Concept project for Project Inkwell

Project Inkwell | Concept project for Project Inkwell

R&D: What We're Thinking About

  • Let’s build a generation of design thinkers. Our world needs great minds who can build powerful solutions to the challenges we will all face in the 21st century. Historically, this role was left for a select few, but now it is up to everyone. What would the world look like if everyone saw the problems in the world as design opportunities? What if every child believed in their creative abilities, and had a means of productively addressing any challenge they might face?

    People love to learn, but don’t like to be taught. We are born learners. We seek to discover and understand every day of our lives. How can we design education systems that engage our natural curiosities and enthusiasm for learning?

  • If you build it, they will learn. Teachers and parents are the lifeblood of education. But the everyday demands on them make it difficult to be in a state of learning. How might we design environments that nurture and prompt creativity and collaboration among teachers and parents?

    Organizations need to learn too. Our educational systems are still designed to deliver Industrial Revolution-era learning. Times have changed. Our schools, districts, states, and federal systems need to evolve too. What if education systems evolved at the pace of society? How might schools, districts, and state-level systems learn to continually adapt?

Design for Learning

Education has always been the means by which we help our children, and society, thrive. With the complexity and interconnectedness of the 21st century, our traditional models based in industrial mentalities are quickly breaking down. We’re entering a new game, but we’re still playing with old rules. And as Einstein once said, "We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

This is the spirit that drives IDEO's commitment to designing for learning. Whether it's about designing tools, environments, or curricula to create more engaging learning experiences, transforming programs and organizations that deliver learning, or addressing systemic challenges in education at large, our methodologies and multi-disciplinary teams represent a unique approach to innovation in education.

Resources, Partners, Favorites

Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an advocacy organization working to infuse 21st century skills into education.

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Department of Education creates programs that engage K-12 students and teachers to build design skills through direct, hands-on experiences.

826 Valencia is a writing center / pirate store helping kids find their voice through writing.

Big Picture Schools are high schools that offer a highly personalized educational experience through learning programs that are uniquely designed to each student’s needs, interests, and passions.

African Leadership Academy is a new high school developing future leaders and entrepreneurs from across the African continent. Former IDEOer Jessica Hastings is a member of the founding faculty.

K–12 Lab at Stanford University d.school empowers kids to create their future by improving K-12 education around the world.

Sir Ken Robinson is an inspirational speaker and consultant helping the education system organize around human ability and creativity. Check out his book, Out of Our Minds.

Five Minds for the Future, by Howard Gardner

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, by Clayton M. Christensen