06 Dec IDEO’s Ten Tips For Creating a 21st–Century Classroom Experience
In recent years, IDEO has spent a lot of time and effort thinking about education. The firm’s work has helped pioneer a special “investigative-learning” curriculum that inspires students to be seekers of knowledge. Sandy Speicher, who heads the Design for Learning efforts at IDEO, has provided her insights to provide powerful lessons for architects and designers creating the schools of tomorrow. An excerpt is included below:
+ Stop calling them “soft” skills.
Talents such as creativity, collaboration, communication, empathy, and adaptability are not just nice to have; they’re the core capabilities of a 21st-century global economy facing complex challenges.
+ Allow for variation.
Evolve past a one- size-fits-all mentality and permit mass customization, both in the system and the classroom. Too often, equality in education is treated as sameness. The truth is that everyone is starting from a different place and going to a different place.
+ Teachers are designers.
Let them create. Build an environment where your teachers are actively engaged in learning by doing. Shift the conversation from prescriptive rules to permissive guidance. Even though the resulting environment may be more complicated to manage, the teachers will produce amazing results.
Read the full article here.