The Why, How, and Findings from Teaching Innovation to Middle and High School Students
Abstract: Innovation has been labelled the currency of modern day society (Wright, 2012; Druker, 1985). Many efforts have been made to promote innovation in industry, and higher education. However, less has been done in K-12 education. In fact, innovation and creativity type courses are often replaced with additional core classes in a need to meet standardized testing requirements. This is further prolonging the issue of not fully preparing students for the future demands of the globally competitive workforce where innovation is highly valued. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reactions and abilities of middle and high school students before and after engaging them in a week-long innovation workshop. A pre post innovation assessment was administered, and fields notes were collected to determine the merit and value of this intervention.