Students as Designers and Creative Intelligence

As teachers we are always trying to think of ways to engage students in the curriculum. Whether it's simple strategies to boost student participation or creating project based learning opportunities where students are asked to apply their knowledge to real-world problems, we as teachers want to empower our students with the ability to pursue and build upon their own knowledge and skills. When considering the idea of students as designers as a way to engage students in learning it becomes apparent that this is a shift from more traditional student and teacher roles in the classroom. With students as designers the narrative is flipped, so that it's teachers who are designing and facilitating experiences while students are able to hold the reigns and take the learning in the direction they wish. More and more research is being done that suggests that when we ask students to behave as designers we are supporting their development of skills that will best prepare them for the real world. When designing students are able to take greater levels of ownership of their work. They are frequently required to utilize research and collaborative skills when designing the products they are asked to create. 

When looking at Creative Intelligence and considering how Nussbaum would think of students as designers it's important to first look at the thesis of his book. Nussbaum asserts that everyone has the ability to be creative, that there are essential dimensions of creativity that we can all develop. This thinking aligns very well with the concept of students as designers. When we view everyone as having the potential to be creative yet lacking the motivation it is easy to see how education has the potential to play a role in helping students develop this view of themselves. If educators view students as designers they will be preparing educational experiences that allow students to develop many of the creative skills Nussbaum writes about in his book. For example 'pivoting' as a skill where companies or individuals are able to make changes when one idea they work on doesn't pan out. How often does this happen in the 'real world' and yet how often does it seem like education is solely focused on finding a 'correct' answer. If students are designers then they are likely going to have concepts or ideas that do not work. In teaching them that this type of failure is OK and that they can adapt and change their existing ideas we are better preparing them for life beyond school.