Documentary film Extreme By Design to be screened at Hillview School on April 18

There will be a screening of Extreme By Design, a PBS film by Menlo Park-based Kikim Media and Hawkview Pictures, followed by a discussion on Thursday, April 18, staring at 6:45 pm and ending at 8:45 pm at the Hillview Performing Arts Center. Erik Burmeister, Hillview School principal, will give a keynote speech, “Blazing a New Trail: How Hillview is Using Design Thinking to Redesign School”.

Design thinking is about developing and using an innovator’s mindset — the habits of mind that help kids from Kindergarten to eighth grade embrace challenges and persevere with confidence. The Menlo Park City School District  is committed to Innovation as a Core Value, and wants kids to be inspired to make positive change in our community and in the world. So how do we encourage an innovator’s mindset in the classroom?

Erik Burmeister will share his vision for how Hillview is using design thinking to redesign school from the master schedule to instruction in the classroom. Ralph King, Jr., filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize nominee, will introduce the film. The hour-long documentary follows a band of Stanford students who design and build products to solve seemingly intractable problems for the world’s poor.

A panel discussion, composed of MPCSD elementary and middle school teachers, administrators, and parents, along with a graduate student and producer from the film, will follow to discuss ways our students are developing an innovator’s mindset and answer questions from the audience.

Space is limited. Organizers are encouraging registration, which is available online by by Friday, April 12.