Creativity goes a long way
From the Blog PkColumnist.com: Creativity goes a long way - FOUR architecture students from the University of Karachi's Department of Visual Studies have pulled off a design coup by winning a chicken coop design competition in the United States. The competition, sponsored by the Poultry Project, called for "farmers, designers, thinkers, architects, artists, and locavores" to design a chicken coop for use in an urban or suburban backyard. And just in case anyone thought that the project was far too humble for his or her efforts, the competition website displayed a famous quote by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to convince them otherwise: "It is just as desirable to build a chicken house as it is to build a cathedral." Competitors had to follow a strict set of conditions pertaining to the size of the flock — six birds or less with four square feet per bird; the birds had to be protected from the elements; space had to be allocated for easy access to food and water; the coop had to be kept dry and draft-free; and include a source of light, natural or electric. As for materials, competitors were simply told: "Reuse. Re-purpose. Be creative". The University of Karachi B team, consisting of second-year students Arwa Shahid, Fatima M. Shoaib, M. Faiq Ghyas and Mohsin bin Mazhar, not only won a cash prize and had their winning design featured in the media, but they have the satisfaction of knowing that their coop will ultimately go on to be used by Poultry Project participants in Uganda. Because of the intelligence and creativity of these four students, HIV- and AIDS-affected children in Uganda will gain the opportunity to earn an income as small-holder poultry farmers, in direct collaboration with an indigenous Ugandan NGO, TASO. "This design competition appealed to us on many levels," says Sehr Bokhari Latif, a professor at the Department of Visual Studies who teaches the second-year students and supervised their entries for the competition. "First, as a design exercise, it was challenging. Second, we could relate to the concept — we all remember trying to raise colourful chicks over the summer but losing them to illness, stray cats or our own negligence. And third, as citizens of a developing nation which faces similar issues to the ones in Uganda — coping with the stark realities of disease, malnutrition and HIV/AIDS-affected children and orphans — we felt compelled to enter." To win the competition, the students had to not only be creative with their materials, though, but with their approach to the entire project. "They immersed themselves in the process of design: they undertook an extensive study of the life, history, culture (music, poetry and architecture) and weather of Uganda," says Latif. They then started with drawings and sketches, moved on to 3-D designs, and finally built life-size chicken coops to understand their function, design, weight and mobility. Professional architects Salman Jawed and Bilal Kapadia (of Coalesce Design Studio) offered critiques along the way to help the students stay motivated and on track during the project. A common complaint in the Pakistani education system is that it doesn't teach students how to be creative. Yet there's nothing but creativity in the way the students tackled this challenge. And they did so while being economical: according to Latif, the students "visited various local markets to get best rates and finishing details possible for building the life-size coops". However, when they saw how expensive the materials were, they recycled old pieces of furniture and reused them to build coops that didn't just fulfil the conditions of the competition, but were attractive to look at and appealing to use. The Ugandan children were to be given a bicycle to move the coop around, but the Pakistani students decided to go one step ahead and incorporate bicycle wheels into the design, creating an ingenious mobile coop that could be picked up and wheeled like a wheelbarrow. Why is it important for students to be creative? It's a common misconception that creativity is a quality that applies only to the arts and music, and that the 'more serious' subjects such as the sciences have no place for creativity. But educators all over the world argue that creative thinking skills enhance a student's educational experience no matter what subject he or she is studying. According to the British National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education, creative thinking and behaviour includes: "questioning and challenging conventions and assumptions; making inventive connections and associating things that are not usually related; envisaging what might be: imagining — seeing things in the mind's eye; trying alternatives and fresh approaches, keeping options open; and reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes". And numerous studies have proven that when you encourage these areas of creative thinking in a child or young adult's education, you obtain an exponential increase in the quality of a student's work and learning experience. There's a ton of research out there on the subject, but it's enough to know that Pakistani students, with the right environment, supportive instructors and freedom within the learning space, whether that's in a formal school or a real-world scenario, can perform as well if not better than students anywhere in the world. After all, the University of Karachi B team beat students from 63 other countries in order to win the Poultry Project competition. The take-home lesson? Creativity can not only win competitions, it can change lives. . Read Full Post
Khawar Jawad feat. Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch – Peera (Download)
From the Blog Koolmuzone: Khawar Jawad feat. Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch – Peera (Download) - Khawar Jawad feat. Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch – Peera (Download) Click on the Image to Download Artist: Quart-u-Ain Balouch & Khawar Jawad Song: Peera Download Now! Khawar Jawad feat. Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch – Peera (Download) is a post from: Koolmuzone Related posts: Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch (QB) – Akhiyan Nu Raen De (Download Audio) Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch (QB) – Akhiyan Nu Raen De (Download Audio)… Talal Rafi – Peera Ho (Khalid Anum Cover) Talal Rafi's cover version of this beautiful yet simple folk… Imran Khan feat. Osama Com Laude – Amplifier (Download Audio) Artist: Imran Khan feat. Osama Com Laude Song: Amplifier Imran… . Read Full Post
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