#3 Learning Spaces That Embody Design Thinking

Seven stories to know about the k-12 lab
(because Edison would say that you won't remember more)

The Nueva School's Innovation Lab

As the d.school has expanded into larger spaces on the Stanford campus every year, we've learned a lot about the kinds of spaces that support collaborative design work. So, it seems fitting that the K-12 Lab's flagship project was the creation of a design thinking space for a K-8 school.

When we began designing the 3,500 square foot "Innovation Lab" at the Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA, we felt strongly that that we should invite students to be co-designers of the space. Beginning in the spring of 2007, we began intense needfinding fieldwork to better understand the Nueva culture. We used these observations and insights to prototype different elements of the learning space at the d.school. Nueva students came to Stanford to help us develop, test, and refine the designs. After four cycles of testing and development with kids, plus a little teacher training, the I-Lab was born.

A Flexible Space for Innovation

The I-Lab is designed to engage all members of the Nueva community-from kindergartners to administrators and parents. We felt that each group should feel at home in the space and all members of the Nueva community should feel free to adapt and reconfigure the space to fit their needs.

The I-Lab has a fully functioning wood shop and two large bays containing prototyping supplies. The lab features many custom, moveable assets specifically built for design thinking activities. For example, after learning that kids were uncomfortable brainstorming on vertical whiteboard surfaces, we designed small tables with hinging whiteboard tops. We found that groups of students could more easily collaborate around a horizontal whiteboard surface.

Immediately, Nueva's faculty loved using the large, well equipped space because it helped students realize their ideas to a level of resolution and scale that is difficult to do in a traditional classroom. When students see their ideas move from pencil and paper to real, functioning prototypes, the change can be transformational. As they saw their ideas come to life, students began to approach their schoolwork with a different level of energy and thoughtfulness.

In the I-Lab's first year, we were thrilled to find that many teachers began to replicate elements of the I-Lab in their classrooms. This helped them integrate design thinking more easily into their lesson plans and build on the work students were doing in the lab. By the end of the first year, nearly every student experienced multiple design challenges inside and outside the I-Lab.

The Space Changes School Culture

The I-Lab's successful first year led to more profound changes in the school's culture. Former Nueva kindergarten teacher and K-12 Lab member Kim Saxe became the I-Lab's full-time director, and design thinking became integrated more deeply in the school's culture. Kim not only helps students practice design thinking, she constantly reconfigures the space to support the entire school community.

Similar to Google's "20 Percent Time" initiative, which allows employees to spend one day a week focusing on pet projects, the I-Lab's monday lunches allow students to pursue more self-directed inquiry. On the first day of every week, the I-Lab is open during lunch for students to work on their own projects. The first dedicated participants were 2nd and 4th graders, who used the time to build prototypes as varied as doll houses and dental instruments.

As the I-Lab continues to evolve, students have begun to use the space to fit their needs and learning goals. For example, students are beginning to independently initiate group brainstorms in the I-Lab space. This indicates that students have begun to internalize the message that design thinking involves more than building prototypes!