Links and Resources
People, Inspirers, Collaborators and Resources
Hidden Giants were an education consultancy agency, based in Glasgow, that collaborated with teachers, practitioners and policy makers.They supported school’s to re-imagine their curriculum by placing innovative, creative and critical thinking at its heart. Their partnerships could be seen as experiments to improve everyone’s experience of education. Hidden Giants was a lead partner in Stirling’s Creative Space. Hidden Giants unfortunately no longer exists as an organisation as their founder has moved on to giant things. However, Hidden Giants website is still there to inspire and we like to keep them here as they were such an important partner that kept us believing.
click on each name to visit their website
Led and created by the immensely inspiring Helena Good, this website provides you with ideas and resources created in collaboration with some of the major design and creativity organisations in Scotland and beyond including the LEGO Foundation, Daydream Believers resources put creativity at the heart of learning. They have created a bank of free online resources to help introduce up-to-date, relevant skills from the industry to young people aged 11+. Most of the activities are 50 minutes and vary from stand-alone activities to multi activities focusing on the development of essential skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. They are also piloting a new Creative Thinking Award which you can find out more about on their website.
Based in Gateshead, CCE are dedicated to transforming the learning experience of children and young people across the world to prepare them for the opportunities and careers of the 21st century. CCE offers programmes for children and young people, and for educators and practitioners, that place creativity at the heart of learning.
A festival created in Scotland to re-imagine education. A live event to celebrate and connect acts of creative bravery in education.
IVE was born inspired by radical new models of creative education, and was originally set up as a research and development organisation. IVE’s aim now is to build a creative nation that embraces change. They have two branches to their work; hothouse where they grow creative leaders, and studio which inspires Generation Z.
Sir Ken Robinson worked with governments, education systems, international agencies, global corporations and some of the world’s leading cultural organisations to unlock the creative energy of people and organisations. He is the most watched speaker in TED’s history. His 2006 talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity” has been viewed online over 60 million times and seen by an estimated 380 million people in 160 countries.
Pasi Sahlberg is a Finnish educator and author who has worked as schoolteacher, teacher educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland and has studied education systems, analysed education policies, and advised education reforms around the world. His book “Finnish Lessons 2.0: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland” won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for an idea that has potential to change the world.
Maker Education and Design Thinking
Makers Empire is designed to introduce 4-13 year old students to Design Thinking and engage them in STEM learning. What is design thinking? - A handy guide
Little Inventors is a creative education organisation that inspires imagination by taking children’s amazing ideas seriously. Their mission is to give children across the world the opportunity to develop and showcase their creativity and problem-solving skills, build their confidence, curiosity and resilience to become caring citizens of our planet.
Design Thinking for Educators is…a creative process that helps you design meaningful solutions in the classroom, at your school, and in your community. The toolkit on this website provides you with support to explore Design Thinking. This toolkit has been developed by IDEO who are an award-winning global design firm. They have been using similar processes, methods, and tools for years in tackling some dauntingly complex challenges.
John Spencer is a former school teacher and current college professor on a quest to transform schools into places of creativity and wonder. He wants to see teachers unleash the creative potential in all of their students so that children can be makers, designers, artists, and engineers. He explores research, interviews educators, deconstructs systems, and studies real-world examples of design thinking in action. He shares what he learns in books, blog posts, journal articles, free resources, animated videos, and podcasts.
Created by Mary Michel and Marian Brown, Ostrero works to grow the Circular Economy in Scotland through mindset change and education. They raise awareness of what the Circular Economy is and how it is vitally important to Scotland’s economic and environmental wellbeing through talks, workshops, consultancy and projects such as Yoyo Cups and Making Circles.