New Taipei City Fuhe Junior High School─Tai’s crazy maker design

In response to the spirit of the new national education curriculum for the 12th year, our school has planned the [Thai Crazy Maker Design] visual cross-field creative course, which combines subjects such as life technology, information, English, home economics, etc., and integrates learning content and performance into the course. In addition to focusing on hands-on work to cultivate problem-solving abilities, it also conducts STEAM cross-field curriculum literacy learning, allowing teachers in different fields and disciplines to have the opportunity to engage in dialogue, jointly design courses and collaborate on teaching.
The learning process emphasizes a hands-on approach, supplemented by the ability to design thinking, aesthetic drawing, familiarity with the operation and use of tools, machines, and materials, coupled with the information-assisted skills learned in computer classes, English expression practice and other learning, the design has stories, Technical teaching activities create unique learning courses.
[Thai's Crazy Maker Design] The cross-disciplinary course starts from the "Thai aesthetic concept" of bold attempts, diverse materials, magical color contrast, and humor to create a spiritual image that represents the individual, in line with the principles of beauty, and then explores and uses various Different materials, such as type-dyed canvas bags, wool felt creations, cement pen holder molds, and woodworking cam toy designs, etc. In the process of material experience and exploration, we developed cultural and creative products that subvert creativity and invested in the "self-created brand" field, hoping to push Taiwanese design onto the world fashion design map.
"Thai's fun gashapon machine" is a self-made coin-operated gashapon machine based on the principle of biological linkage mechanism. It decorates the appearance of the gashapon machine with an eye-catching Thai aesthetic style, and then designs and thinks about the content of hands-on gashapon making. Through the process of exploring various materials, students are guided to find materials suitable for DIY and complete the production of gashapon contents. A gashapon contains the egg paper design and thematic content. Finally, after the egg paper and contents are put into the eggshell packaging, it can be placed in the gashapon machine and sold at the "Taiwan Fun Creative Market" on the same day.
Why use Thai aesthetic concepts as the inspiration for course design? The main reason is that Taiwanese students have been greatly influenced by Japanese aesthetics. For a long time, they have adopted a simple and low-key elegant style as their color standards and creative direction. This has made students reserved, shy and afraid to use colors boldly in the process of creative expression, and even more so. If we don’t dare to challenge ourselves and try new materials, if we don’t make breakthroughs, we will stand still and not make progress. In 2019, after my first trip to Thailand, the author discovered that "Thais are a nation that likes to exaggerate." I was deeply shocked by the design of Thai aesthetic concepts, which not only enriched the cultural stimulation of the senses, but also stirred up a broader world. imagination space, therefore, we immediately planned to integrate "Thai aesthetic concepts" into cross-domain aesthetic literacy-oriented courses, hoping to bring different artistic visions to art class students.
Extend the self-branded products and gashapon works designed by students to the "Creative Market" for sale, that is, combining cultural and creative products with industry. The gashapon machine is a game machine full of adventure and fun, and you never know what is inside. The fun, coupled with the diversity of content works, captures consumers' preference for gashapon, while also finding a stage for students' innovation and creativity to shine.
"Taiwan's Interesting Creative Market" can also be said to be a practical stage for generating ideas and commercializing creative works. Students create unique and tasteful artworks to enhance their artistic creativity. This unique handmade artwork will bring happiness and joy to people, improve the art appreciation level of Fuhe teachers and students, and promote art education. In addition, through experiential market activities, students are further guided to explore their career aptitudes, cultivate their career interests, explore appropriate careers, and understand the world of work.
The ultimate goal of the creative market is to raise charity funds. After the activity, students will deduct costs from their income based on their income, encourage students to display their spirit of charity, and donate at least 10% of the surplus to the school charity fund to help students in need on campus. This is the most important essence of education.