LAUNCH

Genius Hour was inspired by Google's 20% Time. When Google first began, the company encouraged employees to take 20% of their work time to explore a passion project that related to something that "would benefit Google." Gmail, Google Maps, Google News, and Adsense came from this experience. The company 3M also used this idea in the 1950s and products like Post-It notes and masking tape were invented. The author, Daniel Pink, wrote about 20% Time in his book, "Drive" which made the process very famous. Daniel Pink encouraged schools to use the idea to motivate students to be creative. He believes that students are motivated by the freedom to make choices, the need for a complicated challenge and a real purpose. These ingredients are exactly what 20% time or Genius Hour promotes. Watch the video below to learn more.

Design Thinking or the Engineering Design Process was developed by Ideo - a design and innovation company in Silicon Valley. Their company designed the first mouse for Apple and has been involved with many, many other innovative products. David Kelly founded Ideo and developed the Design Thinking at the Stanford d.school (School of Innovation and Engineering).

The LAUNCH cycle was developed by two teachers (John Spencer and A.J. Juliani) to adapt Design Thinking for middle school students. We will be following this process as we go through the Genius Hour Project. Watch the video below to see how it works.

Teacher Resources for this Unit