Exploring lived experience with wooden treasures

This workshop will introduce an innovative creative method of exploring the lived experiences of students through the use of Wooden Treasures. These are sensory wooden shapes that come in different colours and formats, commonly used in children's play to support their emotional and social development, but with wider unexplored potential. The workshop will include an interactive and hands-on activity using Wooden Treasures, where the participants will have an opportunity to reflect on their approaches to improve student experience and success. We will frame this method through ‘decolonising methodologies’ (Smith, 2012), and as an embodied methodology (Leigh and Brown, 2021) with a focus on co-created and reflexive practice. Finally, the workshop will be relevant for academics and future educators who have an interest in developing their expertise in creative methods and investigating lived experiences. Participants will leave the workshop with a toolkit consisting of guidelines, suggested materials and a resource list. References:

• Leigh, J. and Brown, N. (2021) Embodied Inquiry: Research Methods. London: Bloomsbury.
• Smith, L.T. (2012) Decolonising Methodologies. London: Zed Books.