tools for schools

If I learned anything from design school, it is that design is a process. It is a way of thinking and problem solving. But, as Aruliden design studio found after working with a group of eight graders as The School at Columbia, it isn't taught. Not that young people don't have an amazing capacity for design thinking- after all, who is more creative than kids- but the process isn't incorporated into school curriculum.

Aruliden co-founders Rinat Aruh and Johan Liden partnered with furniture company Bernhardt Design to create Tools for Schools which was "fully integrated into the School at Columbia's yearlong curriculum. It became part of math class, where students studied ratios and proportion; science, where they investigated materials; and English, where they worked on their presentations. 'The theory is, if you have deep learning, you have more hooks to attach new learning onto," says Annette Raphel, head of the School at Columbia. "When you get out of school, that's what really happens. You don't learn math to pass a test but to solve problems that require math skills. That's bigger than a standardized test.'"

The students designed around challenges in their own lives- their desks, chairs and lockers. Check out out their solutions.

Originally found on Fast Company.