SparkTruck Brings Creativity to Learning

Design thinking .... maker spaces.... 3-D printers ... creativity .... these have become the new catchwords at school board meetings of which I have attended my fair share. I thought I understood what these words meant but quickly realized I did not when I attended a presentation by UVM Design Initiatives Coordinator Eugene Korsunskiy to the faculty of the Scarsdale Schools on Thursday November13. The lecture was the first Michaal McGill lecture, sponsored by the Center for Innovation and like Dr. McGill, Eugene Korsunskiy is a graduate of Williams College.

Eugene also attended the Stanford University d-school where he founded SparkTruck, a mobile classroom that helps students create tangible examples of their creative potential. Through fun, hands-on workshops using 21st century maker tools like 3D printers and laser cutters, SparkTruck is bringing a "buildy" confidence back to the masses.

He highlighted why today's students will need to innovate to solve difficult problems like global warming, diminishing water supplies, civil unrest and food shortages. Quoting a TED talk from Sir Ken Robinson he said "Creativity is as important as literacy" and we should treat it with the same status. He also quoted educator and innovator Cathy Davidson who claims that "65% of children now entering grade schools will go into career we haven't invented yet."

Eugene believes "that creative capacity lies at the heart of innovation," and is therefor working to help students develop confidence in their creative skills. To those who claim they are not creative, Eugene says, "creativity is something you can learn to do. When you are building or taking things apart you are being creative. Creative behaviors and design thinking lead to creative confidence."

In order to demonstrate the design thinking process, Eugene took the audience through the development of SparkTruck, his project while a student at Stanford. The process began with brainstorming and the formulation of hundreds of ideas. The group decided that they wanted to make something for kids and researched their ideas by paying visits to schools and speaking to teachers and students.

They found that rigid curricula and mandated standardized tests were taking the fun and the creativity out of learning. They also determined that kids prefer hands-on learning where they can make things and get excited. The challenge became how to facilitate building creative projects in tight spaces with limited budgets. The group decided to build a mobile classroom in a truck outfitted with fun tools for hands on learning. The raised $31,000 for the truck through a kick-starter campaign and that was the beginning of the process of building this novel classroom.

But rather than read about the adventures of SparkTruck, watch the movie online here: 

Once you see how excited these students are about building and learning, you'll understand why many at the Scarsdale Schools want to outfit Scarsdale's facilities to accommodate hands-on learning using the design process. By teaching students the design process of brainstorming, prototyping and storytelling, educators can foster innovation and creativity. The process helps students tackle the unknown, improvise, try, fail and try again.

Scarsdale has already jumped on the bandwagon by installing maker spaces in all five elementary schools – and by including an initiative to transform the old auto shop at Scarsdale High School into a Design Lab. Learn more about this compelling educational initiative here and then go create something yourself. Also, watch the presentation in it's entirety here!