i+D - January/February 2019 - 40

Art and design is one of five
career pathways offered at
Design Thinking Academy.

Connecting with Kids - By Diana Mosher

(Image: Design Thinking
Academy)

Design Education Is About
Building Things
The Architecture Foundation of British Columbia (AFBC) has an overall
mandate to educate the general public about matters of the built
environment. This passion is behind its plans to integrate architecture
programming into the kindergarten and primary school curriculum
throughout British Columbia, Canada.
"Having architects, designers, and landscape designers come into the
classroom creates an awareness of what it takes to do that kind of
work and it teaches them about all kinds of options, opportunities, and
choices," says Sehr Bokhari-Latif, from the Department of Interior Design
at The Art Institute of Vancouver (part of LaSalle College Vancouver),
as well as partner of StudioTrio Design and director of AFBC.

Teaching Confidence and Autonomy
Mastering the art of design thinking provides students from all
neighborhoods with advantages they will enjoy for a lifetime. The Design
Thinking Academy was founded in 2015 with the goal of creating an
educational experience that prepares students with these 21st century
skills. "Many of our students are from under-served populations and they
experience socioeconomic hardship," says Stephanie C. Silverman, head
of school and principal at the Design Thinking Academy in Newark,
Delaware. The school's instructional model provides them with an extra
boost, leveraging the power of imagination and creativity to build their
confidence and autonomy.

According to Bokhari-Latif, "The sooner you start the children to
become aware of their context of the built environment, the sooner they
are able to engage in these matters and able to facilitate, in many cases,
what needs to be done to make the built environment better."
AFBC's architecture curriculum, which will be available for educators
to use in and out of the classroom, is currently in the planning stages.
"Kids absorb so quickly-they are like sponges," observes Bokhari-Latif.
"So, I think it's really a question of content rather than time."
One thing is sure: "We will be engaging students to make things with
their hands! Hands-on training has kind of disappeared from curriculums
all over the world," she adds. "It's become very technologically
oriented, and my personal view is that we are losing creative thinking
and thinking outside the box when we are doing more computer-based
learning. Design education is all about building things."

Students choose one of five creative career "pathways": computer science,
entrepreneurship, art & design, media, or architectural engineering. Two
additional career pathways will be added in the future: game design and
audio engineering. Educators apply design thinking to core subject areas
and also use it as an interdisciplinary "glue" that frames the overall teaching
approach. "Our curriculum is embedded with design thinking," explains
Silverman. "Each subject is infused with project-based learning and creative
problem solving to make learning authentic, fun, and experiential."
A standalone school, the Design Thinking Academy (DTA) is not a CPO
(charter proliferation organization). However, it is clearly thriving on its own
and has been awarded a $10 million grant from the XQ Institute. "We
are one of the original 10 XQ Superschools," states Silverman. The list of
colleges that DTA students have been accepted to is growing. "We are very
proud to add MIT to the list." She adds, "Many of our students go on to
pursue creative careers in the pathway they chose here at DTA."

40

i+D - January/February 2019

Paint sample
strips become
high fashion
in the hands
of students at
Design Thinking
Academy.
(Image: Design
Thinking Academy)
i+D - January/February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i+D - January/February 2019
