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Agency by Design

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Think. Question. Do.

Inside Agency by Design at Peck

Imagine a roadmap showing how children learn. Agency by Design (Abd) is that roadmap - both a research initiative and teaching framework that helps educators navigate this exciting terrain.
 
Initiated in 2012 at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, AbD fosters in children an innate sensitivity to design, and the ability to look closely at something, see how parts interconnect and relate to a whole, and better realize their own agency in taking responsibility for own learning and in shaping their own worlds.
 
The AbD framework is responsive and flexible; it encourages collaboration and community and helps students visualize connections and patterns. It speaks to young people’s innate curiosity about the world around them, providing ample room to ask why, to explore and tinker, see results, and go back again. To put it another way, the framework acts as a set of teaching “instructions” that can be used to get students of all ages to begin examining, questioning, and reasoning—no matter the age, or subject matter.

Bruce Schwartz, Director of the Osborn Idea and Design Lab

We emphasize the process over the product. We’re bringing to light the thinking patterns that are applicable equally in making a device, or breaking down a piece of music, or writing an essay. We want students to take the thinking and questioning mindset to every class, and outside of school.

Civilizations Underground

Physics? Give Me A Break!

List of 1 news stories.

  • Physics? Give Me A Break!

    At The Peck School, perseverance goes hand in hand with design thinking and student-centered learning. Nowhere is this more evident than in the annual bridge design and bridge-breaking unit of instruction in Tim Loveday’s Grade 8 physics class.
     
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THE PECK SCHOOL

247 South Street  |  Morristown, NJ  07960
973-539-8660
Northern New Jersey's timeless and transformative co-ed independent elementary and middle school education for grades K-8.

 

 
The Peck School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.