IdeaSquare Planet Development Workshop

At IdeaSquare, we think that current design practices are not going to be enough to help guide and prepare university students for facing and solving the complex challenges of tomorrow. We want to be at the frontline to tackle this gap - to do that we are looking to focus our work in developing a new methodological approach where students travel to an exoplanet and return to Earth, in order to practice systems thinking, order of magnitude calculations, and thinking beyond the status quo. Last week, we had the privilege of hosting the IdeaSquare Planet development workshop, where innovators, educators, and collaborators came together to co-design a new educational programme. During this workshop, we shared insights from our 2-week pilot programme, giving attendees a glimpse into what the future educational programme could look like. We embarked on a journey to co-create a prototype for a modular curriculum and a transition timeline toward a full-fledged program. The collaboration and energy in the room were truly inspiring. With each participant contributing their unique expertise and insights, we are closer to launching something that will guide students to design for thinking. With this new approach, we chose to use a science fiction narrative to allow students to rethink society from scratch, to rethink concepts without earthly boundaries, before coming back to Earth and adapting their learnings. Grounded in quantitative and qualitative analysis, the students will learn to think big, and then translate the knowledge acquired to real-world challenges, such as the Sustainable Development Goals