Tag: pixar

Lessons learned from Stanford, Google, IDEO and Pixar

Kelly Tenkely6 Comments on Lessons learned from Stanford, Google, IDEO and Pixar2778 views

This weekend I spent some time with incredible innovators at Stanford University to talk about innovation in education.  All walks of life gathered at d.school to discuss problems in education and to propose solutions.

My biggest takeaway: Education needs more design thinking and collaborative concepting at all levels.

Throughout the day we shared stories, created concept maps, brainstormed collaboratively, identified problems in education and prototyped possible solutions.  I love that we didn’t just give answers. We prototyped possible solutions in the prototype lab where we had access to all kinds of great building materials.  We came up with some pretty impressive solutions.  What if schools operated more like this?  If teachers and students worked together as designers.  This is the drive behind Anastasis Academy’s morning inquiry block.  We look at big questions and work on interdisciplinary projects that incorporate a range of subjects and disciplines of learning.

“What if the process of education were as intentionally crafted as the products of education (i.e., we always think about the book report or the final project, but not the path to get there).” (Fast Company)

Schools have a lot to learn from Google, IDEO and Pixar.  These are companies that have created a culture of creativity, play and collaboration.  IDEO mirrors this culture in their physical space.  The space lends itself to creativity and new ideas because the space isn’t overly prescriptive.  Stanford’s d.school was very similar.  Tracks run all over the building where walls of whiteboards can be clipped in and moved around easily.  A writing space wherever and whenever you need one.  Brilliant.  All of the furniture is on wheels, it is easily moved and rearranged based on current needs.  Large wooden Lego-type blocks can be easily moved, arranged and built with for any situation.

I love the philosophies of Pixar, the layout is designed to foster “forced collisions of people”.  Students with different backgrounds, passions and understandings collided in new understandings.  Would forced collisions of people encourage a whole new population of da Vinci thinking?

At Google play is not only encouraged, it is deeply engrained in the culture.  Spaces are flexible and constantly changing and being built.  This is was the case in Stanford’s d.school and I have to say, the instant ability to edit our workspace impacted our thinking.  “Imagine what might happen if students had this same power to edit and make their own spaces within the school environment.” (Fast Company)

I highly recommend the following article from Fast Company “What Schools Can Learn From Google, IDEO, and Pixar.”

The article mentions High Tech High, a collection of charter schools in Southern California led by Larry Rosenstock.  Please take the 14 minutes to watch this great video about High Tech High!  Innovation is education is emerging in pockets all over the world. Anastasis Academy is a part of this innovation!


 

Whiz Kids

Kelly Tenkely5 Comments on Whiz Kids3654 views

What it is: Whiz Kids is a new site developed for autistic children.  It was designed to give these kids a fun place to develop life skills.  All of the games and videos have high production values, making them engaging and impressive, they feel as though you have stepped into a Pixar movie.  Through this one portal, you get 16 interactive and therapeutic games.  The games help kids develop essential life skills like empathy, recognizing emotion, making decisions, coping with change, transactions,  non-verbal gestures, grouping, schedules, finding a route, and making eye contact.  Although these games were specifically developed for children with autism, they are wonderful for primary elementary students and ELL students as well.

How to integrate Whiz Kids into the classroom: Whiz Kids has an incredible back story, the site was created by more 80 students 8 lecturers and 10 autism specialists, the project represents more than 16,000 hours of research and development.  The games are tailored to fit the needs of autistic children.  If you teach autistic children, these games will help them develop important life skills that will aid them when interacting with classmates.  The games would be great for classroom computers as a center activity.  Help other students in your classroom understand how they can help the autistic children in the classroom by having them play the Whiz Kids games as well.  This will give your students a shared vocabulary and experience to draw on when they are working and playing together in the classroom.  Because the games focus so much on character development, they are appropriate for any primary classroom.  Help your students learn about complex human interactions like empathy, non-verbal communication, and coping with change through game play.  The games can be played and discussed as a whole class using an interactive whiteboard or projector connected computer, or they can be played independently at a computer center, or a computer lab.  After playing the game, practice the skill taught as a class.  For example, if students play Robbie the Robot and are practicing recognizing emotion and facial expressions, follow up by asking students to work with a partner making faces and naming the emotion.  ELL students can use Whiz Kids to develop character related vocabulary and understanding.

Tips: On the Whiz Kids sister site, Autism Games, teachers can get more information about individual games and how to use them with students.  Each game is categorized based on the life skill that it teaches.  The game descriptions and suggestions are fantastic.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Whiz Kids in your classroom.