A curriculum for young designers (or, perhaps, just a misprint)

My daughter’s school recently sent home a “Curriculum for Kindergartners” pamphlet. In it, the usual curricular suspects were presented…Language Arts, Mathematics, Science. However, a few “Creative Thinking,” “Communication,” and “Research skills” learning objectives were also spelled out. Here are a few:

Creative Thinking

• Incorporate brainstorming and other idea-generating techniques to solve problems or create new products.
• Use analogies, illustrations and models to explain complex concepts.
• Tolerate ambiguity when solving problems.
• Recognize and assume risks as a necessary part of problem solving.

Communication skills

• Examine an issue from more than one point of view.
• Use a variety of visual techniques to create illustrations, models, charts, tables, and graphs as tools for communication.
• Respond to contributions of others, and argue persuasively to reinforce others’ good points.

Research Skills

• Formulate original and appropriate questions to test the limits of an existing body of knowledge.
• Gather, organize, analyze and synthesize data from multiple sources to support or disprove a hypothesis.
• Select appropriate research tools and methodologies (e.g. historical, descriptive, field, interview) to conduct scientific investigations

I thought the same exact thing.

Right….

Most adults I know can’t even do these things! Nonetheless, I find it hopeful that an environment for learning could exist that would provide my kindergartner a safe place to practice these skills. It paints a picture of a future I can feel good about. However, something tells me this was just some sort of misprint. But the kiddo surprises me all the time…if she starts asking neighbors to velcro-model ideas for a new TV remote, I’ll post pictures.