Dive Brief:
- Oracle, the integrated cloud applications and platform services company, is funding construction of the future home of Design Tech High School, a public school that opened in 2014 in a temporary facility and last year had 550 students apply for its 140 open spots.
- CNN Money reports the d.tech curriculum is built around real-world problems and allows students to learn at their own pace, centering instruction on design thinking, which asks students to find solutions through empathy, experimentation and evidence-based problem solving.
- The school has an incubator program that helps students bring their ideas to life, and its design lab’s focus on solving real-world problems instills in students the idea that they truly can build products that effect change.
Dive Insight:
More and more schools are giving students the opportunity to learn about the world and take ownership over figuring out solutions to its problems. Hands-on lessons let students hone their critical thinking skills while they use formulas and equations that might more traditionally appear on worksheets. The lessons are often more engaging for students and empowering.
The Next Generation Science Standards urge a shift in thinking that reflects some of the work being done at d.tech. Lessons that guide students through science concepts have long been common. The NGSS urge teachers to give their students the space to figure these things out on their own. The shift requires a lot of work on the part of classroom teachers writing new lesson plans and assessments, and states, too, are working through the challenge of coming up with standardized tests to assess how well students are learning these critical skills.