NuVu brings creative education to students around the world. Our mission is to empower the next generation of young designers, entrepreneurs, makers and inventors who will impact their communities and world through their work and ideas.

We are more engaged when we are solving meaningful problems.

We should actively pursue new ideas and diverse perspectives.

Students thrive when they set their own personalized learning goals.

Collaboration is key to addressing complex challenges.

Our Core

Mission

Our Core

Beliefs

JOSELYN McDONALD

Innovation School

Partner School Network

؜Full time immersive studio school for 60 students/year

Empowers schools around the world to deliver innovative learning experiences

NuVu Innovation School

Cambridge, Massachusetts

7-12th Grade, Studio-based, Full-Time

Cyborg Enhancements

Deep Sea Robots

Musical Prosthetics

؜Intersection of Design Pedagogy, Creative Skills, Technology & Cutting Edge Topics

At the heart of NuVu’s curriculum are studios, a series of immersive activities that guide students through the creative design process. NuVu Studios provide semi-open ended challenges, allowing students to create innovative final projects with relevance to the real world.

What is a "STUDIO"?

NuVu's curriculum is studio-based. Our studios are interdisciplinary, project-oriented, collaborative, and follow the design process.

Studios

Studios involve real-world topics, and focus on both conceptual and technical skill development

Each Studio or Design Sprint follows the the steps of NuVu's Design Process:

Studio Attributes

Studio Attributes

Involves learning by doing and actively engages students in testing an idea, solving a problem, or making something

Studio Attributes

Students are interested in the topic and seek to explore its context and develop deeper understanding in the subject matter

Studio Attributes

Students feel a sense of value by seeing their work in their communities or larger world

Tiny House Architecture

Drawing Machines

Cyborg Enhancements

WorldCraft

؜Studios come in varying lengths of time, reflect important real-world issues, and prepare students for the future of work.

؜Studio Examples (15-50 hours)

؜Geometry /Art / Engineering/Physics/ Tech/ Fashion/Digital Fab/

؜Social Studies / Geometry/ Art & Design, / Urban Studies / Digital Fab

؜Geometry /Art / Engineering/Physics/ Tech/ Robotics /Digital Fab/

Design / Social Studies /Art / Design / Science Geometry / Math/ Engineering / Architecture

Throne for Two

Cultural Textiles

Copy Copy

Tales in the Shadow

؜Sprints Examples (2-6 hours)

Math / Geometry /Art / Engineering/Tech

؜Literature / Language Arts / Social Studies / Art & Design, /Science

؜Social Studies/ Math / Art / Anthropology/ Media Studies

Design / Social Studies/Art / Design / Geometry / Math/ Engineering

Shorter, faster-paced versions of Studios that are more guided and focused. Outcomes are generally paper and cardboard - we love!

Student Case Study

"For the first time, the focus was not on my dyslexia, but my creativity, problem solving ability, and most importantly, my ideas."

Student Transformation

Pierre

Through this transformational kind of learning, students find success and confidence while also creating impactful and personally meaningful work.

How can I adapt learning on Zoom to match my learning style?

Can we design and implement physical add-ons that break the monotony of virtual environments?

Pierre's Capstone

"Zoom Focus"

Today's Workflow

Schedule

؜8:15

Introduction

9-11:30

Design Sprint

11:30

Lunch

؜12:30

؜Documentation and Cleanup

؜1:00

Discussion + Reflection

2:00

Wrap-Up / Next Steps

Today's PD is focused on gaining familiarity with the NuVuX design pedagogy workflow.

Next session will focus on applying a hands-on design process to your own curriculum.

Warm Up!

Creative Uses Brainstorm

Grab a piece of paper and a pencil/marker.

Take this object and generate as many creative never-before-considered uses for it as possible in the next 3 minutes!

Your goal will be to generate as many ideas a possible.

Get in small groups and each share a couple of uniquely interesting/fun/exciting ideas you came up with.

Pick your favorite - it can be anyone's idea - and sketch it!

Creative Uses Brainstorm

Let's jump into today's Design Sprint!

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؜Post-Sprint Reflection

؜Take 5 minutes to reflect on the Design Sprint experience. Picture the beginning, middle and conclusion.

Write down short answers to the following questions:

1. What aspect of the design process was the most engaging for you?
2. What aspect of the design process was the most challenging for you?
3. What do you think will be the most engaging / challenging aspect of the design process for your students?
4. If you had support with the curriculum development, can you imagine doing this form of curriculum with your students?

Discussion

Post Sprint Reflection

1

؜2

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Student Work Showcase

Future Fashion

In this studio, students will imagine and shape the future by designing wearable technologies that merge creativity with historical and cultural inspiration. Through research, design thinking, and rapid prototyping, they will create futuristic, playful wearables for one part of the body. Drawing from ideas of intergalactic travel and speculative futures, students will explore how technology and fashion can come together to tell new stories about who we are and who we might become.

Emotion Mask

Health Wearable Devices

In this Studio, students will design and develop health-related wearable technology products focusing on physical wearable health interventions. Using innovative approaches, materials, and technologies, students will learn how to design wearable tech products that will augment and improve the capabilities of themselves or someone they know

Sound Glove

؜Pneumatic Push

Erosion Expedition

Given our school's erosion challenges, it's time to take action! In this studio, you are going to become engineers, designing erosion mitigation systems to test and deploy. Through research, sketching, modeling, and iterative testing, you will develop a system to help combat dangerous erosion. Ultimately, your class will build on everyone's best ideas and install a full-scale erosion mitigation system on campus.

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؜Hands-On Work Discussion

؜NuVu is dedicated to supporting hands-on learning. Questions to consider:

Hands-on Work Discussion

1. Do you think of hands-on projects as extra/ in addition to time spent building proficiency, or can it be a part of curricular learning goals?

1. Does a project always have to be a physical object? What counts as a project?

1. Do you think hands-on learning benefits some learners more than others, or do you think there is something universally impactful about this mode of learning?

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Next Session

Session 2 will focus on applying what we've learned in Session 1 to your own unique classroom experience. We will do a refresh of today!

Come with a curricular unit you're interested in adapting into a hands-on project. Bring the learning objectives, supporting research and possible project outcomes.

Next Session/ Session 2

3/24 8-2:30