Do you know anyone from Madagascar? I met Toky through Facebook right before I published my book “Think Unique – your comprehensive guide to cultivating tomorrow’s innovators through project-based learning”. I was looking for a few teachers that would like to read my book and provide feedback on it. I was grateful that today's technology enables me to engage with teachers worldwide, including in Madagascar. I soon learnt that Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the

There is a lot of noise about getting girls into STEM. I see lots of article about it and countless posts on social media. So if there is such a desire to make it happen, why are we failing? I went to study computer science. Yep. I was one of those odd girls that studied technology in university. I could count the number of girls that studied with me on one hand. Throughout my years in uni, I was surrounded by boys. Then, I went on to start a career in the Hi-Tech industry. A

Mirror mirror on the wall, will I be able to see me at all? I discovered self-reflection as an adult. At first, I found it challenging to look at myself from the outside and apply critical thinking to my way of thinking, feeling and actions. It doesn’t come naturally to evaluate yourself as if you are looking at someone else. It is not easy to be completely truthful with yourself. It can get uncomfortable. You need to develop some distance from yourself, learn to let go of yo

As part of the Glittering Minds program for schools, a year 4 inquiry unit on - “Natural and Processed Materials”, turned into a Design Thinking project on “How might we design suitable school uniform?”. In Design Thinking, we spend most of our time understanding the problem. As Albert Einstein said – “If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.” So the students explored: ✅The pro

What impacts children mental health at school? In one of the schools we work with, year 3 and 4 students explored this question – “How might we create a positive and supportive learning environment at our school?” As part of their research, they interviewed their peers in order to understand the different perspectives on what a supportive ad positive learning environment is. They discovered there are three main areas impacting students mental health: · Feeling part of the sch

Do you know what is the purpose of schools in Australia? If you answered "No", you are not alone... All the parents I asked about it, had no clue. For me, this speaks volume. The purpose of schools should be written at the entrance to each and every school, for everyone to see. I went on a search to see if I can find a defined purpose for our schools. I have found interesting things... You can read all about it in this article I wrote. Since we are in dire need to define our

It is always important to hear from your stakeholders what is the impact of your innovative program on the users. We recently finished facilitating a HCD for kids fundamentals course with year 3 students. We interviewed the class teacher in order to understand what is the impact of this 4 weeks course. Let’s hear from Ashlee her observations on the impact of Glittering Minds HCD for kids fundamentals course on her students. #futurism #hcdforkids #innovation #humancentreddesig

How can we help children develop resilience? Life is not easy. We face setbacks and disappointments along our life journey. A key attribute for success is the ability to see these experiences as a way to learn and having confidence that you can make it. How do we help children develop this mindset and confidence? We recently ran our HCD fundamentals course for year 3 students. The input we got from their teacher was that before the course, the students’ reaction to criticism

At one of our Human Centred Design sessions this week with year 4, a student said “I told my parents I am learning Human Centred Design at school and told them what we do. They said it is wonderful and I should come to their work and teach Human Centred Design”. So great to have 9 years old teaching adults about Human Centred Design. #futurism #hcdforkids #innovation #humancentreddesign #futureofeducation #futureoflearning #school #education #glitteringminds #entrepreneurshi

In one of the Human Centred Design sessions we ran this week with a year 3 class, we talked about empathy. We started the discussion by asking – what is empathy? Some children didn’t know what it means. Some children said it has something to do with feelings. One of the children mentioned that the teacher once told them “Walk in someone else’s shoes”. This was a trigger to a whole new conversation as someone else respond to it by saying “But it can be difficult to do if the

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us, now is the time to prepare the next generation for the future. According to a report by The Committee for Economic Development of Australia, “Technology could make almost 40% of Australian jobs, including high skilled roles, redundant in 10-15 years” and “65% of children entering primary school today will work in completely new job types that don’t yet exist.” There is an urgent need to address the impact of new technologies on