Design Thinking Simulation for Upper School Faculty

In preparation for Challenge GA, an Upper School initiative that gives all students and faculty an opportunity to learn how to apply Design Thinking methods to a unique problem at the school, the US faculty engaged in a simulation where they were charged with designing a wallet for their partner. Employing empathic interviewing followed by the development of a needs statement, each pair sketched ideas, and prototyped solutions for each other.  They will continue this work in advisories and house meetings throughout the year. Earlier in August a small group of lower school faculty engaged in the simulation as well to begin introducing Design Thinking to the lower school. Their handiwork is seen below, donning a table in the McVeigh Community Room.

Richard Culatta at TEDx Beacon Street

Richard Culatta is the Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the Department of Education. His recent TED Talk on Re-imagining Learning distills his thoughts on a changing learning landscape culled from his work in k-12, higher ed, and work environments. His work focuses on leveraging technology to create personalized learning and using social media to create efffective large-scale distributed learning.

Garden to Market: Entrepreneurs in Action

Last week, Green Ambassador Finn Lukens, 5th grade, helped Dr Sue Johnston pick and sell vegetables and flowers from the GA garden at the GA veggie stand, located in front of the Pavilion.  The Green Ambassadors tend to gardens and a green house on campus throughout the school year. As the bounty grew over the summer months, so did the need for a farm to market model that encourages entrepreneurship in students. 

The GA garden is a ShuMei garden (natural agriculture) which means no chemical use, with continuous crop and seed harvesting.  Proceeds from the market help to offset the cost of the program.  Last week the market consisted of  tomatoes (Roma and cherry), peppers, carrots, cabbage, zinnias, onions, swiss chard, kale and zucchini.  

Design Thinking at The Nueva School

Each summer in the hills above Silicon Valley, The Nueva School hosts the Design Thinking Institute for an international cadre of teachers and administrators who are interested in in depth instruction in human centered design. Grace Judge and Gabrielle Russomagno attended the institute last week where they were able to work with education pioneer Kim Saxe, founder of IDEO David Kelly, and business guru Patrick Van der Pijl.  The lessons learned at the institute will radiate through the Academy in the fall in ED21 initiatives in each division as well as Challenge GA, and Upper School initiative designed to introduce the students and faculty to the culture, language, and process of human centered design.

Middle School Green Ambassadors Honoring Graduates One Sapling at a Time

Some of the most impressive features of Germantown Academy's LEED (Leading in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified campus are the outdoor spaces that connect directly to curriculum across the school. The  Academic Courtyard, Green Roof, Apiary, Greenhouse, and Preserve are veritable classrooms, driving curriculum in science and art alike. They provide rich extracurricular opportunities for students as well.  The Green Ambassadors club, organized by faculty in each division of the school has a fairly simple mission, make the Germantown Academy campus environment healthier. Science teachers, Maura Saurman and Rollie Wakemen, coordinate the club in the middle school. This year, they launched The Acorn Project that helps students have a voice in the direction of the green spaces while honoring our graduating seniors. According to Wakeman, "The goal of The Acorn Project is to raise oak tree seedlings from acorns found on campus to gift them to the seniors during graduation practice.  The hope is that some of the graduates will plant their oak tree as a remembrance of the life they started at GA that continues to grow once they leave.  By doing this project students learned the difficulty in collecting and growing oak trees from acorns.  We are waiting with baited breath to see if we end up with enough for every senior to have one."  When students aren't spending their Tuesday lunch period in the science lab with Wakeman and Saurman, they are typically found designing pamphlets and writing scripts for the tours they give of the green spaces on campus. 

What We Are Watching

Salman Khan, hedge fund analyst turned education innovator founded the Khan Academy, an online source of over 2,200 streaming educational videos in a range of disciplines, comments on transforming education in this TED Talk.

What We Are Reading

Paul Tough, contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, former Senior Editor of This American Life, and author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America, looks at character as the most important asset to a child's success in  How Children Succeed.  From his website:


"The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control."