INNOVATION GENERATION
INNOVATION LEARNING SUITE: MODEL i
MODEL EDUCATOR
The Henry Ford’s Model i innovation learning framework helps middle school teacher devise creativity roadmap Model i is the foundation of the Innovate Curriculum and the basis of learning experiences outlined and offered to teachers and students by The Henry Ford. Curated based on The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation, this unique framework provides an interdisciplinary language and approach to learning based on the habits and actions of innovators. When Spencer Kiper, a middle school teacher in Bossier City, Louisiana, traveled to Dearborn in 2018 to receive The Henry Ford’s 2017 Teacher Innovator Award, Model i might have been in its infancy, but Kiper was hooked and put it into action in his classroom. DESIGNED TO SPARK an innovative mindset, The Henry Ford’s Model i framework promotes something even more fundamental: a sense of what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. “Understanding the perspective of others, or the struggles or strifes of groups of people, that is something we don’t spend a great deal of time doing in education,” said Spencer Kiper, the 2019 Louisiana State Teacher of the Year and the 2017 The Henry Ford Teacher Innovator Award winner. “With Model i, this is the first thing you do. From the get-go, it inspires a very different kind of feel in the classroom.” Connecting schools to The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation, Model i intrigued Kiper when he was introduced to it during a trip to The Henry Ford to receive his Teacher Innovator Award. He’d been looking for ways to fuel designinspired thinking and problem-solving skills in his middle school STEM students — a framework that could generate fresh, insightful solutions and streamline coursework. At the time, Model i was in its early stages, much of its substance not yet finalized. That didn’t deter Kiper from dropping basic Model i concepts into his classroom. “One of the biggest hurdles I face as a teacher is overcoming that ‘I can’t do this because I’m not creative’ mentality,” said Kiper, who believes Model i is a roadmap back to creativity that hasn’t been nurtured over time. “By starting with small problems, you allow students to ease their toe back into being creative and see little wins, little successes. And then you introduce them to the big problems. That’s a pretty big dividend.” According to Phil Grumm, senior manager of learning services and on-site programs
at The Henry Ford, educators like Kiper have become pseudo co-authors of the ever-evolving framework. “When you put Model i into the hands of an expert teacher and superuser like Spencer, he finds his own connections and relevance, and deploys it in creative and innovative ways we never intended nor anticipated.” For Kiper and his students, Model i was a natural fit with STEM on Screen, a film festival/ mini invention convention Kiper had created to bring industry leaders to students to give real-world feedback on their world-enhancing innovations. It also found applications in his Campus 2 Campus Connection with Centenary College of Louisiana, which gave pre-med biology students the opportunity to strengthen empathy skills by mentoring Kiper’s STEM class. “Studying our artifacts and stories shows us that empathy is a critical habit for innovators to practice and develop to not only solve relevant problems but identify them in the first place,” said Grumm. Kiper likes to praise Model i’s focus on de-stigmatizing failure and why mistakes must be baked into every creative process. Embedding failure into learning also makes teachers better prepared to teach, which is why Kiper, who was recently named instructional technologist for Caddo Parish, Louisiana, readily employs Model i in his teacher education courses. “As an ideological concept, it can be placed in any sort of educational context and see success,” he said. “It’s a fun and engaging way of learning that’s going to stay with you for the long haul.” — SUSAN ZWEIG
To discover The Henry Ford’s innovation learning resources, including a free Model i primer, lesson plans, activities and worksheets, visit thf.org/education or thf.org/modeli.
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JUNE-DECEMBER 2020
DID YOU KNOW? / The Henry Ford is now offering several unique online learning experiences and resources as teachers and students adapt to more virtual learning environments during these challenging times. Read the story on Page 9 and visit thf.org for more information.