STEAM Design Thinking and Innovation
In the fall of 2017, Evanston Township High School (ETHS) launched a new course for senior students, STEAM Design Thinking and Innovation. Our office has been facilitating connections to relevant Northwestern interdisciplinary programs that have served as inspiration for the course. The structure of the course maintains a team-oriented, whole-brain approach to real-world problem solving across STEAM disciplines, drawing from programs such as Design Thinking and Communication, Design Thinking and Doing, Big Data as Art and the MMM Program.
The course mirrors the trans-disciplinary approaches that are the cornerstone for innovative programs of study at Northwestern. In order to prepare the next generation of STEM professionals and critical thinkers, this shift in mindset and skillset is needed to start development in K-12 education. It is this mindset that the Partnership Office employed when co-designing and co-teaching the course. Northwestern students, faculty, and staff collaborate with the course in a variety of ways, as external reviewers, panelists, think tank participants, and content experts. The program is supported by a Northwestern alumni each year, serving as the Segal Innovation Fellow through the Center for Civic Engagement’s Public Interest Program.