This article appeared recently in Edutopia, highlighting our Stanford partners, Nueva's Design Thinking program, the I-Lab, and a terrific project done by Rebecca and Megan's first graders this past year.

At the Innovation Lab, a 3,500-square-foot space created by k12 Lab at the Nueva School, in the affluent San Francisco suburb of Hillsborough, first graders set about designing gifts for their families -- not tangible gifts, but gift experiences that would bring their entire families together for a day. After reflecting on their families' favorite activities, the kids came up with ideas.

Next came the challenge of making a physical representation of the experience, which meant finding a metaphor for the idea: for a walk in the rain, an umbrella; for reading, a hammock. Movie night becomes a warm blanket, the beach a swimsuit, a baking day a cake. This activity led to building actual prototypes as art projects: Baking Day became a rainbow-colored paper cake; Family Movie Night was represented by a handmade movie camera; Family Sports Day was personified by a clay baseball.

Read the full article.