Sparking Creativity

From their first classes this fall, Creators 1 and first and second grade students plunged into the Creativity and Design curriculum, tackling hands-on challenges that pushed them to think like real designers.

To introduce Creators 1 students to the Upper School Creativity & Design curriculum, department chair Mark Evans kicked off the term with a low-stakes challenge: no grades, no rubrics, just pure imagination. Working in small teams, students chose an everyday classroom object and gave it an origin story: an ordinary #2 pencil might be a supervillain plotting pencil domination, while a simple ruler could be a wizard with magical powers. Once students decided on their object’s backstory, they were challenged to design and craft a tiny hat to match its persona. Armed with pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, hot glue, and duct tape, students brought their designs to life, then presented them to the class. For Mark, the activity was less about the final product and more about encouraging a mindset. “I wanted them to lean into the silliness and shake off any fear of not knowing what they are doing,” he explained. “ Because that’s what we do in this space: we dive in and create.”

Mark begins the year by helping Primary School students understand the core purpose of design. “I want them to know what design time is really for,” Mark explains. “We are here to be builders, makers, and engineers.” To convey this idea, he read Andrea Beaty’s Rosie Revere, Engineer, the story of a young girl who learns perseverance after her attempt to build a flying machine for her aunt initially fails. The classes discussed how design is ultimately about solving problems and helping others, and how creating requires pushing past the fear of judgment or rejection. 

Putting these ideas into practice, Mark challenged students to design name cards that would help him learn their names. By analyzing effective and flawed examples of different cards, students discovered firsthand how design choices like ink color, text size, and placement could make their name harder or easier to read. Students tested out their designs with one another, decorated the card to fit their personality, and shared something about themselves on the inside so that Mr. Evans could get to know them better. In doing so, they discovered that design thinking applies to every scale of problem-solving, whether it's engineering a flying machine or simply crafting a card that helps someone learn your name.