So… this summer I went to the Design Thinking Institute at the Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA. I did so at the behest of my boss, the head of school, and his bosses, the board of trustees.  For the last year, my school — and me in particular — has been engaged in a lengthy process of learning about design, and about design thinking, and the effects that it can have on school children.  That process of learning about it and thinking about it culminated with this “pilgrimage” to Nueva School, to hear about Design Thinking in the design lab of one of the first schools to practice it in the United States.  Nueva did so in conjunction with the famous Design School at Stanford University, and the design firm IDEO.

And now… today… at my school…

We opened our own design lab.  And held our first class. And talked a group of thirteen kids through their first design experience, beginning to end, from initial research through collaboration and presentation of their first-draft design.

As far as I know, my school is the first school in Connecticut to have a design lab, and the first with a design program up and running.  Since I’m in charge of this program, and this DTL, as we’re calling the Design Thinking Lab for now, there will be more about it on this blog in the weeks ahead, as we do things and finalize them.  But we’re up and running, and it’s pretty cool.

Welcome to the future.

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