Cooper Hewitt Launches Campaign to Take Design in the Classroom Program Nationwide

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum announced today a new campaign initiative to take its Design in the Classroom program, which introduces classes K–12 to design thinking and learning through interactive hands-on workshops, nationwide. Launched in 2011, the Design in the Classroom program has reached more than 80,000 students in the five boroughs of New York and in five other pilot cities across the United States.  ED by Ellen, the lifestyle brand of the television host and ED Creative Director, Ellen DeGeneres, matched contributions up to $100,000 at the 2015 National Design Awards Gala Oct. 15, and to date, more than $325,000 has been raised toward the museum’s $500,000 goal to launch the program nationwide.  The museum is now inviting the public to support the campaign through the crowdfunding platform Razoo at www.cooperhewitt.org/designclassroom.

“As the nation’s design museum, it is our mission to ensure every student is introduced to the power of design and understands how it can be used to solve everyday problems,” said Caroline Baumann, director of the museum. “We’re so pleased to have the commitment of Ellen DeGeneres, her brand ED and countless other friends in the design world.  Their support will enable us to bring this free program to schools across the country. We’re hopeful that with the public’s help we will reach and inspire even more of tomorrow’s designers.”

“This program encourages students to think like designers as they engage in the design process through active observation, critical discussion, the act of making, visual communication and presentation and critique,” said Caroline Payson, director of education. “It has been a longtime dream to bring the unique experience of Design in the Classroom to every student in America.”

Through Design Challenge kits, children are tasked to use common materials to build a prototype that solves a design problem and learn that design thinking can be used to solve problems faced in daily life. The 45-minute workshop instills creative confidence and encourages students to approach the world in a visual way. The program imparts essential 21st-century skills, such as critical thinking, visual literacy, teamwork and problem solving, and can be used to enhance the teaching of any subject matter, including mathematics, science, environmental studies, language arts, history and visual arts.

In year one, the museum’s educators will conduct four regional trainings, appoint select educators as regional ambassadors and conduct in-person follow-up visits to evaluate the integration of design into the curriculum.  The national objective for the program will be accomplished through a “teachers training teachers” model. With every 100 educators trained, the program could reach 7,500 students per year. If each of these educators went on to train 10 of their peers, that’s 1,000 educators per year and 75,000 students.

About Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Founded in 1897, Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. On Dec. 12, 2014, Cooper Hewitt opened in the renovated and restored Carnegie Mansion, which offers 60 percent more exhibition space to showcase one of the most diverse and comprehensive collections of design works in existence. Currently on view are 10 exhibitions and installations featuring more than 650 objects throughout four floors of the mansion, many of which draw from the museum’s permanent collection of more than 210,000 objects that span 30 centuries. For the first time in the museum’s history, the entire second floor is dedicated to showcasing the permanent collection through a variety of exhibitions. Visitors can experience a full range of new interactive capabilities, including the opportunity to explore the collection digitally on ultra-high-definition touch-screen tables, draw their own designs in the Immersion Room and solve real-world design problems in the Process Lab.

Cooper Hewitt is located at 2 East 91st St. at Fifth Avenue in New York City. Hours are Sunday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Public transit routes include the Lexington Avenue 4, 5 and 6 subways (86th or 96th Street stations) and the Fifth and Madison Avenue buses. Adult admission, $18; seniors, $12; students, $9. Cooper Hewitt members and children younger than age 18 are admitted free. Pay What You Wish every Saturday, 6 to 9 p.m. The museum is fully accessible.

For further information, call (212) 849-8400, visit Cooper Hewitt’s website at www.cooperhewitt.org and follow the museum on www.twitter.com/cooperhewitt, www.facebook.com/cooperhewitt and www.instagram.com/cooperhewitt.

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