Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Design Firm IDEO Offers Insights to Schools

Ever since A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink led me to The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley, founder of IDEO Design, I have been trying to educate myself more about the world of design and to learn more about how designers think.

Metropolis Magazine is a good source for that exploration—and today it got better with the post "IDEO’s Ten Tips For Creating a 21st–Century Classroom Experience." IDEO has been working on a curriculum design with a nearby elementary school, and the project director makes some good points in this article about engaging students.

IDEO also worked with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's SPARK Initiative (Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids) to develop Tangible Steps Toward Tomorrow: New designs for education, ages 0-8. This publication details a human-centered approach to evolving the system of early education for the needs and possibilities of the 21st century. It can be downloaded from the Kellogg Web site.

I think collaborations like this will be important to the challenges ahead.

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