Design Thinking
In Design Thinking, students transform ideas into reality through hands-on projects that integrate art, engineering, and collaboration. Grounded in creativity and problem-solving, the program celebrates the strengths of neurodivergent thinkers—big-picture vision, spatial reasoning, and inventive thinking—helping students see their unique perspectives as powerful tools for innovation.
In class, students:
- Explore real-world problems that spark their curiosity
- Brainstorm, prototype, test, and refine their ideas
- Collaborate with peers and share their creations with the community
Example projects include:
- Soapbox Cars: Fourth graders design and build full-size cars, engineering steering and braking systems before racing them down the school driveway
- Flugtag: Third graders experiment with flight by scaling paper airplane designs into six-foot gliders
- Tech Arcade: Fifth graders use circuitry and robotics to create interactive arcade games for a community showcase
Through each project, students develop creativity, collaboration, communication, and resilience—building the confidence to value their ideas, embrace challenges, and think like innovators.
