Prime Time for Change
Key Learning Points from
Priming the Art Classroom
Ms. Lim Jia Ning Michelle
Art and Literature Teacher
Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School
Michelle was one of the participants for the Critical Inquiry Project: Priming the Art
Classroom Networked Learning Community (NLC). In this article, she shares her key
takeaways from her 10-month-long journey with priming.
WHY? WHAT IF…?
Question Default States
A
fter attending the workshop conducted by the Design
Incubation Centre (DIC) of the National University of
Singapore, I tried my hand at using priming strategies and
design thinking to tackle various classroom issues such as
improving student safety and student engagement, as well
as growing students’ sense of ownership to their learning
spaces. Although the problems were unique, the underlying
approach to finding solutions turned out to be similar:
to question the default states in our classroom. The way
that things have always been done may not necessarily be
the best or only way to do it. Thus, looking at our familiar
environment while asking ourselves, “Why” and “What if” was a
way to shake off preconceived notions of how things should
be, and start to imagine how things could be. I enjoyed
how doing so reframed problems into opportunities for
innovation, as it generated excitement for the possibilities
that were to be shaped.
Yet questioning status quo was only the beginning of the
process. The next step was to derive solutions by seeking
inspiration from various sources.
How I used a priming strategy card as an inspiration for generating student conversations about safety
when they step into the Art classroom.
DOES THIS APPLY?
Ideate Systematically
During the workshop with DIC, we were introduced to priming
strategy cards. It was a set of 33 cards that contained various
angles from which one might approach a problem. Each card
contained a generic suggestion, such as “Scatter cues in
the environment to reinforce commitment to a specific goal”,
“Create the impression of being surveyed on” and “Use colour
appropriately as a stimulus”. In considering any given problem,
one could cycle through the set of cards and choose strategies
that seem related to the problem, and use them as starting
points for devising possible solutions. Such a tool was useful
as one could focus on adapting strategies to the problem,
rather than re-invent the wheel on how to approach a problem.
WHAT HAVE OTHERS DONE OR SAID?
Read for Inspiration
The literature that this NLC exposed us to was also eye-
opening. Books such as Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass
Sunstein helped us to understand key concepts behind why
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