ChangeMaker K-12: Empowering Teachers, to be Innovators

A program designed to prepare future teachers and K-12 students for a lifetime of innovation recently received a $572,890 boost from the National Science Foundation.

The ChangeMaker K-12 program, designed by faculty from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s College of Education & Human Development, received a second round of grant funding to expand the teacher prep program to other universities. The new partners are the University of Louisiana Monroe, Louisiana Tech University and the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

The project is led by Dr. Doug Williams (pictured), director of UL Lafayette’s Center for Innovative Learning and Assessment Technologies, along with Dr. Aimee Barber, Dr. Peter Sheppard, Dr. Micah Bruce-Davis, and Dr. Marietta Adams. It received initial NSF funding in 2020.

Co-investigators include Dr. 'Alohilani Okamura, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Dr. Sandy Watson, UL Monroe; and Diane Madden, Louisiana Tech.

The program focuses on equipping rising educators with skills to teach engineering and human-centered design to K-12 students, Williams said. 

“If you want to engage kids in innovation, you have to make sure that teachers have that skill set and passion to bring that into classrooms. The toolkit we’ve designed makes it easy for teachers to learn how to spark innovation among their students.”

The ChangeMaker K-12 program is divided into three stages: design awareness, design for function, and design with empathy. Each leads to the more complex process of creating change through design.

Williams said the program helps students slow down and notice the world around them, identify human-made systems, see and define opportunities for improvement, generate and test ideas, empathize with others, and effectively communicate ideas.

“There is no magic formula for solving problems, but there are many well-established tools, exercises, and processes students can use to innovate. Changemaker K-12 does the legwork for teachers by assembling effective, easy-to-implement lessons that will spark wonder in students,” Williams said, adding that the program can be integrated into any subject. 

Since its introduction, six cohorts of teacher candidates and more than 200 students in grades 1-5 have used ChangeMakers K-12.

The latest phase of the project uses artificial intelligence to enhance human teacher intelligence. By integrating AI into teacher training programs, the project is pioneering new methods to enhance the impact that teachers can have, Williams said.

For more information on the ChangeMaker K12 project, visit http://ChangeMakerK12.org.

See Dr. Williams' recent presentation on the ChangeMaker12 project.