current role of a facilitator and what does it need to evolve into?
7. What establishments are embracing alternate methods of learning? Can others learn from
them?
These research questions lead to my sources for reading and the notes generated from these
readings lead to four main areas of focus that would form a sandbox for me to play within:
Helping Generation Z learn, Facilitating a new way of learning, Avoiding obstacles for
change and Reframing Education.

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Helping Generation Z learn
Anyone born after the year 1995 is part of Generation Z. In The United States they are currently
25.4% of the total population(Shields 2015) and they are the next generation that will lead the
world and take over from the millennials. Because of the nature of challenges they will face
their process of learning needs to be vastly different from what is offered through traditional
education. In the last thirteen years this has led to an increase in the number of students who
choose to drop of the traditional schooling system and resorting to home schooling and hack
schooling (Tanz 2015).
Generation Z wants to connect through snack size content and likes to communicate through
multiple platforms (Shields 2015). They want access to technology as early as three years of age
( Shilsky 2014) because they have brains that can process more information at higher speeds (
Shields 2015). Over the past few decades our economy has shifted from commodity based
capital to intellectual based capital (kaku 2014) and now more than ever before, the world is
looking for creative and entrepreneurial people (Tanz 2015).
Children going through today‟s education system are not gaining twenty first century skills
because intelligence is now known to manifest itself in more ways than just numbers and words,
it is dynamic, diverse and distinct (Robinson 2009) but these skills are not taught because they
are difficult to assess (Saavedra 2012). Children are like enthusiastic planetarium audiences
(Fuller 2008), they have a fertile mind with sparkling imagination and a willingness to take
risks(Robinson 2011) so we need to make education fun and empowering for them(Leung).
Generation z wants to make a difference and make an impact (Shields 2014) and they need more
focus on schematic thinking than systematic thinking to achieve great things( Robinson 2009).

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Learning needs to incorporate more than just what education has to offer now. The nature of
challenges faced during learning should be ones they will face as professionals (Fuller 2008).
Children are naturally wired for delayed gratification (they will prefer to take 2 marshmallows in
twenty minutes rather than take one right now)(Kaku 2014), and this prepares them for
predicting future problems and challenges (a level three organization) which is very essential to
Generation Z‟s learning process (Kaku 2014). Unfortunately the one size fits all fast food style
standardized education system does keeps them from using these skills because of the predictive
and memory heavy nature of what they learn at school. Education needs to move from fast food
style service to Michelin style restaurants which is individually tailored and adaptive (Robinson
2009).
Project based learning(PBL) has always been known to foster twenty first century thinking and
innovative thinking (Bender 2012). PBL emphasizes learning on a personal journey of discovery,
which is an up and coming trend in forward thinking learning processes (Edwards 2014). Home
schooling is one way parents are trying to give generation Z the twenty first skills they need
because it is an individualized solution to our rising social need (Tanz 2015). Montessori Schools
also have a very ideal style of learning with the children enrolled in these schools claiming their
“classrooms are innovative” (Fitch 2013). Project based, team based and open ended learning
projects requires cooperative learning (Johnson 2004) and learning transfer (Saavedra 2012).
Both are known to encourage and raise achievements of all students involved. There has been a
50% increase in multiracial youth since 2000(Shields 2015) so this generation will see
collaboration like no other before them. Interaction amongst young children provides context for
social and cognitive learning (Dangwal and Kapur 2009) and again this will be one of the most
valuable skills children can learn while growing up. Hacker spaces for children are perfect for

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getting immersed in real world team oriented projects for children. In Silicon Valley, hacker
spaces and home schooling groups already go hand in hand with amazing results (Shields 2015).
Finally, the Khan Academy model of learning is perhaps one of the most promising new and
innovative ways of learning. Khan Academy lets us create a day – night flipped classroom
(Parslow 2012) where children listen to lectures at home at their own pace and get to do
assignment work in class with a teacher who facilitates learning. This lets facilitators foster
deeper understanding of any and all concepts and lessons ( Bender 2012). Education needs to
shift to a point where facilitators of learning go from sage on stage to guide by the side (Parslow
2012), where their role is not to dazzle students with their own knowledge but to be present and
provide support when needed (Thomas 2008).
In conclusion, an ideal learning environment where all these elements are present the process of
learning for children will be a journey of self-discovery where they go from “I don‟t know” to “I
know something” to “I want to learn more” (Dangwal and Kapur 2009). There is a lot of
awareness on the different and dynamic learning needs of generation Z. Trends from
technology, culture and demographics are shaping future problems and challenges so we must
act now to setup a reliable learning eco system to cater to these needs.
Insights:
1. The best insight from this section is the day-night flipped classroom model of learning.
Teacher- student facilitate , not teach. is very important to facilitate learning and it is such
a challenge when all the contact time is spent on lectures. Lectures are inefficient to
transfer knowledge anyway and we are lucky to have resources to actually reverse this
paradigm.

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2. The claim that intelligence is dynamic, diverse and distinct is very thought provoking.
Perhaps the lack of understanding this idea is why education is still in a „one size fits all‟
model.
3. Team work, collaboration and synergy is perhaps the most important skillset to have to
be able to effectively tackle challenges. This is very difficult to learn when children go
through a system where their core evaluation pits them against one another, trying to
outscore and out rank each other. We need to teach collaboration, not competition.
4. The role of a facilitator is also very interesting to analyze. I believe teachers should be
facilitators of learning and not a cauldron of just knowledge that is being passed on. The
most effective facilitation happens when the facilitators are also learning from students
while trying to facilitate learning.
Reframing Learning
Clearly, with Generation Z‟s changing learning needs, there is a need to reframe how and what
they learn. Project based learning (PBL) has always been known to produce better overall
learning through lots of collaboration (Schultz and Christensen 2004). By making learning
happen within the context of these groups, we can move away from the more inefficient lecture
model. By doing so the knowledge acquired is also organized around the challenge rather than
the disciplines (Schultz and Christensen 2004). In the book „Operation Manual for Spaceship
earth‟, the author talks about the Earth being a spaceship and us its passengers. We can all be
experts in our own specific fields, but only by having a great empathy for what others do will we

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truly become a great species and steer our spaceship to bigger, better, greater things (Fuller,
2008).
It is very important to find a tribe, a small group of people you can learn from at an intimate
level (Robinson 2009). Socially shared learning is known to provide an ideal learning
environment for social and cognitive learning (Dangwal and Kapur 2009) and this directly plays
into the fact that young children should be encouraged to interact and learn with and from each
other (Dangwal and Kapur 2009).
Now more than ever there is a great need for collaboration and good leadership in everything (
Rosefsky 2012). There is a great need for synergy among collaborators; General System
Analysis can be played into this situation. It is a process of weeding out wrong or un feasible
options in the quickest, most efficient way possible (Fuller 2008). This means we can reap the
many benefits from making sure teams have a positive interdependence among themselves
(Johnson 1994). The best way to prepare Generation Z for a future of co creation, synergy and
collaboration would be to encourage cooperative learning, where individuals work together to
seek outcomes beneficial to themselves and the group.
The next important aspect of learning comes from the need to understand skills that will be
important to them as adults (Hall 2013). Because of everything Generation Z is exposed to from
birth, especially its access to technology from a young age, they can multitask effortlessly
(Shields 2015). But Generation Z is known to be smarter than their facilitators sometime, so it
will be beneficial to have a red flag mechanism. This is where a student is allowed to halt all
proceedings in order to bring up a valid contradiction or challenge that was not foreseen by
anyone else, but it will be allowed only once per semester (Collins 2011).

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Now more than ever there is a need for change. Like how the steam engine evolved into the
internal combustion engine of today, the education system also needs to change for the better
(Robinson 2009). Generation Z is intelligent enough to observe and investigate aspects worth
learning about (Dangwal and Kapur 2009). Generation Z will be mostly benefited from teaching
them how to be a part of adult to adult conversations (Hall 2013). All this means, there is a great
need to learn and do while going through education and learning from a young age (Edwards
2014).
The next important aspect of learning is the attitude towards learning itself. The obvious starting
point should be that it should stop being a one-way street. A good place to start would be to
acknowledge the complexity of future problems and learning how to listen hard ( Wholsen
2015). The best way forward in life is to find a point where there is an intersection of what you
are best at, what you are passionate about and of course make sure it drives your economic
engine as well (Collins 2011). Children need to be in their „element‟ to truly unlock their
potential. „The element‟ is that place where the thing we love to do and the thing we are good at
come together (Robinson 2009). One step towards creating a better system of learning is to
change the nature of instruction. This can be done by scaffolding supports for the learning
process (Bender 2012). Punishment plays a big role in learning and when it is used as negative
reinforcement it is known to jeopardize meaningful relationships (Hall 2013). Another way to
tackle this might be to incentivize staying on task or rewarding achievements with esteem. This
sort of positive reinforcement makes sure there is no bitterness and teaches Generation Z to
unleash themselves and explore options without the fear of expression or exploration (Hall
2013).

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Creativity is perhaps the most important component that needs to be of more prominence in
education and learning. More than anything, creativity can teach Generation Z to make clever
judgment when they are facing dead ends (Robinson 2011). For the complex challenges that
Generation Z will face, there is a need for Spontaneity and comprehensive curiosity to learn the
kind of skills that will equip them to face these challenges ( Fuller 2008).
This process of adding creativity as a center point in our way of thinking means we will need to
adhere to a process of preparation , incubation of ideas, illumination through concepts and
verification through testing (Robinson 2011). Expression of ideas is traditionally done though
numbers, words and images, but for those ideas that need more than these, creativity can jump in
and augment ideas to a new level ( Robinson 2011).
There is a big difference between knowing and feeling and that is at the heart of creativity
(Robinson 2011). This plays an important role for children to be able to find their element. Real
creativity comes from being in your most natural medium that lets you thrive and facilitators
need to help Generation Z find this so they can be at their creative best (Robinson 2011). Most
importantly, We as a race need to move from problem solving and need to move towards finding
them and predicting them, creative thinking can help Generation Z get there.
Insights:
1. Creativity needs to be at the center of learning. We need to acknowledge the fact that
creativity is a key to unlocking new approaches to learning and also a new way of
looking at challenges.
2. Forming a feedback loop with children seems to be of great significance. Information is
now abundant and freely available. It is important to learn what children think about
everything they see and what drives their curiosity. Observing the process of problem

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solving is a core part of Montessori schools and this helps teachers guide their students in
a much better way.
3. Problem solving needs to happen in your „tribe‟. Children should be exposed to working
with others so they can pick good team mates to collaborate with and learn to be good
team mates as well.
4. By altering what is at stake or what children should strive towards, the purpose of
learning is instantly transformed. Project based learning leads to a more rewarding and
enriched learning experience over a grade based system.
Obstacles for Change
Change for the better is a necessary step in evolution. When something as big as conventional
education is looking for a change it will be met with a lot of obstacles. The modern education has
many shortcomings as it has not evolved with the changing times. For starters, our education
system is telling Generation Z what to do all day, every day (Tanz 2015). The current education
system is in an outdated, transmission model of transmitting facts (Wholsen 2015) and this is a
system that does not scale very well and it is holding us back as it is not preparing Generation Z
for the complex problems they will face (Wholsen 2015).
Generation Z is now in an education system that is devised for a world that increasingly does not
exist (Edwards 2014). Now more than ever there is a need for initiative and entrepreneurship as
these are considered one of the most important skills to survive twenty first century (Rosefsky
2012) and our current education suppresses these very skills. The biggest take away here is that
being dumb in the existing education system is bad enough but failing to create a new way of
learning is a disaster.

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There are many components that can further augment learning and truly prepare Generation Z for
their future. Through motivation, facilitators need to push students towards learning and personal
mastery and not towards just performance (Fitch 2013). Generation Z is very smart, they can
actually be allowed to assume responsibility for their own instruction and learning (Schultz and
Christensen 2004). We now know that intelligence is dynamic, diverse and distinctive (Robinson
2009) so measuring it in just numbers and words is no longer effective. This means more than
anything, education should teach Generation Z how to discover (Edwards 2014).
There are a few success stories of alternate education methods and models trumping the more
traditional ones. The Arduino Integrated development environment is a recent success story that
was built on the model of “how to teach students to create electronics faster” (Leung). Arduino
makes this work as they have open sourced hardware, something never done before and that has
bridged the gap between the curious and resources they need like never before.
Montessori schools are known to stress importance on the importance of meaningful and
interesting work. The availability of choices in terms of paths that can be taken to facilitate
learning has produced a very effective model of learning (Fitch 2013). Another interesting model
is homeschooling. In many places around the United States it is being taken to in a large way as
it is synonymous with independent learning (Tanz 2015). Creativity is at the crux of Montessori
and Homeschooling as they see creativity as a verb and not a noun (Booth 2013).
Clearly, there is a need for providing a differentiated, individualized education in a classroom
setting (Tanz 2015). A student‟s capacity to co-operate, regulate emotions, delay gratification
and focus attention should be given more preference over grades and test scores (Kaku 2014).
Adhering to a new model of learning can be a frustrating process as learned from institutes that

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have tried to incorporate project based learning into their curriculum on as an experiment
(Schults and Christensen 2004) but these can be overcome through an iterative process of
improvement.
Another interesting direction that education could take is to get rid of „subjects‟ and instead
focus on „disciplines‟ (Robinson 2009). Doing so will require a lot of creativity in facing
challenges, finding opportunities and solving problems. And therein lies the biggest challenge.
Many schools and education systems find it challenging to incorporate this into their system as
creativity is hard to measure, difficult to quantify and nearly impossible to justify.
There are many obstacles in the path for change. But there are ways of overcoming them. There
is more value in creating a new system from what we see and learn than fixing what is currently
broken, especially in the case of our education system.
Insights:
1. The system that is preparing a generation to face future challenges should never be a
major obstacle to future achievements. Changing this system can never happen overnight
and it should be an iterative process which is daring yet conservative.
2. Creative thinkers are formed when they are allowed to seek their own destiny under the
guidance of a facilitator or guide who is comfortable with it. This is one of the reasons
why home schools and Montessori schools are being successful.
46
There are some important takeaways Generation Z can look for from learning to solve future
problems. Children have a natural ability for comprehensive propensities (Fuller 2008), which
means they naturally try and solve problems in a multi-disciplinary way. Facilitators should tap

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into this natural ability of theirs. It has been observed that a lack of an instruction book leads to
the intuitive use of intellect (Fuller 2008) and this leads to teaching children how to learn
(Rosefsky 2012). Moving from how to access information to how to use that information is the
most important skills we can impart on Generation Z (Tanz 2015). This can be taught through
the knowledge funnel model of learning where we go from Exploring a topic to forming a
heuristic to creating an algorithm that will aid future learning (Martin 2013).
Metacognition or awareness of one‟s own learning process has to be at the center of any model
of learning (Schults and Christensen 2004). This model of education will help Generation Z face
complex and ill structured problems in the future (Kolko 2010). The ability to face ill structured
and wicked problems will help Generation Z solve challenges with innovative and creative ideas
(Kolko 2010).
The role of a facilitator is one of the most important factors in an effective learning process.
More than anything, facilitators must influence than dominate the classroom sessions (Thomas
2008). Another big trend in education is the move towards intrinsic motivation which means now
there is more stress on Mastery of skills, autonomy and purpose of learning (Hall 2013). This is
why effective facilitation is challenging for changing learning needs because it is more than just
teaching theory and technical skills (Thomas 2008). Inquiry based learning is one way of
breaking out of the bubble of just teaching theory and technical skills (Booth 2013).
Facilitators can take to the rubber band metaphor for facilitating learning. When a rubber band is
stretched to its limits, it is always a bit longer as it returns to its neutral state (Collins 2011).
Contact time is very crucial to learning ( Johnson 1994) and this is exactly what services like
Khan academy are enabling facilitators to do. They have flipped the classroom around by
sending lectures home and having students do assignments in class while having access to the

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knowledge of a teacher. This way a facilitator can go from a sage on the stage to guide by the
side (Parslow 2012). One way this can be implemented is through active learning, where student
ideas are connected to concrete experiences (Zayapragassarazan and kumar 2012).
Khan academy is a good example of how facilitators can use technology to further augment and
foster learning (Rosefsky 2012). Most importantly, the freedom to experiment is extremely
crucial to creativity and learning from that experience (Robinson 2011) and this is the
facilitator‟s biggest responsibility.
This leads us into how facilitators can augment the learning experience. A starting point is to
question received wisdom (Wholsen 2015) and this doesn‟t mean just tests but in a more
dynamic way, like through a project. The biggest strength a facilitator can have is to understand
how to nurture human talent and understand how talent expresses itself (Robinson 2009). Again,
one of the main skills they need to help Generation Z pick up is curiosity and imagination
(Rosefsky 2012) so the task is to create a learning environment that is fearless and creative.
Technology definitely needs to be integrated throughout the learning process (Bender 2012).
This leads into the idea of a minimally invasive environment or MIE for learning where we use
the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning among
children (Dangwal and Kapur 2009). Overall, to facilitate learning that will help Generation Z
face future challenges, their common sense needs to be questioned and what they take for
granted must be challenged (Robinson 2009).
Insights:
1. Guiding Generation Z to form their own worldview on issues surrounding them is
perhaps what our future needs more than anything.

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2. Incorporating existing resources like technology and platforms that allow us to take from
and give back to should definitely be at the crux of learning as it is a faster way of getting
access to current and meaningful learning tools.
3. Facilitators should be open to learning from the journey of facilitating learning for
others. This doesn‟t mean throwing punches in the dark but more of a serendipitous
journey.

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Chapter 3
Methodology
Secondary research concluded with affinitization and synthesis of all the data generated. The
insights from secondary research formed the foundation of how this thesis project will be
implemented for a real world solution. Secondary research also lead to the decision of working
with Montessori and Home Schools in Savannah.
Stage one of primary research is to conduct interviews with people representing Montessori
Schools and Home Schooling Groups in Savannah. The primary purpose of this stage is to really
understand the inner workings of Montessori Schools and Home Schooling groups in Savannah.
This is to enable the most ideal situation to collaborate.
Stage two is to weigh options to choose who to actually develop the project with based on their
interests, willingness to work on new materials for teaching and practicality. This is crucial
because meeting all stakeholders‟ expectations is very important.
Also in stage two there would be a process of deep diving into the selected group and really
understand the essence of how they function and how best the Project can be developed within
their brand attributes while also being unique. The primary reason for doing this is make sure the
end result of the project is a much more progressive learning eco system while making sure its
not too foreign to the end users.
Stage three is an iterative process of developing a learning kit that incorporates aspects of the
secondary research and attributes of the education group chosen for the project. This process
involves frequent meetings, lots of feedback based design iterations, a deep dive into the culture
and harnessing its energy into whatever is created.

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Stage four involves a synthesis of developing the learning materials and using the process of
doing that to setup a service based on how the example material was developed.
The main purpose of doing this is to setup something that addresses the pain points experienced
during the process so future projects involving the school and other projects can have a smoother
journey.

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Chapter 4
Design process
Stage one:
After the decision was made to work with Montessori Schools or Home Schooling Groups, stage
one involved sending emails to Classical Conversations (Home Schooling Group), The
Independent Learning Network (Home Schooling resource provider) and Charles Ellis
Montessori School.
All three organizations responded with invites to interact with and really understand what they
were about. As mentioned earlier, this stage of primary research included talking to people
working at these organizations, observing how they operate and interact with students and seeing
where possibly collaboration can happen.
Classical conversations:
Fig 4.1 Students interacting at a weekly home schooling session

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Fig 4.2 Weekly home schooling sessions with a teacher
Classical Conversations is one of Savannah‟s biggest Home Schooling Groups. The group gets
materials from an organization called Classical conversations. They have a set of women, most
of them mothers of children who are a part of the group itself who are certified to teach these
materials to the children. This happens once a week or once in two weeks as per need and the
rest of the time is spent by the Students and their parents at a location of their own convenience,
learning what was taught to them that week.
The culture at Classical Conversations is very open in terms of how and what the children want
to learn. They are encouraged to share and present work to their peers constantly and are also
encourages to express ideas and concerns. It was amazing to see the kind of attention and
engagement the students and teachers gave each other.
By talking to some of the mothers, it was revealed that the main reason these mothers decided to
home school was because they lost trust in the public school system. Further conversations also

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revealed that the children were unnecessarily overworked, lost interest in education and had no
time for a life outside of school work, even to play or spend time with family.
Independent Learning Network:
Independent Learning Network or ILN is a homeschool center and resource center for Students
with regular and special learning needs.
Fig 4.3 Talking to Ms. Maria Williams of Independent Learning Network
An interview with Miss Maria Williams revealed how the ILN works. She spoke about most of
the students being ones that have been advised to take homeschooling because of various needs.

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For students with special needs, ILN either takes these students under their wing or they point
them in the right direction towards the resources they would need.
She had a lot of insightful thoughts to share, mostly to do with her take on education and
learning. The ILN is doing amazing work to support the learning needs of many students who
would otherwise fall through the cracks.
Charles Ellis Montessori School:
Fig 4.4 Students interacting with a teacher at Charles Ellis Montessori School
Charles Ellis is a public School that follows the Montessori curriculum. After interviewing the
Principal, Miss Tanya Melville and Head of the Mathematics Department, Miss Christy

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Caughran at Charles Ellis there was a good understanding of what the school strives for and how
open they are to change for the better.
From the very first conversation it was very clear that the principal and teachers at Charles Ellis
always welcome change and are in the culture of service for the Students and are ready to do
extra work to make sure the students benefit from it.
Stage Two:
At the end of stage one based on the conversations, insights and some personal preferences, the
decision was made to work with Charles Ellis montessori to create the new learning eco system.
Stage two started with a deep dive into how the teachers and students interact with each other
and the materials.
It was very interesting to see the sensorial approach of learning in action and very inspiring as
well. There is a lot of stress on how the materials feel to the childrenand the process of how they
interact with the materials is under constant observation and evaluation by teachers at all times.
This is why every teacher is a treasure chest of knowledge with regards to the materials and their
pros and cons.

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Fig 4.5 Observing Students interacting with materials and classrooms at Charles Ellis
Fig 4.6 Two eight year olds solving a math problem at Charles Ellis

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The observation also lead to a deep understanding of how the children use the knowledge gained
from learning with the materials and apply it in challenging situations. Fig 4.6 shows one
moment of magic which really excited the author to work with Charles Ellis. The two students in
the picture were asked to solve a divison problem together. One of them was leading them in the
wrong direction but the other one realised they should use the maerials to make sure they were
on the right path.
This independent, self- correcting way of problem solving was truly inspirational to witness and
it is a glimpse into the great potential of Montessori Schools. Another great quality of this school
is the importance teachers give to the process of learning. The students are not evaluated based
on just the right answers. If one student gets the same answer in half an hour and another one
gets in in two hours, that‟s where the evaluation of a teacher mainly happens.
Charles Ellis was not satisfied with the depth of their materials about the Golden Ratio so there
was a lot of interest from all stakeholders to develop a new learning kit for Golden Ratio.
Because of their exposure to the importance of art and nature the teachers at Charles Ellis were
really excited to pursue the Golden Ratio learning kit and having access to a design student who
had a similar liking for it added to the excitement of starting this project.
Stage Three:
Stage three started with a brainstorming session with Miss Christy to understand what she was
expecting from the Golden Ratio kit. Through her many years of intercating with Montessori
materials and observing children using them, she brought an ocean of knowledge to the session.
During this session two books were recommended to gain more insight into developing

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Montessori materials – Pshychogeometry and Neinhaus‟ Montessori hand book.
Fig 4.7 Books referred for understanding Montessori materials
At this stage two things were happening in parallel. One was the research into how montessori
materials are made and the other in ideas for how the secondary research could further augment
the experience of using them.
The brainstorming sessions for coming up with materials for the golden ratio toolkit involved
many bright minds from The School of Design at Savannah College of Art and Design including
Tyler Decker, Amar Chdgar, Nupoor Rajkumar, Jason Hyland, Alexandra Patron,
Shanmugasundaram Selvaraj and Dhivyasimhon Sridharan. The final ideas implemented in the
learning kit includes ideas from everyone of these designers.

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First iteration:
The first round of ideas were presented to Miss Christy and were hand made cardboard and paper
prototypes. This set of prototypes consisted of a puzzle that reveals the golden ration curve as it
is put together- made out of cardboard, a viewfinder and calliper made from cardboard and a
filing sheet and some cards that walk the students through the various activities.
Fig 4.8 Handmade paper and cardboard prototypes
Miss christy , some of her fellow teachers and some of the students gave very useful feedback
that could be used in the next iteration.
They liked the idea of the puzzle and were eager to see it in a bigger scale, they were most
excited about the viewfinder and calliper as it served as a self correcting tool and they were not
big fans of the cards telling a story. The idea of a timeline to show major events with regards to
the golden ratio was also brought up.

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Fig 4.9 Teachers reviewing the paper and cardboard prototypes
Fig 4.10 Teachers reviewing the paper and cardboard prototypes
Before more progress was made on the paper prototypes, there was a session to review the first
prototype of the timeline. After seeing the first prototype and getting a good response about the
content, there was a need for a blank version that could be filled in by the students.

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Fig 4.11 Miss Christy reviewing the timeline prototypes
Two students from Miss Christy‟s class gave a demonstartion of how the timeline lesson works
with a Geometry timeline the school already owned. Seeing this was very informative as it was a
good measure for what is expected, what is working and what could be improved.
Fig 4.12 Students demonstrate how to use the timeline
This session concluded with a lot of ideas for the puzzle. We talked about versions with just
square blocks and an etch of the curve on each block and one where the curve and the pieces are
both puzzles and a little bit more complex.

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Most Importantly, we wanted to go for the biggest possible size as that would involve more than
one student to carry. Based on the secondary research, every aspect of this toolkit was designed
to involve team work, co creation, problem solving, real world application and self correction.
Second Iteration:
The second iteration saw the birth of the lazer cut puzzle made from plywood in two different
versions. The cards were also further developed to test how the students can spot rectangles
having the golden ratio using the view finder and calliper. The callipers for this version of testing
were lazer cut from plywood.
Fig 4.13 Laser cut puzzle pieces exploring two concepts
The feedback session for this at Charles Ellis was a big one that involved many teachers from
various departments. Again, bringing with them an ocean of knowledge, this was truly one of the
best feedback sessions.

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Fig 4.14 Reviewing the laser cut puzzle prototypes
Feedback from this session included recommendations for a final version of the puzzle that was a
hybrid of the first two prototypes, something which is in one piece but has a tangible curve that
will aid the sensorial learning style. Recommendations were also made to improve the callipers.
Fig 4.15 Teachers from other departments reviewing the Golden ratio learning kit

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There was also a discussion on how the colouring for the final model should be. A gradient pallet
of purple was chosen as we did not want to use colours like red, green and blue which are
extensively used in existing montessori materials so the children do not get confused. Montessori
add on materials are allowed to have certain other colours and since purple is a popular favorite
amongst many, we decided to go with purple.
Third Iteration
The third Iteration involved another lazer cut with the slightly more pronounced deeper lazer cut
curve. They were painted in shades of purple. A version of the timeline featuring the empty
version with a card sort style lesson was also made.
Fig 4.16 Miss Christy and Tanya reviewing final prototypes

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Fig 4.17 Mr. Gary Davidson reviewing the final prototypes
The feedback session for this version was special as Gary Davidson, the diector for Seacoast
Center for Education was part of it. He is an expert in making Montessori materials and also
trains teachers to use them. His Feedback was very deep and he gave more ideas to improve the
timeline and the puzzle. He liked the idea of the view finder and callipers a lot and encouraged
me to share it at NAMTA (North American Montessori Teachers‟ Association) annual
conference.
With this session of feedback, the decision was made to make the final version of prototypes.
We also talked about having a box to put all these materials so the children could just pick it up
from a shelf, unpack, use and put back.

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Fourth Iteration
This stage started with the making of a box to house all the components of the golden ratio
learning kit. A cardboard prototype of this box ws made to see how best this could be achieved.
The materials were arranged inside the box in the same order a student would use them.
Fig 4.18 Building a cardboard prototype to house the Golden Ratio Learning Kit
Fig 4.19 Finished Cardboard box for Golden Ratio Learning Kit

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With a prototype for the box ready, a couple of trial runs with two nine year old students was
possible during this iteration. As usual there was feedback on the box, a decision was made to
have a sliding lid as the surface would have no handles and the students can use that surface for
something useful.
Fig 4.20 Testing final prototype with cardboard box
The two students thoroughly enjoyed the process of using the kit. Since they had a lot of
difficulty recognising and realising what a golden ratio looked like in real life, the decision was
made to have cards with real world object examples to make it more recognisable. For the same
reason, when asked to draw an object with the golden ratio, they simply juts drew a curve and
could not aply it to anything else.
Fifth iteration
This last stage of development involved printing all the materials on card stock, incorporating all
the feedback from Mr. Gary, Miss Christy and Miss Tanya and also building the actual box that
the kit would go into.
With the help of Tyler Decker, the box for the learning kit was built based on measurements
from the cardboard prototype.A final version of the puzzle was also lazer cut and painted. The

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callipers were fitted with nuts and bolts of matching diameter and length and a final version of
the viewfinder was also lazer cut from acryllic, with the golden ratio etched into it.
Fig 4.21 Final box being built in the workshop
After this, the learning kit was ready for an actual test with students of Chales Ellis montessori.
The lesson was shared with two students from Grade four (nine years old) and Six students from
Grade 5 (ten years old).
Fig 4.22 Test session with students using the final learning kit

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All students thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the Golden Ratio kit. Some of the students took
to the kit with a lot of enthusiasm and some had a luke warm response, but that is very typical to
Montessori materials as children get to pick what they would like to use.
Fig 4.23 Test session with students using the final learning kit
Stage Four
Stage four started with going back to the documentation of the process. The following journey
maps track the process for the designer and the teacher involved in the project for making the
Golden Ratio learning kit. The various painpoints these stakeholdersin the project felt during the
process are addressed in the journey maps.

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Fig 4.24 Designer’s customer journey map

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Fig 4.25 Teacher’s customer journey map
To address these issues, nucleus was born. Nucleus will serve as a platform for collaboration
between design students looking for real world projects and teachers of schools looking to create
new learning materials.

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Fig 4.26 Designer persona
Fig 4.27 Teacher persona

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Fig 4.28 Student persona
These will be the personas for a teacher, designer and a student that will interact with and benefit
from using Nucleus.
The website www.mynucleus.co will serve as the platform. The website contains information on
what nucleus is, has a gallery of projects worked on through nucleus, a section where projects
can be proposed and queries can be posted and discussed and finally a section that shares the
author‟s secondary research so others can benefit from it.
The purpose www.mynucleus.co is to give future designers a convenient platform to access
projects that could be picked up and be worked on at a fast pace and avoid the time they would
spend looking for projects to work on.
The gallery page will give everyone an opportunity to get an idea of what has been done so they
can analyse what has been done, what they can borrow from it and what they do not like and can
avoid. The most essential purpose of this is to keep generating learning toolkits that add immense
value to a student and teacher‟s learning experience. It can also lead to creating facilitators of
learning over teachers.

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Chapter 5
Observations and Feedback
Student feedback:
Most of them felt the amount of time the students got to spend with the Golden Ratio kit was a
not suffecient, the studenst wished they got to spend more time with it.
All students felt it was a really fun experience and enjoyed the hands on experience.
Some lesson they had just learned to real world objects around them generated a lot of
excitement and it made the experience a lot more enjoyable.
One student claimed he felt entertained and also learned a lot and enjoyed the approach to
learning.
Some students felt the pace of the test session was too fast so they were unable to grasp some of
the concepts.
A couple of students felt the callipers were much better as they measure more accurately than the
view finder.
One student expressed concern that this lesson might be too complex for fourth graders andit
would be more suitable for fifthe and sixth graders.
Teacher feedback:
The teachers thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with Design students as it is
something they always seek and enjoy.
In hindsight they wished the children were much more involved in the process.
They would like to explore such learning kits with more subjects.
Technology is something they would like to incorporate more into the curriculum.

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The didactic nature of materials is something they want to explore more where the materials are
self correcting and act as a guide.
They would love to have more projects with a natural environment involved.
They felt the process would need a more solid timeline and hard deadlines that are more planned
and organised.
With a few more refinements they recommended that material can have a production aspect and
presented at the NAMCO conference.

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Chapter 6
Conclusion and Future Steps
In conclusion, the experience of working with Charles Ellis to form Nucleus was very satisfying
for all stakeholders involved. Nucleus helped bring together numerous people who are passionate
about learning and care about the future of education.
To have a chance to be a part of something that some of the brightest minds in the world are also
tackling was also very satisfying for the author.
The author is looking to get more feedback on the usage of the kit in class and make
improvements and even more projects based on it.
The teachers at Charles Ellis already have more ideas for projects they want to do with art and
electronics. While the golden ratio learning kit was developed with mostly one designer over
four weeks, it will be very interesting to see what a group of maybe four designer can do over
eight weeks. This is where a platform like nucleus can help cut a few steps so they can get to the
more important things.
In the future, hopefully there will be more students looking for real world projects involved with
Nucleus and it is very exciting to see how Nucleus can be further improved based on more
usage.
The author will continue to be the admin for the website in the forseeable future. Word of
Nucleus will be spread around SCAD at an initial stage so its scale is very manageable.

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The author will also look into which particular subjects, topics and ideas can be best developed
and designed using Nucleus to truly unlock both their potentials.
Today, Design is changing the world more than ever before and therein lies an amazing
opportunity to design how our future generations learn and educate themselves. Nucleus can be a
stepping stone for that better tomorrow.

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Appendix A
Components of the Golden Ratio Learning Kit
View Finder

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Timelines (Filled, empty and content cards)
Final box exterior

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Contents arranged inside box
Puzzle

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Three part cards
Golden ratio callipers

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Appendix B
Home page
Research page

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Gallery page
Queries page

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Appendix C
Case study on the history of Arduino:

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