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Dream Tank: More than a Tent Video
Innovative Cities – Kids and Teens address the SDG’s by unleashing their Dreams
When asked to work collaboratively with others to design an innovative world that addresses sustainable development challenges that our society faces today, you might be surprised to find out that few groups of people rise to the challenge quite like kids do.
During Dream Tank’s April Design World Workshop, we collaborated with the City of Boulder employees and their imaginative children with a goal to design and build an ideal future city. The catch? Kids are in charge. And this is where we see all the difference. By restricting adults from taking control of the situation, giving orders, or using discouraging language (what we call “Dream Crushing”), children were able to think innovatively and collaboratively in order to devise solutions to real world problems that are faced in society today.
Here’s how it all played out: children and adults were divided into eight teams and challenged to brainstorm ideas for the most innovative city that they could think of. In doing so, teammates kept the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in mind and centered a lot of their ideas around the SDGs they felt were most applicable to their new city. After brainstorming, teammates came together and shared their innovations with another and collaborated to form the most creative and clever city that they could think up. Next, the teams built their cities’ prototypes, which allowed for children and adults to craft and create. This encouraged teammates to build on their own ideas on a much deeper level and express their creativity much more thoroughly.
The most rewarding and inspiring time spent at the workshop was the pitch time. Each team took turns presenting their own perfect idea of an innovative city. Kids came up with ideas that I never would have even considered, including a solar-powered library with removable walls, a city that uses holograms as paper substitutes, and even anti-weapon sensored disco pants (it’s actually exactly what it sounds like). Kids in the audience asked thought-provoking questions about the ideas from the teams presenting. The event was inspiring and fulfilling beyond ways that I can explain!
A pair of Dream Makers show off their idea.
The Design World Workshop changed my perspective on the way environmental and social problems are handled in our world today. I am reminded by my experience with these kids that a child’s mind is a gift that we fail to utilize to the extent in which we should. I am thankful for moments in which children’s ideas are heard and acted on, and I dream for a future in which more people realize the importance of the voice of a child
A very special thanks to our wonderful facilitators: Maddy, Heidi, Ashley, Sharon and Andy, all of whom were instrumental in the workshop’s success. Another warm thanks to our partners: City of Boulder Innovation and Analytics Program, City of Boulder, City of Boulder HR and the Collaboratory — Thank you for supporting young innovators!
Author: Bailey Payne, CU Sophomore, Business Development Coordinator Fellow
Prototype to Pitch: Dream Tank’s One-Day-Workshop
April 14 was a day full of ambition, learning, and creativity at the Impact Hub. This was the One-Day-Workshop put on by DreamTank, where kids and adults alike spent the day crafting real life solutions to our world’s most relevant and prevalent problems. When the teams had their prototypes made, they were able to pitch their ideas to the public, allowing them to spread the word and gain feedback.
We started the day by getting to know each other and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: 17 disciplines to follow while advancing into new technologies and horizons. The teams chose to focus on gender equality, life below water and quality education. After generating ideas, everyone made a physical prototype as well as a business plan, including marketing strategy, materials, location, and all the logistical details. This allowed for the DreamMakers to bring reality to their amazing ideas.
The prototypes were very sophisticated and inventive! The group that concentrated on life below water made an attachment for boats and ships to clean up plastic while they are already cruising. This group thought through the details, like what if fish get stuck in the machine? They explained their sonar system that will scare away all the fish and a chemical receptor inside the machine to detect the fish inside.
Amalia was a Dream Maker that stood out to me. Besides raising her hand to answer every question we asked, she arrived to the workshop with a prototype already made. She started a business in which she makes custom stuffed animals and sells them, giving some of the profit to hospitals to cure, “cancer and malaria”. Amalia had received a scholarship to this event provided by one of our sponsors, and she was one of the most passionate kids I have ever met. This is the mindset we need in our youth to make real changes in the future.
Parents had lots of wonderful things to say about the workshop as well.
“When we walked out last Saturday she was filled with so much satisfaction with herself and her work. It was truly a wonderful experience for her as a creator and me as a Mom seeing my daughter shine and be so happy,” said one mother about her daughter.
Another parent spoke about the changes they saw in their son.
“This was only our first experience with this type of workshop, and when I asked him if he would like to do it again he said YES. I am sure this approach that you offer… of empowerment for our children and their ideas was inspiring for the children and the parents. In my parenting, I am very uplifting and encouraging of his input, but this was at another level.”
The kindness and support going around the room was incredible to witness. Adults were helping kids while allowing them to be leaders and find their own ideas, but the kids were really helping the adults as well. Another astonishing act that I noticed was how kids of all ages (from 6 to 15) were collaborating and treating each other as equals. There is nothing more dream crushing than being a kid, knowing your potential, and yet everyone talks down to you. Finally, within our staff we stepped in to help each other out, in addition to the assistance from the parents during set up and clean up. The positive environment made me leave feeling accomplished for myself and everyone around me.
-Madeline Paul, CU Senior, Dream Tank Event Planning Fellow
A HUGE thank you to all of our wonderful mentors, facilitators and partners: Joshua Sroge (Firestone CFO), Christina Szoke (Fathym), Praful Shah, Alexis Newton (UNA) and especially Emily Winslow and Dwayne Griffith as they really stepped in to help in a big way!
Little Einsteins
It is far too simple to make the stock claim that “children are the future” of the world. While this is not untrue, this is a dismissive statement— we wait for children to grow up before we, as “adults”, trust them enough to listen or allow them to enact any kind of change. However, the time for children’s voices to be heard and for their imaginations to be wielded is NOW. America is brimming with “lost Einsteins,” and we desperately need their help.
An article published in The Atlantic coins the phrase “lost Einsteins” to describe the unfortunate reality of children who were unable to live up to their potential simply as a matter of circumstance. Children from underprivileged backgrounds and neighborhoods in which they had none of the resources that a child in an upper middle class family would have easy access to are being left behind. Children are our greatest innovators. This inequity in their upbringing and the environment they have been forced to grow up in is limiting to their innovation. Inventors are much more likely to arise from high-income families than from low-income backgrounds. The Atlantic would even have us consider that this discrepancy has led to economic issues for the United States and all of its citizens, as the trajectory of innovation is on a tailspin downwards.
So take a second to imagine what it could be like to find our lost Einsteins, to give them all the right tools and a platform for their voice, to work towards narrowing the gaps of inequity from this generation forward, to provide nurturing mentorship, to trust in the power of imagination, and facilitate the endless possibilities posed by the new generation. What could we accomplish?
Dream Tank strives to undertake just that— and we would love it if you joined us on this incredible journey!
Dream Tank’s entrepreneurial accelerator programs can be designed for both kids and adults alike. Together, we will ignite ideas with social and environmental impact on the world. Dream Tank is working tirelessly to expand our franchise beyond the city of Boulder from coast to coast and even internationally! We want to empower children from all backgrounds and skill sets to dream, innovate, prototype, and launch their ideas into successes— not just the children from advantaged neighborhoods.
Here, we do not adhere to what society tells us we can and cannot do. Together, we can break through all Dream-Crushing barriers. Children have the inherent capacity to do anything, and these ingenious movements, products, and services will remain trapped inside their heads unless we give them opportunities like what Dream Tank can provide. Dreaming is for everyone, and we will continually venture to extend our resources and programming to as many children as we can worldwide.
So join us— if you dare to dream like a kid!
About the Author:
Pranathi is currently a sophomore at CU Boulder. She is majoring in Neuroscience and English with a focus in Creative Writing. She hopes to apply her love of the written word to her future career. You can probably find her petting a dog, typing away on a laptop or scribbling in a journal, and daydreaming about beautiful cities.
Reference:
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/12/innovation-income-chetty/547202/