CAP students learn through immersive learning at Children's Museum
by Kelly Dickey
Muncie, Ind. — School to most students means sitting in a classroom and writing essays, but for some Ball State University College of Architecture and Planning students, it means entering the workforce.
Six CAP students are spending their Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons to renovate the Muncie Children’s Museum’s Tot Spot, Becky Perez, public relations chair for the project, said.
The project started with two students who sketched a renovation plan for the learning environment in March 2009, Pam Harwood, associate professor of architecture, said. From there, the sketch turned into reality.
“I’m an advocate, always, of community service outreach. I like real projects with real clients, real users and real budgets,” she said. “Hypothetically, they have a project, but you don’t really know anything about it.
“The sky’s the limit, it could be anything you want and that’s not very realistic.”
The two students who sketched the original design have since graduated, but that doesn’t mean the project ended with their education at Ball State.
The project continued with incoming students and is in its second phase, Perez said. CAP students are now working on the Reading Circle and Tug Boat areas.
Harwood said all the labor for the project is provided by the CAP students and the materials to construct the $65 thousand project come from grant money.
The project is similar to what the architecture students will experience after graduation, Harwood said. She said in the future they likely won’t construct their projects, but their work at the Children’s Museum could help them later.
“As an architecture student and even as a professional, a lot of times there’s a separation between the building and the designing,” she said. “So you’re overseeing the building of the design you created and not really making it.
“I really value this because they’re thinking through making. They’re realizing, ‘Gosh, it’s not enough to just draw it. I really have to know how to put it together.’”
Harwood said the CAP students will learn how to communicate with contractors and will have a competitive edge with architecture students from other colleges because of the immersive learning project.
Mary Slafkosky, executive director of the Muncie Children’s Museum, said she appreciates the collaboration with the university.
“We love having Ball State in our backyard. The students have been just beyond wonderful to work with and have just been a great partner,” she said. “They have a fresh perspective and a fresh outlook and that’s what’s fun.”
Harwood said working with the Children’s Museum was an opportunity for the students to learn how to do research to get a clients’ perspective.
“A lot of research was involved. Each time the students have to look at first of all, what’s it like to be an infant, infant to toddler?” she said. “When do you start toddling, when do you start scooting, crawling, walking, when do you say your first words?”
The students broke their research into four different areas, Harwood said. They studied toddlers’ social, cognitive, physical and behavioral developments. The CAP students divided the different areas in the Tot Spot to focus on the different skills, she said.
Harwood said they’ve had groups of toddlers to come into the Tot Spot to test the areas they’ve built so far.
“You look, you learn, you observe,” she said.
The Tot Spot is scheduled to open in the fall, but the community can see sneak peak of the area today.
