Designathon workshops for environmental education

A solution by Designathon Works submitted to Educating pupils on climate change to become active and engaged citizens

The world in which children will live in as adults will be radically different, which calls for different sets of skills and attitudes. Current educational systems focus on knowledge transfer and insufficiently cultivate tech literacy & creativity. This is where Designathon method fills the gap, combining design thinking and maker movement, while children are working on real-life problems.

(Pitched: 15/04/2018)

One Page Summary

The Designathon Works foundation envisions a world where children are engaged and have the skills to co-design their future world. This vision is achieved by spreading a unique educational method which places the child at its heart and is based around design thinking and children's natural interest in technology, to teachers, schools and educational institutions worldwide.
There is a growing consensus that the world in which children will live in as adults will be radically different from that of today. This calls for different sets of skills and attitudes. Current educational systems focus on knowledge transfer for a bygone age and lack the know-how to cultivate technological literacy & creativity. This is where Designathon Works steps in to fill the gap with Designathon method which develops all competency-skills and character quality skills for children, called by the OECD, 21st century competencies. The Designathon method asks children to help shape a better world using technology, by finding solutions to real-world problems.

The Designathon method combines aspects of Design Thinking and Maker Education, both approaches which are gaining ground in education systems around the world. A designathon is a structured workshop in which children (ages 4-12 years) invent, build and present their self-devised solutions to a social or environmental issue around the Sustainable Development Goals.
A workshop lasts four to six hours and is facilitated by education professionals. The experience helps children become future ready through learning to design and use technology such as mini-motors and sensors. The method was first developed in the Netherlands and tested during the first Global Children’s Designathon in November 2014.
Designathon Works is now active in 18 cities worldwide, through the Global Children’s Designathon, in which 600 children took part in November 2017. In the Netherlands, the method is being implemented in 60 schools, 350 teachers have been trained and 5.100 children have participated in Designathon events.