CONSTRUCT_
[ACTIVISM]_
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The Theory behind the project
After looking at the issue and the statistics around this issue, it seems that perhaps people in the west are not yet accustomed to or don't yet understand refugees completely. This seems to therefore perpetuate a cycle of violence, ignorance and exclusion
1. 3000+ racially aggravated attacks in Germany 2019
2. 40% increase in refugee hate crime Manchester 2019
3. 76% of all hate crimes in the UK are race or origin related
Literature:
An exploration of Constructivist Learning Theories & Systems of Instructional Theories: Supporting Transfer of Learning in WBI courses; by Tan.C 2006
‘Constructivism believes that knowledge is generated by the learners through experienced-based activities’ (Tan. C, 2006)
‘Constructivism is not in competition with other learning theories; instead, it provides a set of values in many learning applications.’
It seems clear that people see the world through their own eyes based on their learned experiences. If this wasn’t the case, people would objectively treat everyone equally. We know this not to be true. It seems reasonable therefore to want to teach or ‘unteach’ peoples learned views on the issue of refugees and the crisis; through a series of ‘activities’ where the participant can engage and ultimately learn from.
The three main elements to this theory are:
1. Scaffolding (building on what you already know)
2. Discovery Learning (Learning through experience)
3. Social Activism (Learning through participation and communication)
Literature:
Design Activism: Beautiful Strangeness for a Sustainable World by Alastair Fuad-Luke
Although the text talks primarily about Raising awareness, changing perceptions and changing behavior in relation to the climate emergency, the key aspects of this theory can be applied to any subject matter or Issue. The three main arguments used to enforce change are Communication by information, Communication by concept, prototype or artifact and Communication by event, story or scenario. It is with these three aspects that we can begin to understand the workings of social change.
Throughout this project I have sought after artist methodologies that try to incorporate these three pillars to try and successfully raise awareness and change perceptions on the issue of displacement and our attitudes towards refugees.
Creating a theory
After looking at the theory of Constructivism as well as the theory of how to raise awareness in addition to the successful methods I have been experimenting with throughout the project, I was able to bring these together into one coherent pedagogy; a new theory of learning.
Learning is key to teach or ‘unteach’ peoples pre existing conceptions of those around them. Therefore, using the successful methods, we can encourage learning at every stage of the project.
