Curriculum Spotlight: EdgeMakers

A design thinking and innovation curriculum perfect for expanded learning.

June 28, 2016

EdgeMakers is an innovative new curriculum resource that is well suited for summer learning programs and after school programs. Instead of remedial summer school, young people can build innovation and creative problem solving skills in a collaborative and hands on environment.

EdgeMakers includes five separate courses, each of which includes 25 lessons.
The five courses are:

  • Creativity and Innovation
  • Storytelling and Change making
  • Design Edge
  • Character and Collaboration
  • Entrepreneurship and Startups

Each lesson is 45-60 minutes and lends itself to an youth to adult ratio of 20:1 or less. With each course, the educator receives the curriculum teacher manual and student handbooks. Most lessons call for materials like sticky notes, chart paper, whiteboards, markers, and craft materials. So while there is an upfront cost for the curriculum, it can easily be repeated for multiple groups. EdgeMakers also provides teacher training and coaching. Typically training consists of two four hour sessions. Each course also includes pre-and-post surveys which can be a great asset for evaluation.

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The curriculum is highly adaptable and begins with a foundation course on creativity and innovation and continues with content in storytelling, design, character and collaboration, digital fluency, entrepreneurship and startups, and sustainability and innovation.

The EdgeMakers pedagogy is focused on the character strengths of an EdgeMakers student. The approach is inquiry-based because “EdgeMakers” are curious, inquisitive problem-finders. It is project-based and challenge-based because EdgeMakers are innovative and strategic. Each lesson involves working in a team, because Edgemakers are collaborative, empathetic, and need to be resilient. But EdgeMakers are also purposeful and seek to integrate diverse bodies of knowledge and experience, so the courses provide many opportunities for personal exploration and self-reflection.

EdgeMakers explore “epic questions” – those deeper, open-ended, often controversial, questions that cannot be easily answered. They see so-called “wicked problems” – complex and apparently insoluble challenges – as opportunities for creative change, and work collaboratively to tackle them.

Download the sample lesson or learn more about EdgeMakers at edgemakers.com.

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