It is interesting to me that so many words we use to describe the thinking and learning process have something to do with our visual/spatial capacities:

"I see", insight, envisioning possibilities, framing a point of view, grasping a concept, building comprehension, in-depth idea, supporting an argument,

Yet the thinking we do with our senses is so often left out of or discouraged in our schooling.

Design Revolution

Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, has this to say about the importance of design thinking:

"We are on the cusp of a design revolution in business. As a result today's business people don't need to understand designers better, they need to become designers."

I wonder, if the business world is recognizing design-thinking as a 21st century skill, why our schools are not doing the same?

Check out the link http://www.rotmandesignworks.ca/ to the Rotman School to explore what they are doing. It is very inspiring and exciting. While you are there, take a look at the Spring 2010 Magazine entitled "Artistry" http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/index.html. It has fascinating articles such as:

• "Aesthetic Intelligence: What Business Can Learn From the Arts" by Constance Goodwin and Rochelle Mucha
• "Beyond the Numbers: Building Your Qualitative Intelligence" by Roger Martin
• "The Development of Artistic Sensibilities" by Jane Fulton Suri and Michael Hendrix

and many other wonderful articles. There are two short video clips that are worth looking at as well (scroll down toward the bottom of the page and you will find the video clips)