Kevin Osborn — a key driver in helping local libraries develop programs in the Maker movement — saw a recent NewtonSTEM notice about MIT’s Edu DesignShop and decided to apply.  He was one of 100 selected (out of over 230) for this two-day workshop to “learn about ‘design thinking’ and use it to design for a systemic change in education.”  The wide-ranging participants — from a fourth grader to a 62-year-old policy maker — were grouped in interdisciplinary teams of four, and each team was challenged to identify and develop an idea for improving education.

At the workshop, Kevin was assigned to a team with a Bronx English teacher (Paul Allison), a Creative Tech director at a private school (Jonathon Schmid), and an MIT Sophomore (Victoria Dean).  Alternating among sessions of sketching, brainstorming, prototyping, and hands-on development, the team struggled to find common ground.   In the end, however, the team was excited to present its vision of Connecting Makers with Educators to develop projects that can span subjects and incite student creativity.  They got others excited, too:  Kevin’s team was one of four winning teams awarded $1000 to help develop its idea further.