Henry Ford Academy: Elementary School, Detroit

We believe that creativity and innovation can be taught, and that children are natural innovators. Children are curious about the world, want to make a difference and help people, and are great divergent thinkiers. We use Design Thinking as a structure that supports these natural qualities, and helps nurture and support a growing creative confidence. All of our teachers are trained to facilitate design challenges with students each quarter. We have built a Scope and Sequence document of Design Thinking mindsets, skills, and dispositions, and teacher guides for quarterly grade-level design challenges aligned with that Scope and Sequence. We also work with teachers to integrate Design Thinking into all of their teaching. In addition, we’ve used the process to work as a staff on organizational challenges, and have also used it with parent meetings to involve them in understanding and helping us to address school-wide issues as well.