by Leah Buechley

In my career as a researcher and designer I’ve worked to nurture young people’s interests and passions by engaging them in playful creative projects that blend technology and art. I’ve developed tools that enable kids to make pop up books that sparkle and change shape, and clothing that sings. I’ve helped develop some of the first female-dominated computing and electronics communities. In all of this work, I’ve focused primarily on what young people do outside of school, guided by the belief that the things kids are most interested in and excited about shape their lives at least as much as the classes that they take. I’ve mostly evaded the political and economic complexity of the educational system, designing tools and activities that are used primarily at home or in after school programs.

I’m proud of the work that I’ve done, but as my own child approaches school age, the choice to avoid classrooms feels increasingly problematic. In beginning to look for schools for my son, I’m being confronted personally with the heartbreaking inequities and tensions that are built into the school system—the enormous disparities in resources available to different communities, the concentration of minority kids into low performing high poverty schools, and the uncomfortable choices faced by caring parents. Many of the most significant challenges society faces are rooted in our educational system. By avoiding classrooms, have I been sidestepping all of the hardest and most important problems? Have I made some of these problems worse?

In this talk, I’ll share some of my personal and professional angst about the state of education in our society. I’ll discuss recent research on inequalities in our school systems and ask you to help me grapple with difficult questions:

• Is our educational system an equalizing force, an engine of social mobility? And/or, is it a privilege multiplier?
• To what extent does it reproduce inequality and to what extent does it level the playing field?
• Do “learning innovations”—new technologies and approaches—usually exacerbate inequality? How can we guard against this?
• How can we ensure that schools connect to the interests, passions, communities and cultures of all kids?
• What can we do to better engage and support everyone? 

Respond to these questions and learn more at ExCITe's Learning Innovation Conversation with Leah Buechley on Tuesday, May 23 at 6pm at Mitchell Auditorium.

Leah Buechley is a designer, engineer, and educator whose work explores intersections and juxtapositions–of “high” and “low” technologies, new and ancient materials, and masculine and feminine making traditions. Her inventions include the LilyPad Arduino toolkit. Learn more about Leah.