Share this on

Teachers Learn Design in New Cooper-Hewitt Initiative

All lesson plans from the program are posted on Cooper-Hewitt's online Educator Resource Center.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 6/30/2008 12:00:00 AM

Teaching the teachers was the goal City of Neighborhoods, a professional development program concieved to help 4-12 teachers incorporate design instruction into their school curricula.

Sponsored by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and held in New Orleans from June 23-27, City of Neighborhoods brought together 30 educators from across the country in multiple disciplines for workshops featuring interactive activities, walking tours, lectures, and presentations. Participants learned about the design process in order to create classroom content that would help impart critical thinking, visual literacy, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

Presenters at the program included Fred Dust of design firm IDEO and Meredith Davis, director of the PhD program in design at North Carolina State University. All lesson plans are posted on Cooper-Hewitt's online Educator Resource Center.

The City of Neighborhoods program is part of a multi-year initiative intended to create a model of community-focused, project-based learning that can be replicated throughout the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Region. Organizers aim to foster civic engagement and apply design education in a neighborhood context by providing access to primary resources including architecture, streetscapes, and historic and cultural materials.