Inclusive Playground Design

Overview

This is Lesson 1 of a three-lesson design project for Year 5. Students investigate how accessible and inclusive the school playground is, identify users’ needs and barriers, and define a design opportunity. Lessons 2 and 3 will develop scaled plans, prototypes and persuasive presentations for a genuine audience such as the principal or school council.

Driving question: How can we redesign our school playground so that everyone can play, learn and belong?

Learning intentions

Students will:

• investigate how different users experience the school playground
• identify barriers to access, participation, safety and belonging
• collect and organise information through observation, surveys and interviews
• define a clear design problem using evidence
• use inclusive, sustainable and respectful design language.

Success criteria

• I can describe at least two playground users and their different needs.
• I can identify a barrier and explain who it affects.
• I can collect useful evidence through observation, questions or research.
• I can write a clear design opportunity that includes accessibility and sustainability.

Curriculum links

Victorian Curriculum F–10 — Design and Technologies, Year 5–6 band
Official source: https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/design-and-technologies/year-5-6

• AC9TDE6P01: Investigate needs or opportunities and materials, components, tools, equipment and processes. Students investigate playground users’ needs, identify barriers and opportunities, and consider materials and processes that could support an inclusive playground design.

• AC9TDE6P02: Generate, iterate and communicate design ideas using technical terms and graphical representations, including digital tools. Students communicate “How might we…” design opportunities and develop, refine and share playground design ideas using technical language and graphical or digital representations in subsequent design work.

• AC9TDE6P04: Negotiate design criteria, including sustainability, to evaluate design ideas, processes and solutions. Groups agree on accessibility, inclusion or enjoyment, and sustainability criteria to guide and evaluate their playground solutions.

• AC9TDE6K05: Explain how characteristics and properties affect the use of materials. Where students select or model materials for playground features, they explain how properties such as strength, flexibility, texture, durability or environmental impact affect their suitability.

• Digital Technologies — generate, modify, communicate and evaluate designs.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook and purpose. Open with the playground hook and driving question showing a striking before-and-after image concept of an ordinary playground redesigned with ramps, quiet spaces, sensory features and varied play options; students silently consider, “Who might find this playground difficult to use, and why?”

2. 5–13 min · Design thinking introduction. Use the design thinking overview to introduce Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test, explaining that today focuses on Empathise and Define. Students complete a quick think-pair-share: “What helps people feel that they belong in a play space?”

3. 13–23 min · User perspectives. Display user perspective examples and discuss possible users, including students with mobility, vision, hearing, sensory or communication needs, younger students, families and supervising adults. Students work in groups of four, using the role cards from the group role cards to assign facilitator, recorder, evidence collector and reporter, then analyse one user profile on the playground investigation worksheet.

4. 23–38 min · Playground investigation. Briefly model respectful observation and explain that students must not photograph or identify people without permission. Groups conduct a supervised playground walk, recording features that support or limit access, safety, enjoyment, environmental sustainability and social inclusion on the worksheet. If an outdoor walk is not possible, students analyse teacher-provided photographs or a simple playground map. Each group records at least three observations and one question for a user or stakeholder.

5. 38–48 min · Research and questioning. Return to the inclusive design examples and research prompts. Students write three survey or interview questions, such as “Which areas do you enjoy using?”, “What makes a space difficult to access?” and “What change would help more people join in?” They then compare one inclusive feature, such as a smooth pathway, accessible equipment, shaded seating, sensory planting or a quiet retreat, and note a possible sustainable material or environmental benefit.

6. 48–56 min · Define the opportunity. Model the sentence frame: “How might we redesign _____ so that _____ can _____ while reducing _____?” Groups use evidence from their worksheet to complete their own “How might we…” statement and list three agreed design criteria: one accessibility criterion, one inclusion or enjoyment criterion and one sustainability criterion. Groups share statements while the teacher checks that they are specific, achievable and based on evidence.

7. 56–60 min · Plenary and exit check. Use the share-back and next-steps slides for two groups to read their design opportunity. Students complete the final section of the playground investigation worksheet: “One barrier we found…”, “One user need…”, and “One question our prototype must answer…”. Collect worksheets to form groups’ starting evidence for Lesson 2.

Resources

• Inclusive playground design slide deck
• Playground investigation worksheet
• the group role cards
• Teacher-selected captioned video showing inclusive playground design; preview for suitability and accessibility
• School playground, simple playground map or teacher-provided photographs
• Clipboards, pencils and coloured pencils
• Tablets or computers for supervised research, if available
• Whiteboard and markers
• High-visibility vests or agreed outdoor investigation boundaries

Assessment

• Listen for students distinguishing a personal preference from an access or inclusion barrier during group discussion.
• Check investigation worksheets for specific observations, identified users, evidence-based questions and consideration of sustainability.
• Use the completed “How might we…” statement as an exit assessment. Look for a clear user, need, proposed context and reason for change.

Differentiation

• Provide illustrated user profiles, a word bank and sentence starters such as “This feature helps because…” and “A barrier for ___ might be…”.
• Allow students to dictate observations, use speech-to-text or record an audio response; provide a quiet observation location for students who find the playground overwhelming.
• Pair EAL students with supportive peers and pre-teach terms such as accessible, inclusive, barrier, stakeholder, sustainable and criteria.
• Extend students by asking them to distinguish between an accessibility improvement and a general improvement, and to justify which evidence is most reliable.
• Establish clear boundaries and adult supervision during the playground walk. Discuss disability respectfully, avoiding assumptions and treating users as experts in their own experiences.