Twenty One Toys held a workshop at Engineers Without Borders Canada for their African Leadership Program: A forum of greater collaboration between Southern and Northern hemispheres for African Delegates from 4 countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Zambia and Malawi) to a leadership experience in Canada. Founder Ilana Ben-Ari presented her Connexions Toy for Empathy and Creative Dialogue and discussed why these skills are crucial for effective leadership and collaboration.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Facilitator Drew Dudley of Nuance Leadership Development:

“The toy provided a wonderful exploration of the nuances of communication—bringing out key insights into the commonalities and differences in communication styles that existed between engineers, administrators and students. It led to a rich discussion on how important dialogue, understanding and empathy are for effective collaboration, and provided a diverse group of participants (from Ghana, Malawi, Canada, France and beyond) with a common language to help explore cultural differences in communication, collaboration, and leadership. The toy became, for our participants, a workshop experience that helped them highlight issues they have struggled with in their own projects.”

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Engineers Without Borders Canada:

Engineers Without Borders Canada creates opportunities for rural Africans in Zambia, Malawi, Ghana and Burkina Faso to create positive change in their lives. They harness the skills and creativity of the Canadian engineering sector to find practical solutions to one of the world’s most urgent problems – extreme poverty. The Canadian branch of Engineers Without Borders also plays an active role in Canada’s Fair Trade community, promoting Fair Trade certified products and the broader principles of the movement.

They explain a number of their challenges on their website:

“Not enough of Africa’s or the world’s smartest and most well-trained people spend time on development. Those who do are rarely given the time, the space and the resources to imagine, develop and refine new ideas.”

In Africa, Engineers Without Borders is pioneering sophisticated responses to complex development challenges. Their volunteers work with overseas institutional partners – governments, development organizations and private enterprises – to identify practical and long-term solutions to poverty. By focusing on the needs of rural communities, they are improving access to clean water and critical infrastructure, increasing farmers’ yields, and supporting business opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Learn more about The African Leadership Program and follow their blog

Read about the Education Revolution: Mass Creativity and Play!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ableism month at The Grove

Twenty One Toys held a workshop at The Grove this January for Ableism week, defined as a form of discrimination or social prejudice against people with disabilities. Founder, Ilana Ben-Ari presented the CONNEXIONS toy to Kristina Katsoras’s grade 1 class about how she designed her toy for visually impaired children.

Their teacher Kristina explains:

“Ilana visited my Grade One class at The Grove community school. This was a part of our whole-school iniative on ableism (discrimination against those with disabilities). Ilana gave each child an opportunity to play with the toy that she designed. The kids were interested by what it must feel like not to be able to see. They were challenged by the task of communicating only verbally and “seeing” with their fingers only. It was amazing to see the kids learn by watching each other, they became better and better at playing as the day progressed. They also learned the importance of listening and asking the right questions!”

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Grove Community School:

A public alternative school within the Toronto District School Board offering arts-infused, holistic learning, built on the core values of social justice, environmentalism, and community activism.

The Grove Core Values

The Grove is a school committed to challenging individual and systemic biases that cause inequality, including racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism and other forms of discrimination. The school runs a number of programs that aim to educate their students (kindergarten – gr.6) about social issues in their communities. Just last December they ran Gender Splendor week; an annual event, involved in examining traditional gender roles and understanding the origins and impact of homophobia.

Learn more about The Grove Community School

Read about the Education Revolution: Mass Creativity and Play!!

This fall we worked with Raising the Village, a non-profit organization that provides critical infrastructure, tools and training to recovering villages in Uganda.

Founder Shawn Cheung and International Programs officer Krystal Muise were trained on the CONNEXIONS toy and brought it with them to the Grace Daycare and Orphanage in the Nanga village for their November program. They hoped that the children would “enjoy having time to play with toys as well as gain an understanding of how much work and effort goes into communicating… to get a sense for collaborative learning and how learning is best facilitated in environments when everyone is participating equally.”

The results, however, were not what we expected.

After their first workshop, we received this message from Shawn:

“Never played with toys in their entire lives”

We were expecting the unexpected, but it was very tough to bring in toys to a community that had never had toys. The basic concept of putting pieces together and building things that serve no practical purpose was one that was too foreign for the students.

Krystal explained that hard skills are learned early on. The children play with sticks and balls, and love make-believe and telling stories, but the idea of building physical things just to play with is unheard of.

She continues,

“What was even more challenging was the shyness of the children as well as the cultural barriers. Ugandan children are taught to be very submissive to authority and so are not brought up to give direction but rather to take direction. Because of this the children didn’t understand how to give direction to their peers.”

Shawn added another interesting observation.

After playing with the CONNEXIONS toy, which involves two students trying to re-create a puzzle while blindfolded, the students were comfortable with not completing the task correctly. Mistakes were okay and, as Krystal observed, they work very hard but understand that things don’t need to be perfect, nor can they be.

A learning opportunity for the organization

In the end, the toy proved to be more of a learning opportunity for the organization than the expected collaboration workshop for the students.

Krystal said that after the workshops they realized how their programming could improve in regards to how they train their staff, especially understanding the importance of breaking down the directions they give and ensuring that they give clear instructions. They also realized how much work needs to be done in raising the confidence of the children, especially the girls; who spoke very little while playing with the toy, and were most reluctant to ask questions.

To learn more about the incredible work that Raising The Village does, please visit their website at: http://www.raisingthevillage.org/

Art Science and the Brain: New Models of Learning for the 21st Century was held at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, Ontario on Monday, October 31 to Tuesday, November 1, 2011.

“The Conference featured some of the most innovative educational thinkers and entrepreneurs in Canada and the US; creating a space where art and science-based learning collided to produce new modes of collaborative thinking. Teachers, administrators and Ministry consultants joined educational entrepreneurs, education foundations and publishing companies to discuss how to re-imagine our education system for the 21st century.”

Dr. Mariale Hardiman discussing the key 21st Century Skills

INNOVATION, CREATIVITY, COLLABORATIVE LEARNING, & PROBLEM-SOLVING

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Mariale Hardiman, Johns Hopkins University

What Happens When Neuroscience and Education Collide?
Mariale Hardiman, Ed.D. is the Assistant Dean for Urban School Partnerships and Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at The Johns Hopkins University School of Education. She also led the School of Education as interim dean from January through September 2010. Her research and publications focus on enhancing educational practices through techniques that foster innovation and creative problem-solving for all students.

Below are a few photographs of her presentation (poorly taken on an iphone):

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Other presentations included:

Empathy as a Life Skill – Moderator: Dr. Howard Esbin, Founder, Heliotrope; Orlando Bowen Executive Director, One Voice One Team; Lorna Blumen, Co-creator, Girls Respect Groups; Taylor Gunn, Co-founder and Chief Election Officer of Student Vote; Nadir Shirazi, President, CEO & Founder, Multifacet Diversity Solutions Ltd

Mind the Imagination: Exploring Creativity in Depth – Dr. Austin Clarkson, Professor Emeritus, York University; Director, The Milkweed Collective, Pat McPhail, Assistant Director/Program Administrator, The Milkweed Collective

The Lost Art of Building Things – Moderator: Mohan Nadarajah, Founder & CEO, PlayLab; Jonathan Guberman, Co-founder, Site 3 coLaboratory; Chris Perivolaris, Teacher Advisor, East York Collegiate Robotics Team

How Do We Define Success? – Moderator: Annie Kidder, Executive Director, People for Education; Cécile Arsenault, ArtsSmarts PEI; Amy Coupal, Curriculum Services Canada; Dr. Edmond J. Dixon, Director, KEEN Differentiated Learning Group; Norman Rowen, Founder, Pathways to Education

To see more of the events we’ve attended, take a look at our EVENTS page

Twenty One Toys presented at this years International Startup Festival in Montreal, Quebec. “The International Startup Festival is a three-day conference (July 13th-15th, 2011) on the business of startups. It brings together industry veterans and fresh faces, thought leaders and technology giants from around the world, for a series of lean, fast-paced events. It includes startup launches, inspiring keynotes, and deep-dives into hot sectors like mobility, social networking, and gaming. A great mix of conference and fun for all involved”

We got a fantastic opportunity to present the CONNEXIONS toy for empathy and creative dialogue, AND we also got to tie up Phil Telio and Dave McClure (of 500 Startups) as a two-headed unicorn. They not only completed the puzzle correctly, they also accomplished it while drinking beer and finally ripping the shirt in two.

Take a look at some highlight photos:

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There is also a wonderful video of the entire day event
(you can see us presenting at the 00:38 mark)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Teaching at Shad Valley Carleton

We had an incredibly enriching time over in Europe, got involved in many interesting projects (will post about it more formally in the coming weeks) and we are now off on a summer adventure!! For the month of July both we will be working at Shad Valley at Carleton University. Mentoring and teaching the young “leaders of tomorrow” in a program devoted to the entrepreneurial spirit and introducing some of the top high school students across Canada to the exciting world of social innovation. While there we will be having a workshop with the Twonicorn toy and plan on learning just as much as we are teaching.

A bit more about Shad Valley (from their site)

“For 30 years, Shad Valley has provided over 11,000 students with some of the most challenge, fun and inspiration they’ve ever experienced… Shad Valley is a not-for-profit educational organization that is based upon the values of creativity, excellence, community, diversity, and responsibility. Participants are high potential senior high school students, selected for their remarkable academic capabilities, as well as their community involvement, and creativity.”

SAVE THE DATE

Just announced, Ilana Ben-Ari will be presenting at this years International Startup Fest in Montreal on July 14th.
(scroll and you’ll find her on the bottom row!! This one’s going to be a doozy…)

Startup Sauna in Helsinki

We are thrilled to announce that we are one of 16 teams (chosen from 200) who are participating in Startup Sauna; an intensive entrepreneurial program at the amazing Aalto Venture Garage in Helsinki, Finland!

The Startup Sauna is a leading entrepreneurial business development program in the Nordics, designed to support startups with the coaching of the region’s best entrepreneurs and investors.

The building is located next door to the incredible Aalto Design Factory; An interdisciplinary product design and learning hub. We got some great opportunities to work with them and take advantage of all of their wonderful whiteboard rooms and collaborative spaces.

At the end of the program we will be participating in a Demo Day showcasing not only our projects but also the other exciting teams at Startup Sauna. Feel free to join if you are anywhere near Helsinki! It’s June 17th at the Aalto Venture Garage!!

Check us out presenting!

Startup Sauna coaching

Aalto Venture Garage

Startup Sauna First Demo Day

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We have been feverishly busy over here in Europe, doing a lot of social-design goodness. In the meantime, take a look at this lovely video of the Alan Watts lecture on Music and Life. It’s a wonderful reminder to not miss the point of it all, and to remember to enjoy the journey.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are Going International!!

To expand our hearts and our minds we are getting some extra education and experience in the worlds of Social Design this spring!!

Participating in Aalto University’s International Design Business Management program; a joint teaching and research platform of the Aalto University School of Economics, the School of Art and Design and Science and the School of Science and Technology. The purpose of the IDBM program is to bring together experts from different fields within the concept of design business management and emphasize the importance of design among other fields such as technology.

We will also be participating in a placement at the award winning Design Against Crime Studio; a socially responsive, practice-led research centre located at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London. Their philosophy is linked to a practice-led socially responsive design research agenda that can be addressed by methodologies generated by “design for society”.


What an exciting Spring!! We will keep you updated with future and current projects.

See you all in June!!

Watch her talk on Toys as Tools for Communication and look out for our favourite part; when Alejandro accidentally picks up the remote instead of the toy while blindfolded!! Slides of the talk can also be found on SlideShare.

Click here to view the embedded video.

About TED

TED is a not-for-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and one of our favourites, Sir Ken Robinson.

TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of “ideas worth spreading,” TED has created TEDx. TEDx offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

From the TEDx meetup, held at Play Learn Think Tank headquarters

February 6th, 2011