Erica had gained real-world learning from the sketches,
questions, problem statements, and noodling she had logged in
her design notebook from the beginning of February to the end of
April 2015. The project? Design the lighting for a Habitat for
Humanity home for a single mother and her children, maintaining
affordability and simplicity while increasing safety and aesthetics.
Erica’s entries, focused on interior stairway lighting for a singlefamily home, had nothing to do with automobiles per se. But, on
her own, she realized she had the know-how to solve an everyday problem. She was dropped
into a moment of applying
authentic learning and she had
the self-confidence to carry it
out.
Had I lectured her on circuitry,
rather than allowing her the
opportunity to think and plan
and “make” by way of her
design notebook, she might
have been taught, but she never
would have learned so well.
The design notebook is perhaps the number #1 learning tool that
we educators — educators across disciplines — can place into
our students’ hands. It has learning applications beyond the arts
classroom. At the same time, the design notebook serves to
reinforce that art and design are at the foundation of the problemsolving, innovation, and critical thinking that our communities
need right now to address foremost concerns. As educators we
can deepen our work with young people by helping them learn to
innovate, participate, problem-solve, and lead in such key
endeavors.
Regarding the power and effect of STEAM,1 Margaret Honey,
president and CEO of the New York Hall of Science, says, “It is
not about adding on arts education. It’s about fundamentally
changing education to incorporate the experimentation and
exploration that [are] at the heart of effective
education” (emphasis added).2 I would
hasten to revise that last phrase from
effective education to effective
learning.
In my work with Pretty Brainy, the
education nonprofit I founded to
empower girls to develop their STEAM
ideas and abilities, the design
notebook is a staple. Here is why.
Think of the design notebook as a tool
to —
Inspire while making space for students to experience the
process of planning, execution, and reflecting on what they are
doing. The design notebook is where ideas and innovation begin.
Populate it with words, sketches, equations, clippings, color
palettes, quotes, questions, problems, client profiles, lists, and
more.
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