d.school news

Innovation Lab Opens

The d.school's first major venture in the world of K-12 education opened this week at the Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA. Called the Innovation Lab, the project is a 3500 square foot space where students in the K-8 school will develop their design thinking skills. The project cycle was rapid with needfinding in April and May, conceptual prototype in June, and full-scale prototyping at Sweet Hall in July. July's prototype sessions brought 20 kids a week to campus and deeply informed everything from how to brainstorm with 1st graders, to how high to build the tables. The team also conducted a 3-day teacher workshop with Nueva faculty where teachers reported they rediscovered the importance of play and one was quoted as saying, the Innovation Lab, "is not just a space, it's a movement."

The project was led by Scott Doorley, Alex Ko, Kim Saxe, and Susie Wise and included the design of the space, furniture, curriculum, and program. Coaching support and prototype development will continue through the school year and work to take the curriculum to Stanford's East Palo Alto Charter School has already begun.

Thanks to the amazing K-12 lab members who made it happen: Ugochi Acholonu, Cathy Chase, Rich Crandall, Jonathan Edelman, Elysa Fenenbock, Karin Forssell, Hillary Freeman, Yuseke Miyashita, Maryanna Rogers, Adam Royalty, Andrew Salverda, Sandy Speicher, Daniel Steinbock, Andrew Taylor, Scott Witthoft, and Natalie Wozybun.

d.school adventures around the world

Current d.school fellow David Klaus recently returned from a summer in Africa and Asia, where he set up partnerships for the coming year's Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability class. In the winter and spring, the d.school will be partnering with several of these organizations to design products and services for the world's poor. The list of potential projects is more diverse than ever, including irrigation products for rural farmers, wheelchairs and prosthetics for victims of war and disease, energy solutions for affordable (and sustainable) lighting and cooking, new tools for the care of livestock, "entrepreneur kits" to help street children generate income, and innovative business models to help the poor access credit, to name a few. During the summer, David kept a travel blog with more details on the partnerships, and a whole bunch of entertaining stories about his adventures as a designer in the developing world. You can check it out at dpklaus.blogspot.com.