Transformation: The Scripps Design Center

At the end of year one, we learned a lot of things from our dabbling in Design Thinking, but a primary concern that surfaced was related to space. A regular problem had arisen: kids would be elbow deep in an exciting project only to discover that they would need a particular material only found in another location on campus. To get this material, they had to head all the way to the other end of campus to get it, and would sometimes go on extended tours in this process. We realized that it was going to be critical to have teaching spaces that were design oriented needed be located in a common area. This area could not be too far removed from the general classrooms to save on travel time as well as to afford greater integration of projects with learning. 

We had a space that was set aside for large meetings and other school functions, but typically was not heavily used during the school day. After a lot of discussion and meetings, the decision was made to relocate our wood shop and art room to another part of campus, and to house them next to one another as well as positioning them next to our science classrooms and library. This would afford us the ability to physically de-silo the specials classes in which design thinking projects would take place. It also helped with students being able to easily access materials and teachers when working on projects. 

Happily, new flooring and electric were only real construction elements that we had to consider. This resulted in minimal costs that we were able to take from annual capital improvement. This was a deliberate consideration - we weren't sure what the kids would need, so we put things in place that we knew we would use, and then build from there based on the projects that came to life during the year. We took what we had from other parts of the school to encompass both functions (technology and woodworking/fabrication shop) that we needed in the space.

We had a small handful of teachers willingly relocate their classroom space to accomplish this - and the results have been outstanding... 

This relocation of spaces has completely transformed the way we teach. It also honors what we promised to do from the outset, which is to build a lab that would meet the emergent needs that came about as a result of dabbling in Design Thinking in year one. This process held us true to our commitment to let philosophy and student outcomes drive physical space decisions and considerations. 

Our new Scripps Design Center, ready for action!

The fall semester project board shows a full docket of integrated projects in almost every grade level.

This new space has breathed new life into our design thinking projects this year, and because it is in a better adjacency to regular classrooms, it is also allowing us to bridge the gap between classroom instruction and projects in a way that proved nearly impossible last year. It has facilitated a great deal of collaboration for the design team as well as for the design team and classroom teachers. In fact, it's not unusual to see the classroom teacher dropping in to check on student progress to see how the work in the Scripps Design Center underpins and supports what they are teaching their kids in the academic classroom.

Today, we free flow through the spaces in and around the Scripps Design Center - both students and faculty. This free movement has allowed kids to expand their thinking and incorporate both engineering design and artistic considerations into whole, integrated projects. We are also seeing greater free flowing of our faculty in terms of on-the-fly collaboration and just-in-time adjustments to instructional pacing. This all serves to benefit our students by providing improved pathways to achieve what they set out to create.