OUR CLIENTS
At Why Minded Learning Labs we coach our clients through the application of common sense Design Thinking processes and Lean Startup principles to help them discover new ways to improve their processes, organizations, and communities.
Williamsburg James-City County
Warhill High School in Williamsburg has been one of our early success stories due to an outstanding teacher who recognized the power of applying design thinking and lean processes to help his students learn more through authentic projects that have a real impact on society.
John Aughenbaugh has been teaching at Warhill High School in Williamsburg VA for the past eight years. John attributes most of his early success at Warhill to the incredible leadership of his Principal, Jeff Carroll, but recently John has started to discover a new source of inspiration and empowerment through design thinking. He has been working with a design thinking guru named Jon VanDeventer.
Derry School District, Hershey PA
Derry School District has been doing a number of innovative things for their students over the past several years. Their most recent initiative has sparked interest from well beyond the school system into the far reaches of the greater community of Hershey. Students from Hershey High School recently participated in a weekend "Innovative Design Ecosystem and Acceleration Sprint" (IDEAS) event that included 24 hours of intense work over a 3 day period.
Students at Hershey HS were focused on designing a challenge course that could be used for team-building events within the school system, as well as by local community members and clubs, such as youth groups, churches, and local businesses. Students worked in collaborative groups to develop elements of a challenge course that will be built on their school grounds throughout the fall of 2017.
Students learned about project design and management, including aspects of obtaining permits, evaluating and minimizing liability, and scheduling contractors. In addition, students learned concepts from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) while engaging their creative and critical thinking to overcome the challenges that they encountered during their IDEAS event.