In late 2015, I was on my first placement as part of my teaching degree, at Kelvin Grove State College in the Art and Design Department. The Head of Department was a fantastic educator called Les Hooper, who I was lucky enough to have as my first supervisor. While on placement I heard the teaching team preparing to deliver a program called 2 Day City, in conjunction with the State Library of Queensland. I volunteered my time (my placement now complete) to work with the 100+ year 7 students from a multitude of state schools, as they reimagined and constructed a large scale prototype of Brisbane in 2050. I was blown away by the level of planning and connections to real world issues and experts all of which was designed to empower the students to imagine a future, using design thinking. I returned again to volunteer in 2016, when the program was adapted for Year 3 students, and called the K8 Children’s Symposium, as part of the Out of the Box Festival. By this time I was the STEAM Education Officer for QUT The Cube, so was invited to deliver into the Professional Development sessions for teachers and ran an activity aimed at encouraging the students to incorporate digital technologies into their prototypes.

The ‘ideas dragonfly drone’ by a young student

Using chibitronics we supplied circuit stickers that when powered by batteries, created lights that students could imagine as an interactive part of their designs. During this activity I met a young man who was making what would have to be my most favourite student creation ever. One I always tell my pre-service teachers about, when trying to illustrate the power of imagination and creativity. He came up to our table, holding what looked like a big butterfly. I was intrigued when most students were making architectural masterpieces, bridges and structures, so I smiled and asked him “what have we got here?”. I still marvel at his response:

“It’s a dragonfly drone that flies over the city collecting ideas. When it gets a new idea it’s eyes light up.”

How’s that for creativity!

Fast forward to 2020 and I was now involved as a HDR student in the QUT School of Design. Dr Natalie Wright, my then-supervisor, was working with Matthew Flinders College in Buderim on some programs aimed at incorporating design-led pedagogy across the college. We began brainstorming and determined to create a 2-day event, this time within the context of the Sunshine Coast, in a program we named the Design for Impact Summit. I began working closely with the staff at Matthew Flinders and developed guided resources, a large-scaled, true-to-life map of the new Maroochydore City Centre, detailed timings and run sheets for the 2-day event and powerpoint visuals to keep us on track and enhance the various presentations. I helped devise the format which connected the design process the students would undertake to the Sunshine Coast design guide, and suggested that a student from each ‘team’ could become a minister for a specific portfolio aligned to these principles. I co-presented the summit over the two days with Justin Hill, a teacher from Brisbane, and invited my pre-service teachers from ACU who all absolutely loved the experience. We repeated the same format again in 2021 and I absolutely loved being a part of it all over again.

Leighann facilitating creative thinking at the Design for Impact Summit

Empowering students to use their voice, to be creative and to work together is such an enriching thing to experience.

As a teacher, and a mother, I am passionate about ensuring we provide opportunities for kids to think ‘well, why not me?’ when wondering who will solve some of the problems we face as a society.

What ever it’s called, 2-day city, the K8-summit or the Design for Impact summit….it’s all had an impact on me! In the words of the Australian Technologies curriculum, we need to provide opportunities for our students to imagine and create preferred futures, and making a massive cardboard city certainly delivers on that!