Empowering Teachers as Designers: A Design Case on the WASH Curriculum design for Under-Resourced Schools in Papua New Guinea

Khendum Gyabak, Indiana University Bloomington This design case chronicles the collaborative effort to design the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene curriculum by elementary school teachers in rural Papua New Guinea (PNG). The outcome from the project resulted in the creation of a teacher’s resource manual that could be used by elementary school teachers to teach WASH topics based on active learning principles. This design case describes the context of the design, making of the design team, the design process and the rationale behind the design decisions. Consistent with the structure of a design case, this case will not address generalizable lessons for how design should be done and it is primarily written to describe how design was carried out in the context of PNG. Khendum Gyabak is a design researcher and instructional designer. My scholarly work centers around understanding the design practice of teachers engaged in designing teaching and learning materials in underserved communities around the world. I have done extensive research work in Papua New Guinea and Bhutan and am currently writing my dissertation on the design thinking and actions of teachers’ who have taught in highly under resourced schools in Bhutan. This was a Lightning Round Session on June 2, 2017. 4:30–5:00pm (SCI 108)