05 / Undergraduate project
Medjed's Journey
A modular teaching kit that helps introduce life and death through play, plant care and guided role-play.
- Context
- Undergraduate academic project · Media Arts and Design
- Discipline
- Teaching Aids / Childhood Education
- Focus
- Educational interaction and physical prototyping
- Output
- Modular teaching kit, plant diary, role-play materials
01 / The challenge & research
Start a sensitive conversation through play.
Medjed's Journey explores how structured teaching aids can introduce life and death in early childhood. Research into children's understanding, teachers' concerns and existing sources of death education identified a need for clear explanations and guided activities in a school setting. Expert advice and children's interviews informed an approach that begins with plants before connecting their life cycle to animals and people.
02 / Design decisions
Make life cycles tangible.
The final kit brings together three forms of learning: a handle-operated life-cycle model with replaceable pieces, a planting tray and diary for recording care and change, and a mapped funeral role-play set. Printed instructions, stickers and role badges support the activities, while interchangeable funeral elements accommodate different religious contexts.
03 / Testing & refinement
Refine the interaction, not just the object.
Prototype workshops shaped the details. Feedback showed that unclear movement could suggest time reversing, so the design developed a one-way mechanism and pieces that stop the arrow at death. The plant-care activity also added tools, records and opportunities for teachers and parents to comment. These refinements link the physical interactions to the concepts the kit is intended to explain.
Project details
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Contact
Based in London, United Kingdom
Full presentation
5 pages · Original project deck
Medjed's Journey
Explore the complete research, development and final designs.
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