Using Product Design Methodology in Teaching on Public Health and Life

Abstract

This master study is a pilot research project on mental health and communication. In 2020 the interdisciplinary project ‘Public health and life skills’ was introduced as part of Norway’s new national curriculum for primary and lower secondary education. The interdisciplinary project lacks diversity in its teaching methods. This pilot research project examines how design methodology can contribute to the development of a teaching method. The goal is to teach students to express their inner life, that is, the human mind. Through a method inspired by grounded theory, the project explores the assumption that a visual language for the inner life can prevent mental health problems. Arts and crafts is proposed as a subject where this visual language can be learned, as the curriculum renewal emphasises the value of creative work. The purpose of the method is not to be therapeutic in a professional sense, but rather to have preventive and health-promoting effects by teaching students to speak out and recognise how they feel. This approach should be further investigated in practice amongst teachers and then among students in a classroom situation. The pilot research project indicates that design methodology can have essential value in the development of a teaching programme in public health and life skills.