Introduction to Youth and Social Innovation

“Every truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” - Arthur Shopenhauer

COURSE DESCRIPTION

What do we need to know in order to design effective youth programming and policies that promote the positive development of youth? Faculty members in the Curry School of Education have some answers. While many of us want to develop the next generation of social innovations that effectively address problems facing today’s youth, it is complicated work. As Malcolm Gladwell suggests in his book, Outliers, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in anything. This course will give you the tools and opportunity to practice navigating the complexity. The class is organized around three big questions:

• Big Question #1:

  • We’ll focus on foundational knowledge about youth development and the complex and interacting social, cultural, and institutional factors that impact the trajectory of youth outcomes.

     

• Big Question # 2: What strategies promote creative problem-solving and innovative solutions for youth programming?

  • We’ll focus on developing a practical understanding of what works in promoting change and why by spending the semester using design thinking to research and develop recommendations to enhance a social innovation for youth. This year’s design project will be Curry’s innovation lab, a recently dedicated space for Curry students and faculty, especially those in the Teacher Education program,to learn about and play with design and “making” as a venue for student learning in and out of the classroom. Building on your understanding of theory and research on the developmental needs of youth and best practices for meeting them, you’ll have the opportunity to work in teams to design what the lab should look like, what programming should be associated with it, and what kind of support and scaffolding would be needed to make it sustainable.

     

• Big Question # 3: How do social innovations in youth programming address youth challenges?

  • You’ll be introduced to the innovative programming, policy and evaluation research and development related to youth that is being done by Curry faculty and their colleagues. In other words, you’ll learn what works in youth programming and why. Specifically, you’ll learn what adult behaviors are related to youth engagement in the classroom, in after-school settings, and at home; what schools and communities can do to decrease peer bullying and the achievement gap; and how comprehensive and supportive youth programming, including mentoring, can mitigate youth’s involvement in risky behavior.