[SSC] The Creative Project - notes from Grace, Sara M. and Richard

[sarah at socialsciencecentre.org.uk]

Hello everyone,

It's been interesting to read the discussions here; I've been away for a week so will have to catch up!

In the meantime, here are the notes from our 30 June meeting about plans for the Creative Project element of the curriculum, prepared by 
Grace, Sara M. and Richard K. We'll be able to discuss these along with the notes sent round earlier about the Social Science Imagination at 
our next meeting on the 21st.

Best,
Sarah

Creative projects 

The focus for the Creative Project (in the form of, say, a print-based work, textual piece or art work, or video, or photography or 
combination of these) would emerge from the learning and research done by the student scholar. This would be facilitated by a teaching 
scholar ideally on a one-to-one basis. The process, as much as the 'product', would be an essential part of the learning and creative 
process for both.

Sara, Grace and Richard imagined the project as a sort of tree with various crucial elements involving a practice of care for each other and 
ourselves forming the roots - out of which the trunk and branches of the whole Creative Project tree could grow and which would ensure its 
sustainability and realisability.

At the roots were the spirit of collaborative working, the ethic of caring and commitment to the community, care of self and others of the 
SCC, the willingness to be open to new ideas, the stress on the reflective approach, on the work being both rewarding and challenging.

The tree was also fed by the elements of time, space - and the particular resources and support needed to nurture and sustain this element 
of the curriculum and the individual creative projects/processes for both student-scholar and teacher-scholar.

The actual project would then work through various elements: 

Why:  This would involve exploring the motivations/experiences/desires of the student scholar. This would link to questions and experiences 
explored in other parts of the curriculum but would do so in a deeper more sustained way in relation to the particularities of desire, need 
and experience of the student scholar. This part would also begin to create the nurturing relationship of care, collaboration and trust 
between the student-scholar and teacher-scholar. The time allotted to each element would be negotiated.

Mapping knowledge:  To create the soil in which to plant the seeds of the idea of the creative project we imagined mapping the knowledge of 
both the student-scholar and teacher-scholar (in whatever way that worked for the pair). This could form the basis of pulling out central 
themes and of then exploring and reflecting on how to narrow these down to particular question to explore in the project. 

How: This element would explore the experiences, knowledges and methods used in similar projects. This would also involve another type of 
mapping of both's knowledges and experiences with research/exploring questions/creating projects and also others' experiences and knowledges.

This would enable selection of the methods and methodology underlying the project.  

What. The exploration and learning would help the student scholar to identify the form through which she/he would like to realise/express 
the learning and 'answers' to her/his research question. This would also involve developing a timetable of creating the final 'product'

Creating the 'product' (the unique 'tree') A number of weeks of creating. 

Reflecting on the process 
Integral to the whole project