During my SON/ TW session I had the opportunity to discuss the importance of Object-Based Learning. As part of the task, we were given a video to look at and, teachers within the video the speaker gave the teachers a tea break. I thought about how Tea, the universal symbol synonymous within many cultures is used as a way of relaxation. I looked more so about the actual object as I was given a teapot as a gift for Christmas, not only the aesthetics but how I thought about how this linked to my placement in product design and how I could use the session productively to challenge students not only about the environmental aspect of making but about the origins of the materials. During the session, we were put into breakout rooms and when explaining why I choose a teapot I used the example of rubber, how if a student was thinking about the history of a specific material how this could be problematic which posed the question,
Can you realistically make an environmentally friendly as well as socially ethical product and is the relationship contemptuous?
I looked at the how to categorise different questions for enquiry:
Use
Production
Materials
Historical Implications
Aesthetic Value
Environmental resilience
Complimentary Implication
Objects History
Value
Relation to other objects
Social implications
Overall, the session was productive because we thought about ways of using objects not only as visual resources but how we could include audio texts and promote discussions and essentially how I could use objects within teaching to contextualise my own teaching practice. I think the one thing I had to consider was how to do this digitally and ensure that the lesson that was planned could maximise the participation so that it feels less like a lecture and more of a discussion.