Since 2019, NOVA Lab has utilized Fluxspace, an innovative educational space, for project presentations and learning. The class evolved from a focus on design-thinking to more social initiatives, leading to concerns about diminishing entrepreneurial vigor. Insights from critique panels at Fluxspace prompted reflections on curriculum adjustments to restore a design-centered focus. Revisions aim to emphasize tangible outcomes, community partnerships, and enhanced student engagement.
Tag Archives: Design Thinking
Future Deja Vu
NOVA Lab students engaged in a 24-day project focused on futures thinking, inspired by PBS’s “A Brief History of Time.” They explored proactive community-building, envisioning achievable protopias instead of typical dystopian narratives. While reflecting on their participation, students expressed responsibility towards the future, recognizing the urgency for change amidst systemic failures. Their engagement aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting the need for visionary action.
From Design Thinking to Futures Thinking (part 1)
In which we explore our class’s shift from a focus on Design Thinking to incorporating Design Thinking with Futures Thinking and its attendant skills in Scenario Planning, Foresight, Signal and Trend spotting, and Protopian thinking.
A Seat at the Table(s): Designing the Space of NOVA Lab
How did a traditional classroom go from traditional seating used in untraditional but unattractive ways to a flexible, adaptable, agile set up that gives students a seat at the table when it comes to setup and usage?
Do Good Things Newsletter: Design for Inclusion
Today, during a half-day of professional development, we high school teachers sat through a Zoom presentation with author and educational consultant Jenna Ruffo as she introduced and discussed the salient points of Universal Design for Learning. Ms. Ruffo has spoken to us before, on our opening day, and so we had already been primed toContinue reading “Do Good Things Newsletter: Design for Inclusion”
Do Good Things Spotlight: “Cleanliness is Next to Goodliness”
Two NOVA Lab Entrepreneurs design and prototype a device for the common good.
Do Good Things Spotlight: Project Zero — From Garbage to Good Things
From Garbage to Good Things: NOVA Lab Students do it again!
Project Wayfinder: A Good Thing
Vol 1. No 4 of the Do Good Things Newsletter takes a look at the Good Work of Project Wayfinder and Purpose-Based Learning.
Lightning in a Bottle…Twice: The Joy of Learning
This is the kind of experience that shifts the mind utterly, that reveals something we’ve hidden from students behind tests, and rules, and most of all, grades.
This is the Joy of Learning embodied.
Design Build Challenge: Weltanschauung–Design as World View
I still believe Design Thinking can help save the world.
Apparently my students have come to think so, too.
Innovation Lab 