At the beginning of the year, I discovered that a local design firm in my neighborhood was opening an incubator/maker/presentation/learning space in a turn of the 20th-century woollen mill. Dubbed Flux, the space was exactly what I have been trying to create in my own school, only about 7 times bigger! So I had toContinue reading “Learning in Flux: The Joy of Purpose-Based Education”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
2018 Best of Design Competitions: Why not you?
Here’s a website that chronicles the best design competitions for high school students of the past year. I know you have your projects at present, but many of you could do more or will be ending your projects soon. Get on these!
Empathy: The Museum
Museums come in all shapes and sizes. This one, which I found through @tombarrett ‘s “dialogical learning” e-mails, offers a look at Empathy, and it does so in a rather ingenious way. We talk so much about empathy as the key to design thinking, but the concept is far deeper than the utilitarian implications spurredContinue reading “Empathy: The Museum”
The Opening Act
This past week I’ve asked the students in inNOVAtion Lab to reflect on their journey so far (1st Marking Period). And because this is a course wherein we, the students and I, are writing the story together, I, too, have to write about this first marking period. In doing so, I’m bound to come clean. Continue reading “The Opening Act”
OMG!!!!
This is The Index Project. If you’re wondering how your ideas, your creations, your work could have an effect on others, take a look at the designs highlighted by this website. Designing for a better world is a real thing!
10/17/19 — When the Dams Broke
Originally posted on Entropic Development:
This week was extraordinary in a few ways. To address the least interesting of the list, I have an incredible amount of homework. (You’ll have to forgive me if I present a stressed tone) On Thursday, Perkiomen Valley High School’s Innovation Lab students had the opportunity to go to the…
Philadelphia Innovation Festival
Originally posted on Taja's Digital Porfolio:
The B.PHL Innovation Festival in Philly was an amazing experience. Hearing successful people with experience in the world of entrepreneurship talk about what we’ve been talking about in class for the past few weeks was extremely validating. I’m also grateful we had the opportunity to listen to the…
Existential Questions on Why the Heck I Enrolled in Innovation Lab
Originally posted on Taja's Digital Porfolio:
I think my main attraction towards this class is how open it was. For weeks, I thought “wait, what am I getting myself into? Why is the syllabus a drawing?? Why aren’t things clear?!?!?” Eventually I came to realize… that’s what the class is about. It’s not a…
Brains, Cheetos, and a Theory of Creativity
(The final installment of my blog posts about the B.Phl Innovation Festival. Here’s the first post. Here’s the second.) On Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, 31 of the 54 students enrolled in NOVA Lab attended the third day of the first annual B.Phl Innovation Festival. While our trip was somewhat shortened (traffic on the abominable SchukyllContinue reading “Brains, Cheetos, and a Theory of Creativity”
Branding, Defining, and Suring Foundations
This student reflection gives some insight into where we are and why. I’m not going to comment beyond pointing to the way this author posits ownership over clarifying the brand of the class in the last paragraph. Don’t know if I could ask for more. There’s much work to be done, but with students likeContinue reading “Branding, Defining, and Suring Foundations”
Innovation Lab 