Priming the Art Classroom – What, How
and Why
Ms. Nurul I’zzah Binte Basiron
Art Teacher
De La Salle School
The De La Salle Art Toolkit.
A
t the end of 2017, I had just finished my
first year of teaching in a primary school.
I noticed that the art studios were rarely used
and it looked more like a store room than a
place for learning. Hence, I wanted to do
something about it by gathering new ideas on
how to improve the art studio to make it an
engaging place to learn.
54
The Critical Inquiry (CI) Project: Priming the Art Classroom
has been an amazing experience because I was able
to gain insights from the two workshops (conducted by
Playeum and Design Incubation Centre from NUS) and
the critique sessions.
The workshop at Playeum taught me how to transform a
space for learning using recyclable materials and how
to encourage young learners to explore and experiment
with different materials.
The workshop by Design Incubation Centre, NUS, provided
insights on how to prime the art classroom using Design
Thinking and their Prime Cards. Not only did I learn how
to create an experience to influence the behaviours of
students, I also learnt ways to conduct Design Thinking
with my students.
After attending both workshops, I started to list down
the problems I faced in school and used the concept of
empathy in Design Thinking to help me identify the key
55