The Makings of an Extraordinary Kansas City Challenge

On Saturday, February 28, 2015 at the Kansas City Art Institute, a swarm of Kansas City middle and high school students, alongside by K-12 teachers, entrepreneurs, industrial designers, architects, and design students, dug deep into preparing final presentations of innovative solutions to a set of truly wicked problems. Prior to the event, students had worked hard for a couple of months to investigate extraordinary local individuals to gain imaginative insights into promoting economic growth alongside creating a sense of community in the Kansas City metro area.

With the support of Autodesk Education and sponsorship by the Blue Valley Ed Foundation, the Design Learning Network welcomed all to the 2nd annual Kansas City Design Learning Challenge Workshop!

A Huge Success for All Involved!

On Saturday, February 28, 2015 at the Kansas City Art Institute - mentors and jury members engaged a highly motivated and diverse crowd of middle and high school students. They arrived ready to roll up their sleeves to gather rapid-fire feedback, adjusted proposals accordingly, built prototypes, and delivered impressive and meaningful presentations.

Professional Development and Student Challenge

We kicked off the all-day event with a professional development session with Dr. Rex Jung. Rex, a highly respected neuropsychologist, helped us make sense of how students can develop a keen sense of visual-spatial reasoning:
 

“As students learn how to try things out and visualize problem solving [in the mind’s eye] before
putting it out there in the [real] wet world of the here-and-now where the costs are very high.”