Creativity in co-design for physical education: Comparing contributions of children and professionals

Abstract

This study is carried out within the context of a research and innovation project Co-design with Kids that aims to support teaching of broad so-called ‘21st century’ skills. In this project, design toolboxes for use within primary education are developed and studied, with real life clients and assignments. In the case described in this paper, the assignment was to create new concepts for physical education (PE). To be able to assess the value of design outcomes created in a co-design trajectory by children, we compared their design outcomes to those created in a similar design process by professionals. Six teams of children (n = 21, 11–12 years old) and three teams of professionals (n = 10, with a background in design, sports or physical education) developed concepts in separate co-creation sessions. We present a first assessment of the differences and similarities in creativity of the design outcomes of the two groups. This assessment of textual summaries shows no remarkable differences between design outcomes of children and those of professionals in terms of elaboration, originality and relevance. This indicates that children could be involved as design partners. Further research is needed to gain insight into the specific value of involving children as design partners.