DIY and IDEO Inspire the Next Generation of Innovators — from IDEO.com

The ultimate summer camp. The perfect snack for a picky eater? Why are we designing things for our kids when only they can truly know what they want? DIY and IDEO ask kids to tackle these challenges and more, to develop their inner innovator. Bonus: they get a Scout-style patch for their efforts.

DIY is a place for kids to go online to learn new skills and meet others who share their interests. Kids take photos or videos of the stuff they make, assemble personal portfolios on the site, and ultimately build their creative confidence.

IDEO is proud to have collaborated with DIY to launch the “Innovator” skill: 12 challenges that help kids understand people, identify problems, and create novel solutions. We hope these challenges help inspire a new generation of design thinkers. Posted: March 21, 2014

 

 

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From DSC:
A brief review of this site turns up several interesting things:

  1. Students can explore areas, disciplines, topics that they are passionate about — or they might discover some things that turn into a passion for them;  this could be hugely helpful as students see “what’s out there” for them to head towards (career-wise).
  2. Students can submit their own creations
  3. The format of the site is very visual, enticing…drawing one in to see what’s behind each area and to see what other students have contributed
  4. It employs social learning
  5. It employs badging — students can earn badges on their way to mastering a topic
  6. Students can build their own portfolios and show those portfolios to the world!

Some recent postings on their blog: