Suzie Boss, National faculty member from the Buck Institute, talked about the importance of innovation.Her background is PBL and writing/reporting as a member of the press.
Innovation is a big topic lately.
How can we bring innovation to schools?
Is peanut butter pop-tarts innovation?
Who are the innovators?
Ghana library similar to the Carnegie Library. Empty Space with people deciding what goes in there. Kickstarter funded.
D-Rev High performance knee replacement.
Ghana library similar to the Carnegie Library. Empty Space with people deciding what goes in there. Kickstarter funded.
D-Rev High performance knee replacement.
Studio H
Public High School “Design, Build, Transform” curriculum.
The community donated the land, and the high school students in North Carolina developed a High School for them.
Maker Fair
Maker spaces lately are great incubators of innovation.
Thomas Edison's workshop had a pipe organ. You can't be thinking problem solving, 24/7! They used the organ to take breaks, and get refreshed. This made them idea factories!
Where do our students get refreshed, to revive their innovation energy?
Usually things start small and come from someone getting compelled to act.
A young woman decided that since there are sites like eHarmony and Match.com for people, why isn't their anything for people and pets? These two former middle school locker partners continued to fuel their passion till they now have created this business. She also has a job training program for homeless youth who want to get back into society.
A former Olympic Speed Skater. Johan Koss started this organization to support youth around the world to provide equipment to those less fortunate.
Ask your students, "I want to be the one who...................."
Strategies
- Make room for thinking and doing
- Design Thinking-Stanford D School
- How do you bring design thinking into the classroom?
- See Opportunity Everywhere-Look for areas that are underserved.
Soccket
A soccer ball that can generate electricity! The person who came up with the idea was not an engineer, but collaborated with a team to make it happen.
Project H
Innovation does not happen with just one!
Remember that when you open it up to others, the idea may change. That's ok!
Connected Learners- A Step By Step Guide to Creating a Global Classroom. Includes the student perspective.
What else can I do with this?
Take one idea and transform it to improve something else.
For example, the "Hero Rat!" The next step is using the rats to identify Tuberculosis!
Green Bronx Machine
Teacher, Steve Ritz, lives in a "food desert," with little access to affordable healthy food. He saw a vertical wall, that he could use in his classroom. He started getting kids growing stuff. Then continued to expand...
Remixing of Good Ideas
Aravind Eye Care System- Many adults in his community were going to be blind without intervention.
Changing the Scale-
The Little Free Library is an example of this. And so is this:
You never know what a kid can do! Encourage them!
Jack Andraka's pancreatic cancer breakthrough:
And don't forget to learn from failure! Fail Faire!
If you are looking for ideas for students to work on, look at the Fixes column on the New York Times.
Finally, challenge kids to get started! Reminds me of our Apathy project.
She ended by showing the invisible bike helmet video...
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