October
26,
2010
By:
Nancy K. from San Diego, CA
One resource is the inventors programs, the Lemelson -MIT program. They really reach out to inventors. htier website is www.inventeams.org.
You can't go wrong with this organization. they are helpful, informative and interdisciplinary.
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October
25,
2010
By:
Kim R. from Philadelphia, PA
We purchased the DVD and CD of lesson plans last year to use as engagement activities as we develop our own engineering curriculum. Our teachers have found these very valuable and eyeopeners to many students. Many are just long enough to provoke creative thinking in the minds of our students and lead to great discussions. Another valuable resource is www.teachersdomain.org. It has short clips and lesson plans for engineering and science lessons. In the engineering files, there are many on design and the design process. Check it out!
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October
25,
2010
By:
Alberto R. from Philadelphia, PA
Do you NEED a kit to do this? I am very interested in this idea. I teach Language Arts and think this is a great idea! I teach seventh grade. I am thinking the students could build their own prototype of their invention. I think it would be extremely interesting to see what materials they used to build the prototype. LOVE this idea!
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October
22,
2010
By:
Miranda T. from Philadelphia, PA
Yes. Great website. And they now have a feature with captions available in multiple languages. I always making a viewing quiz for my students so that they have to fill in the answers as they watch. Turning on the captions helps them!
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October
22,
2010
By:
LeQuyen T. from Saint Paul, MN
I started reading Blink for its sociological content, but soon recognized many references to design and how our perceptions influence how we look at design and how designers think about their design. I particularly enjoyed the story about Coke versus Pepsi and how the design of the taste test skewed the outcomes of the survey. Very interesting was Bill Stumpf's design of the Aeron chair that created quite a controversy. Stumpf received a design award from Cooper-Hewitt. Check out the chair at https://www.cooperhewitt.org/NDA/2006/award.asp?catID=pd&nameID;=stumpf
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October
22,
2010
By:
James I. from St Paul, MN
I had students choose a product to re-design, and I have to say that I was impressed with how many completely original ideas many of my students came up with! One reason I believe students were able to do that was because I had them research on the internet (google, yahoo, etc...) different ideas before coming up with their own. They knew that if it popped up, it was aleady taken. The students were also challenged to change a product that we use everyday, so if it was something that already existed, someone in their group would have known about it. Some examples of re-constructed products were outdoor toilets, pregnancy shirts (built in measuring to make sure the woman is gaining appropriate weight), hand-sanitizer ties, and several cleaning improvement products. I feel that we are in a new "be clean" frenzy right now, and many of the students products centered around being extra sanitary and/or "going green."
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October
22,
2010
By:
James I. from St Paul, MN
I am interested to learn about this portable shelter project. With homelessness, esp. for families, on the rise in Philadelphia, it is an interesting endeavor.
My students are often at a loss for what we should do a say with respect to the homeless population that are near our school. I think it's time for them to study the problem so that we can all better understand it.
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October
17,
2010
By:
Cooper-Hewitt N. from New York, NY
If you think the lure of cash may help turn on your design students, let them loose on the "Quirky" mission of an original design idea in production every week, or have them take the role of "influencer" by providing feedback on Quirky ideas already in production. Either way this could be a classic win/win for design in the classroom. The story behind Quirky follows high school designer Ben Kaufman in his journey from the originator of a highly successful product line of Mac accessories, the Mophie, to the launch of Kluster, a company that pools the innovative design ideas of thousands to Quirky, a concept where designers submitting ideas online that can morph with the help of hundreds of "influencers", into marketable end products. Take a look at the "Quirky" concept and listen to the full story at: https://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/quirky_design_products_online_from_sketch_to_store_13642.asp
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October
17,
2010
By:
Cooper-Hewitt N. from New York, NY
This idea is to good to be kept a secret. Thanks for sharing. I will definitely find lots of way to incorporate the concepts in the choclate story into my lesson and bring in the design concept. I will also share it with my colleagues.
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October
17,
2010
By:
Cooper-Hewitt N. from New York, NY
Absolutely fun jumping off point for students. Kids are very intune with the "things" in their lives..this would spark their imagination and get them to identify the why and how of design and the process that goes into objects all around us. It was a real pleasure to have seen Ellen in person in San Antonio as well. JSadoff
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