ASK + ANSWER
Questions and Replies about Today’s Trends, Talk
ASK:
How is The Henry Ford making its collections relevant — and accessible — to educators and students everywhere?
ANSWER: For a decade, The Henry Ford has partnered with educators to pilot classroom resources and experiences centered around the concept of innovation. Through these collaborations with expert practitioners and students, we’ve observed a universal ability to innovate — but we’ve also observed some challenges. Research conducted by Harvard’s nonprofit Opportunity Insights, which uses data to analyze upward mobility in America, highlights these challenges and found that “there are great differences in innovation rates based on income, race and gender.” So how can The Henry Ford, an institution that houses 300 years of American innovation, use this knowledge and work to reduce this opportunity gap? One way is to expose students to stories of innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs. Our 26 million artifacts demonstrate that innovation exists in all subject areas, so to help educators make these interdisciplinary connections, we’ve developed the Model i framework. Its two frames, the Habits of an Innovator and Actions of Innovation, can be used to show the innovation journeys of figures like Rosa Parks and the Wright brothers. Students can also use the language to map their own innovation journeys. Educators can now easily access Model i — as well as articles, videos, lessons and workshops inspired by The Henry Ford’s stories of innovation — through inHub, an online platform and community. These resources, many of them free, are infinitely adaptable and help educators use the power of the past to instill innovative mindsets in their students. — PHIL GRUMM, SENIOR MANAGER, LEARNING SERVICES AND ON-SITE PROGRAMS
ONLINE Listen to the Digital Backpack podcast from Michigan Virtual called “Learning Like an Innovator with The Henry Ford” to learn more about Model i and inHub with Lucie Howell and Phil Grumm from The Henry Ford’s learning and engagement team at michiganvirtual.orgc
ILLUSTRATION BY JULIE FRIEDMAN/PHOTOS COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES, THE HENRY FORD, EE BERGER AND NICK HAGEN
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See Page 16 for more information on how to access The Henry Ford’s inHub community.
