Rapid development of materials experience through active learning

In recent years, initiatives have been made to transition materials and design teaching from apredominantly lecture-based and engineering-dominated subject to one that is more practical andnurturing of experiential knowledge. These initiatives have been sparked by the ever-growing body ofresearch into materials experience and the characterization of materials as an influencer of userexperiences. This paper contributes to the dissemination of tools and techniques that can bring teachingand learning of materials experience alive within a design curriculum. It presents the rationale anddescription of a structured activity entitled Material Love-Hate, specifically developed as a means forstudents to rapidly develop their materials experience in a classroom or design studio environment. Theactivity requires students to probe classmates’ appraisals of two owned products: one with productmaterials that they love and one with product materials that they hate. Quantitative and qualitative dataare generated and analysed through the activity. On completion of Material Love-Hate, studentsdemonstrate the expansion of their materials experience by preparing a coursework assignment thatrelates the appraisal of their two products to sensorial-affective and interpretative categories of materialsexperience. The paper focuses on activity development and reflection of instructor and student didacticexperiences, not on the material appraisal datasets that were generated