Hasta La Ideas

The fifth annual Better World by Design conference hit the ground running yesterday in Providence, RI. After coffee and breakfast in the RISD Museum Lobby, workshops and tours began immediately.

Despite stormy skies, energy was high in the Thinking Wrong about Neighborhoods workshop led by Marc O’Brien of Future. Flying through stacks of post-it notes, the various teams “thought wrong” about neighborhoods and came up with concepts that made absolutely no sense, as was the goal. Going way beyond any boundry of comfort, participants generated concepts ranging from treehouse forts for monkeys to pregnant ducks. Shirts were made at the end of the workshop, and proudly worn at the birthday party at the conclusion of the day.

Thinking Wrong about Neighborhoods workshop with Future Projects.

Kicking off the speaker session for the afternoon, Shula Ponet, a game designer at the Institute of Play/Quest to Learn, spoke on the power of games in educational settings. The Institute of Play takes a unique approach to K-12 education. Connecting teachers with game designers, the institute combines a school with an in-house design studio to work collaboratively on designing games and crafting experiences to engage students in learning.

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