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I used to teach middle school and middle schoolers are crazy.

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Like they have energy that is off the charts, they do and say the silliest things.

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They're very brave.

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They're independent, but they also need you.

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And they must just come up with the silliest, craziest, most interesting things, especially

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in design.

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I have one that I will never forget.

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Well, again, the listeners can't really tell this, but I have challenged hair follicles.

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I'm a little bit bald.

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And I can thank my genetics for that, but that's fine.

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I've embraced it.

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So one fine day in middle school in eighth grade, a student walked up to me with her iPad

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screen that was completely blank white.

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And said, "Mr. Reckle, do you know what this is?"

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I said, "It looks like a blank white iPad screen."

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And she pinched her fingers on the screen to zoom it back out.

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And what she had zoomed in on was the white shining glare off the bald spot of my head.

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And the cruelty is making you guess.

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Like, right?

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Right?

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Right?

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Right?

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I think that's one of the best things I love about me.

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Teaching middle schoolers.

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I've seen studies over the years like how many minutes of laughter adults have in their

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corporate world job?

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It's pretty low.

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How often they laugh at work.

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And I think there's hardly five minutes to go by here that I'm not laughing at something.

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It's great not having walls because Kurt gets to shout across the hall.

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Hey, come here.

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You got to hear this one.

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Welcome to Inside Hopkins.

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I am your host, Dr. Rhoda Murray-Purie Reed.

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Today, we are at North Middle School where we will be diving into the international baccalaureate

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design cycle, which allows students to tackle challenges through innovation, and

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innovation, and problem solving in a design course.

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Today I have with me three guests who will walk us through what this looks like in the

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classroom and implications throughout this amazing school that is North Middle School.

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Kurt Carlson has been a design teacher at North Middle School since 2018 where he plays

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a pivotal role in the International baccalaureate Middle Years program.

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He holds a Master's of Science in Geo Science.

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Wow, didn't know that.

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That's pretty cool.

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Welcome, Kurt.

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Thank you.

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Jeremy Reikl is a design teacher and instructional coach at North Middle School and a proud recipient

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of the prestigious Learning that Transfers Endorsement.

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That's really cool.

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This rigorous certification recognizes educators who excel in equipping students with adaptive

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and critical thinking skills to navigate a complex world.

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Welcome to Inside Hopkins, Jeremy.

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Thanks so much.

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Great to be here.

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Julius Aroma-Sally has been the principal at Hopkins North Middle School since 2020.

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He was also named the Middle School Principal of the Year in the Hanepen County Division

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by the Minnesota Association of Secondary Principles in 2023.

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Royal Aroma-Sally is returning to Inside Hopkins for the second time.

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Welcome back, Principal Aroma-Sally.

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Happy to be here.

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Well, let's start with a basic question.

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Can you help our listeners understand what is meant by design in the context of International

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baccalaureate, which we will hear on fourth call, IB?

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And what makes the design process so engaging for students?

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Let's start with you, Jeremy.

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Sure.

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So, in the middle years program of IB, there are eight subject areas that all students participate

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in and design as one of them.

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So design gets equal time as the core subjects and other elective courses.

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And because of that, we're able to offer a wide variety of experiences for students to

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use design thinking, creativity, collaboration, prototyping, as you mentioned, and experience

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all kinds of hands-on projects.

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You want to add to that, Kurt?

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Yeah, the first thing that comes in my mind is it's all about problem solving.

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So we give students some problems to solve that most eighth graders haven't thought about,

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so they just don't come into class, oh, I know the answer to that one.

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And like Jeremy mentioned, the depth of creativity and the uniqueness of the solutions that

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each student comes up with is, I think, one of the strongest parts of our curriculum

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and it's purposely designed to be like that.

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There isn't just one solution to problems.

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If we just take a step back, do students take design in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade?

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Correct.

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And it's a required class within international baccalaureate for MYP, which is middle years

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program.

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Is that correct?

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That's right.

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Okay.

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The MYP, compared to what some folks might be familiar with in IB in high school, known

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as the diploma program, is that the MYP is not an opt-in program.

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All students are participants in it when they attend the school.

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So all students experience the rigorous IB learning just by virtue of being a student

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at the school.

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There's no application process or joining or anything.

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Which is awesome, because then that means 100% of our students here at North and West

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Middle School are learning design, learning the design cycle and having that kind of thinking

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becoming part of their own way of learning.

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So Jeremy and Kurt, you're both science teachers and I'm curious how design class differs

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from maybe a more traditional class and also how does design connect to the science discipline

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designs?

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Sure.

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Yeah.

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In the MYP program at Hopkins North and West, we've designated sixth grade design as learning

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design, seventh grade design as digital design and eighth grade design as product design.

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So the connection between hands on work and project based learning and science really

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meets probably at the intersection of engineering and design thinking.

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Students are having to identify a problem, an idea, a way to make it function and then a

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way to improve it, right?

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Which is a natural engineering thinking process as well.

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The ways though that it differs is we do not have a set curriculum.

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We developed our own curriculum.

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Oh, you wrote all of the whole curriculum.

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We wrote the whole curriculum.

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The units.

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That's right.

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Okay.

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I'm probably using design thinking to do that.

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I imagine.

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But the unique thing about being able to write our own curriculum is that it becomes more

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about the skills that we teach and the process of learning and doing as opposed to any topical

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information that we really want students to memorize and walk away with.

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And what kind of projects do the students work on and how are they connected to the real

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world?

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Our first unit is about designing spaces.

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So students have to identify a space that they find themselves in and can think of an area

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of that space that doesn't work as well as they would like it to or they have an idea to

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make some kind of change in that space.

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They do everything from sketching to scale drawing and then making a scale model of that

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space as well, out of cardboard and hot glue.

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Our second unit is a big shift to more of a food based problem of developing an allergy

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and free granola bar, focusing on developing empathy for people in our community that have

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allergies.

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A lot of kids don't think of what goes into being mindful of they have a friend come over

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and they want to have a snack and they have an allergy.

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What does that mean for me providing a snack for you?

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So the conversations are great, especially when you bring in the empathy again about the

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reason why, but they can also bring in ingredients from home and make allergen free cookies, allergen

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free pancakes.

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So we utilize a culinary room and get the ovens going and they try different things as

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well if that's the way they want to go with their solution.

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That's cool.

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Then they go and work at general mills after that.

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That's right.

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Right.

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Food science is.

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Right.

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Yeah.

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So to our third unit we study about sustainable energy and have students designed for the environment.

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So they get an experience to learn about four different types of energy kits that we have

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when solar, geothermal and hydroelectric and trying to design the functional elements of

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those to maximize electricity output.

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We ask all students to do some 3D modeling and 3D printing to get a little exposure and

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experience with that.

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One of the cool things that Kurt and I probably could talk for hours about this unit though

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is that we go beyond just designing for the environment and the types of energy to bring

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in the idea of balance.

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We ask students to think about a United States state first and then transfer that learning

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to a country around the world, identifying how they generate their electricity currently

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and what types of energy would be good fits for those geographically, politically, economically

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in order to balance out their portfolio of sources of energy so that they can avoid

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any kind of energy crisis.

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We study the case in Texas where natural gas pipes froze and millions were without electricity.

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Finally on the unit there we bring in the concept of ideology and ask students to think

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about designing for electricity, balancing, politics, economics and geography and then

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thinking about the government.

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Would this type of energy actually get funded in the place you're proposing it for?

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So it's a really comprehensive unit that has real world connections all over it that

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students probably can see in headlines if they were to open any new source.

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That's really fascinating.

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And developing the global mindedness that's a strong part of the IB philosophy along that

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way.

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And then just very briefly the fourth unit.

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So we have a fourth unit that has really evolved since the beginning of the course.

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We used to study about prosthetics and we've evolved that unit more into being about ergonomics.

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So students study designing for humans through the lens of making some product more ergonomic

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and they prototype that out and get to explain how it's going to affect a person who would

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use it and benefit them.

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Okay, that's really awesome.

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So Julius, from your perspective as a school leader, can you talk about how you have seen

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design classes help prepare students for their futures both academically and maybe socially

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or emotionally?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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When I arrived at North, I always did observations or observed students in the classroom.

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It changes when you're in a design classroom.

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Like you cannot bring your typical thinking into a design classroom or what you expect

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students to behave or act like into a design classroom when you're observing them.

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It abobly you for a second because you know, you want to tell kids sit down and stop talking

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so loud.

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And why are you four gathered over there in the corner next to the water thing?

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I may or may not have substituted for Mr. Carlson one day and experience the same thing.

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I was like, I fell like saying sit on him.

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Be quiet.

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But then I was like, Oh, this is design.

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They're supposed to move around exactly.

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So you see kids walking over to other groups to see, okay, how you guys approaching this,

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we're kind of stuck.

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And it's not a competition.

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It's just a matter of we have a problem to solve.

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We've all decided we're going to take different paths to it.

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But the path you're taking may assist the path I've chosen.

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And that's a beautiful thing.

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And so as a leader, it's really helped me evolve how I see our teachers.

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It's okay for those kids who may feel awkward in other spaces.

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This is the space where they get to shine.

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And they get to talk to kids.

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They may not talk to because as we mentioned at the beginning of the episode, every kid at

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North has to take this class.

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So it's not a set aside for just the special kids.

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Every single kid will come through these classrooms and experience the same problems that

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hurt Jeremy asking them to learn to do.

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That's the beauty of it, right?

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We talk about the granola, the ergonomic designs.

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That's all about human existence and living and how do we live in a and creating a world

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that is more conducive to us as human beings.

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And we're asking kids to do that in middle school.

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That's impressive.

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And just I wanted to build a little bit on Julius was saying about kind of the atmosphere

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of a design class.

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I know our listeners can't see this.

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But we're in a pretty large space that doesn't have walls really.

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It's pretty wide open.

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And I know when our counselors are giving school tours to prospective families, they insist

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on coming down to our design wing here to see it.

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And parents and students who might be coming to North in the future are pretty wowed as they

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walk by a large classroom with a large window and a workspace out in the hallway and collaborative

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TV screens up on the wall and 3D printers on shelves and two classrooms that have large

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exposed open walls to the hallway.

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Students can cross from one classroom to the other to go work with other students in a different

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class very easily.

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And we often do that.

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We have materials set up kind of out in the hallway as an extension of our learning space.

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We spread out.

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We make things.

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We need space.

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So do you have to make sure there's vertical articulation because you talked about sixth

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grade is learning design, seventh is digital and then this year is product design.

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So how are those thematically or conceptually connected across the three grade levels?

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The main thing that connects all of them is the design cycle.

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So all students in every unit grade sixth, seventh and eighth are focused on solving the

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problem.

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Whatever that is through the design cycle.

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After that, then teachers select a wide variety of concepts that are different over the three

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years.

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And students really by the time they get to eighth grade, they know what the design cycle

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is and they know what this process is.

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And we just kind of remind them at the beginning of the year and we start making stuff.

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And is the design cycle similar to or aligned with human centered design?

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I think that's the process that comes out of Stanford.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I think Stanford's process is five steps, ours is four.

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But yeah, it's very, very closely aligned.

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Through the sixth, seventh, eighth grade experience, we teach students those skills of problem

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identification, brainstorming, creating and refining at higher and higher levels as they

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grow.

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Right?

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We ask them to think deeper and with more connections each year.

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We're going to take a quick break.

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We'll be right back.

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Join us for candid conversation, listening and learning.

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Soup with the soup is sure to be informative while enjoying delicious soups crafted by our

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own chefs.

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Get to know Hopkins superintendents, Dr. Rhoda Miripiri read and other parents and community

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members.

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Come for the soup, stay for the conversation and live with a sense of community and new

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learning.

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February 25, March 14, March 25, April 8, April 24, May 9, May 20, and June 24.

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Each session will be held from 12 to 1 pm at Eisenhower Community Center.

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We can't wait to see you.

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So in Hopkins, we are teaching and learning department is working with teachers and principals

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and instructional coaches to build our own Hopkins learning framework, right?

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So that we can be very explicit and intentional about what student-centered learning looks

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like, what student-centered assessment looks like, how to personalize learning, what are

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the best approaches to engage in, I think, facilitating active learning with students, right?

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That could be a whole nother episode.

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That could be a whole nother episode, right?

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Well, and I think the question is around the benefits that we've experienced from intentionally

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aligning the Hopkins learning framework with international baccalaureate, right?

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Because we are an IB district, our middle schools have been IB for quite some time now,

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and we want to be aligned across our entire system, whether or not all of our schools are

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IB or not, right?

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So I guess I wanted to hear your thoughts about how design really does elevate or create

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the conditions for the student-centered personalized learning that is such a cornerstone in our Hopkins

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learning framework.

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It's like a question tailored to all the books on my shelf back there, right?

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Right.

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And you have a lot of books back there, Kierimey.

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Hey, Reads, everything I want.

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That is awesome.

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The uniqueness of IB really is that it's a holistic program.

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It is not only student-centered education, it's whole education.

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It takes into account all facets of growing and developing good humans, right?

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It's not a curriculum.

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It's a framework of pedagogical thinking.

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It's a framework of developing educational experiences.

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It doesn't tell us what we have to teach.

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Tell us how to teach, right?

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And so in addition to the eight subject areas topical learning that students will learn

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about, it includes things like character traits that we emphasize and develop, such as

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being open-minded, being empathetic, caring, being risk-takers.

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It emphasizes skill development through what are called approaches to learning.

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So we have skills such as critical and creative and transfer thinking, communication, effective

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skills such as organization and self-management.

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All of those character traits and skills and subject area knowledge in classes, all elements

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of IB have a spectrum of growth through descriptive benchmarks that we ask students to meet.

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Probably in sixth grade, you're beginning at this point and here's where we ask you to

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grow to.

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By seventh grade, the description has evolved a little bit to what we want you to grow to.

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By eighth grade, it's even more holistic and rigorous to achieve to.

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So the idea of a more traditional model of education, now that I've experienced IB for

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so long, really leaves out all those important elements unless you take the incredible amount

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of time to develop those spectrum of growth, right, for every element of the child.

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So IB is so rich and full and holistic in that way that even if I were to teach in a school

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as not an IB school, I couldn't imagine teaching without all those elements I've just described.

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Well in Hopkins, we talk a lot about preparing students for a WUCA world, a world that is increasingly

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volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

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When you look into the future of our world and what our world will call for or demand of

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our students, what jobs or predicaments or problems do you think this design course or

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the series of design courses here at North and at West will prepare our students to be

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able to tackle?

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What comes to mind when we're thinking about what our students will be doing in 10 years?

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Yeah, it's impossible to know.

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So I feel very comfortable in leaning heavily into the ability to solve problems.

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Be a flexible thinker, a collaborator, a communicator that can really adapt to any job, any

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situation, there's always going to be problems to solve no matter what job you do, what role,

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students find themselves in as they become adults.

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There will always be complex things to figure out.

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And I think the experience of having design and the systematic way to solve a problem as

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a habit of mind from six through eighth grade isn't something you just go to ninth grade

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and just oh, I totally forgot about that.

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It becomes a habit of mind.

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So I think that is incredibly powerful to prepare students for the world.

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We have no idea what's going to look like in five years, let alone 10 years.

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It's going to be those skills that they lean back on.

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The one thing I was going to add to that is, you know, just, you know, you touched on it

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Kurt, as kids will need to know how to need each other and how to support each other

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and work in community by the nature of who we are as human beings.

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We are meant to be together, right?

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And we are meant to solve problems together.

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And this is, that's what design does, right?

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Like when I talked about being in the space, observing kids, just kind of doing things together.

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And so no matter what that problem will be in five, 10, 15 years, they're going to figure

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it out together.

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We're not going to need each other less.

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We're going to need each other more if anything.

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And I think, you know, I be designed, support all of that and just always keeping our humanity

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at the center of the table and going.

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We can do all of the things we need to do, but we never take that piece off the table, no

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matter what.

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And the togetherness is not just the moral support, but I think the way our different brains

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think and problem solve and add value to other people's perspectives.

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I feel like that's one element that students are learning in design is to value other people's

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way of thinking and problem solving.

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Right.

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Yeah, experience other perspectives grow from and with each other, right?

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And I think I hope to the question that students are ready for any kind of job they would want

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to take on.

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Because we not only taught them information, but we taught them thinking skills, character,

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all sorts of facets of human development.

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And can I just do one quick shout out last spring, Jeremy ran a win session, which is

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like a special session in the morning that alternates with our advisories where kids got

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to learn how to work with small engines.

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Oh, yes.

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And the kids and so us adults that work here got to bring in our lawnmowers in.

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And they changed the oils in our lawnmower and sharpened the blades.

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Like needed to say it every time I got done mowing the lawn this summer, I was like, look

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at this, look at this work.

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Only because I actually are blades.

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So we had 11 different teachers take us up on it.

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It was great.

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That is very cool.

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Yeah.

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Some some of us all over the city.

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Oh my gosh.

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Some folks need to sharpen their blades more often.

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I'm going to say it.

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Right.

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Well, on that fun note, Kurt Carlson, Jeremy Rikle and principal Julius Aroma Sully,

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it's been really, really great to dive into the design cycle with all three of you.

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Thanks so much for being guests on Inside Hopkins.

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You're welcome.

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Appreciate it.

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I appreciate it.

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[Music]

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