In addition to engaging Stanford students in exploring design opportunities in K-12 education, and offering professional learning experiences and resources to thousands of educators each year, the K12 Lab takes on design challenges. We look across the K-12 ecosystem for discrete opportunities where creative problem solving could help advance equity within education. Last year, we identified several areas that we wanted to investigate further. Through a year of research with graduate students, design sprints with students, parents, educators, and experts from the K-12 field and beyond, we emerged with three areas to focus on in the coming year: advancing ethics, equity, and digital agency through emerging technologies; reimagining school safety; and sharing insights from recent research on how people learn. This year we have hired three fellows who will help us advance our learning and action in these areas with expertise, perspective, and swag.

Without further adieu, let’s meet the 2019-2020 K12 Lab fellows:

Ariam Mogos

As a futurist fellow in the K12 Lab, Ariam designs prototypes with K-12 educators around how to engage, evaluate, and create with emerging technologies, grounded in ethics and digital agency. 

A constructivist educator passionate about computing, Ariam has worked at the intersection of learning, technology, equity and play in the United States, Asia, Africa and Europe. Prior to the d.school, she was the Learning Lead for UNICEF’s Office of Innovation, designing global learning platforms, programs, and models for UNICEF’s 190 country offices. Before joining UNICEF, she founded the School of Intercultural Computing, a global creative computing initiative which supports intercultural learning and living between communities in conflict. Ariam has also led strategy, research and design for learning technology initiatives of Asian Development Bank, the Kenyan government, the U. S. Department of State and Global Kids. 

Ariam is currently working with Laura McBain on developing resources around emerging tech and equity for K12 educators to play, create and learn with machine learning, blockchain, DNA data storage and synthetic biology. She especially enjoys working with young makers and facilitates creative learning experiences in local libraries and rec centers.

Click here to learn more about Ariam’s work with the K12 Lab.

Barry Svigals

Barry has always loved making things–from art and sculpture to tree houses in Vermont. He eventually made his way to architecture, founding his own firm Svigals + Partners in 1983. But he couldn’t leave behind his roots in sculpture and began integrating sculpture into architecture, starting with small gargoyles on his elementary schools and eventually creating sculpture to cover entire buildings. 

Parallel to his interest in the integration of art in architecture was his interest to include communities in the creation of both.  His firm developed multiple ways to open up creative avenues for people to bring to life environments which truly serve their needs, making with meaning.

He is happily returning to teaching and research at the d.school, something he did over a thirty year period at the Yale School of Architecture. He is currently collaborating with sam seidel to teach Safe by Design: From Fear to Joy in Learning Environments as part of his fellowship on Reimagining School Safety. His passion and expertise in this area grew from his community work designing schools, most importantly the new replacement in Newtown for the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Click here to learn more about Barry’s work with the K12 Lab.

Jess Brown

Jess is an organizer dedicated to creating education models where Black and brown learners can thrive–from cradle to grave.  As a K12 Design Fellow, Jess will be focusing on the intersections of learning, culture, and design. In the coming months, she will be co-creating tools and processes that foster relevant, deep educational experiences across learning environments.

Throughout her career, Jess has worked in coalition with communities to dismantle barriers and bend the future towards equity and liberation. She has facilitated courses and workshops in out-of-school contexts from summer camps to activist spaces. She has also co-created programs and organizations that build students’ capacity and hold institutions accountable to equity, student wellbeing, and systemic change. 

Jess joins the K12 Lab team from Providence, RI where her work centered racial justice, and human-centered research and participatory design in the K-12 ecosystem. Most recently, she served as an Experience Designer and Student Experience Lab Manager at the Business Innovation Factory. She also served on the Rhode Island Commission for National and Community Service, working with her fellow commissioners to amplify service opportunities and address inequities within the state. She is a singer, aspirational doodler, and pasta enthusiast.

Click here to learn more about Jess’s work with the K12 Lab.