TDS-386: Kidmania

Kidmania: Designing for playing learning and growing is a TDS course that teaches students about child development and culture as applied to the design process. With a focus on interpreting psychological, sociological and anthropological research students will learn how to apply selected topics from the class to their own work and create a final project and presentation on their project. This course is ideal for students who want to design products, entertainment properties, artwork, games, apps, environments, or write and illustrate books for kids. Key content covered in the class includes: The history of childhood, thought leaders, research methods to use with kids, the design process, materials and safety considerations, developmental stages, physical development, psychological development, emotional development, social development, cognitive development, language development, cultural differences, global issues, education, entertainment, edutainment, the generation Z experience, and kids & consumerism. Throughout the class there will be weekly lectures, readings, writing and design exercises, and class discussion. During the class students will: - Gather research, from texts, journals, trend sources, and articles and choose an area of interest for more in depth focus. - Engage in on-on-one interviews with individuals who are child development, children's culture and designing for children experts - Participate in field trips to children's museums and schools where students will observe and work with children to enhance their projects. - Apply selected topics learned in the course to a project of their choosing.