EDUCATION & DISCOVERY

“The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.”

- ALBERT EINSTEIN

For as long as I could remember, 'learning' was largely associated with answering questions rather than asking questions. This way of learning might've suited the industrial age, however, the future we are headed needs challenge and a lot more questioning to make the necessary changes for our society, economy and environment. This means we need to instill confidence and curiosity in the way we learn.

Based on research within a local Primary school in London, we found that learning was heavily based on school performance rather than individual students. Much of the school-wide testing was to meet the criteria of state standards, depriving teachers of the liberty to teach kids in the way they desired while confining students to a culture of 'right or wrong' rather than 'why' or 'why not.' To complement the existing national education curriculum in the UK, myself and three fellow service designers designed and delivered a summer programme dedicated to instilling Fearless Learning among kids, 9-12 years of age.

We called this programme, Project 42. Please take a look at our research reports that break down the development and impact of the week-long programme: Report Vol. 1 - Discovery & Define, Report Vol. 2 - Delivery

In this Project 42 video (pw: fearlesslearning), we celebrate the work of our project partners in helping us bring Project 42 Summer Edition to life. We believe that the success of Project 42 is based on the wonderful collaboration between teachers, parents and learners, grounded by our shared passion of Fearless Learning.

With the graduation of the first cohort, we draw a close to the Summer season but our work is not done. We’ve been working hard to fine tune our model with the aim of creating a format that could benefit more people in our community. We are currently working with a number of teachers in London to infuse Project 42 philosophy and methods into their classrooms.

Our end goal is to create a learning system that be used and enjoyed by all. As such, we are always looking for feedback and input from people around us. Please feedback to us at hello@proj42.com.

We hope you enjoy the video and that you will be inspired to bring Fearless Learning to your classrooms and homes.

Best regards,

Ed, Holly, Lynn and Niall