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When the school was created, a research and design studio known as Mission Lab was integrated into the design of the school by founding partner Institute of Play. The goal of Mission Lab is to help teachers teach the way they wish they could — the way they dream of engaging their students, were it not for the lack of support and other obstacles that often get in the way. Mission Lab supports teachers by pairing them with a game designer and a curriculum designer (staffed by the Institute of Play) who help make the teacher’s vision a reality, providing support throughout the process of design and implementation.

Teachers in their first year at the school have two weekly curriculum meetings built into their schedule, and meetings for returning teachers are scheduled on an as-needed basis, usually once a week.

he mission narrative, or context, is developed once the teacher, game designer, and curriculum designer have identified the big ideas, learning goals, and standards for the trimester.

how can spaces that have essentially been designed the same way for 100 years still serve the learning needs of our students in the 21st century?

When you stand in a classroom and look out at your students, what does the layout of that room say about the educational philosophy of your school?

Whatever technology you're placing into school, the physical learning environment should support the same pedagogical objectives that prompted the integration of the technology. Everything should work in unison to create an atmosphere that encourages and fosters 21st century learning objectives.

The Google model relies on rapid experimentation and data. The company constantly refines its search, advertising marketplace, e-mail and other services, depending on how people use its online offerings. It takes a bottom-up approach: customers are participants, essentially becoming partners in product design.

The Apple model is more edited, intuitive and top-down.

Steve Jobs had a standard answer: none. “It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want,” he would add.

knew that our buildings needed to move towards places where students learned to experiment and imagine INSTEAD of remaining places where students spend their days listening and memorizing.

Go and ask any high schooler taking AP classes how much "designing and creating" they do before their final exams.  Chances are, you'll hear a WHOLE lot more about the "memorizing and cramming."

If you REALLY want risk-taking teachers who spend their days showing kids how to design and create, then start DEMANDING that your elected officials -- who are the real power players in conversations about what's happening in our classrooms -- rethink what we're holding schools accountable for. 

The founders of the school say they want to promote work that is strange, impractical and magical. The school’s motto? “More poems less demos.”

“People are coming from a programming background, and thinking, how do I make art with these skills? Things that are whimsical? Dreams?” said Zach Lieberman, one of the school’s four founders and instructors, who has taught at the Parsons School of Design and like his collaborators, has one foot in the technology world and another in the art world.

The school’s first crop of students include both traditional programmers and designers, but also a beatboxer from Canada, and a Ph.D. candidate studying criminal justice who wants to use data visualization to highlight problems in the prison system, said Mr. Lieberman.