Startland Education
Channeling empathy and keeping real-world learning at its core, Startland Education brings human-centered design thinking to the classroom in order to create a Kansas City community that values our youth and inspires them as future change leaders and entrepreneurs.
Humans at our core.
Startland Educations prides itself on keeping humans and our communities at the center of their work through human-centered design thinking. Design thinking is a transferable, problem-solving framework similar to and compatible with the engineering design process, but more interdisciplinary and broadly applicable.
Student Programming
Students are at the core of everything we do in education. Our programs give youth the opportunity to learn about and implement the design thinking process in their schooling and daily lives. Working beyond the traditional engineering framework, our process brings students through real-world learning scenarios and grounds students in human-centric behavior—ensuring students tap into their audiences empathically to create effective solutions and societal change.
“In 2020, Startland worked directly with 1,235 students and indirectly with an estimated 22K+ students through our educator partnerships.”
MECA
Created in September 2013, the first MECA Challenge was launched at Kansas City Kansas Community College after strong interest in holding a student innovation competition. The result was a 3-day competition where six different teams worked to solve six different startup problems. “MECA” stands for Most Entrepreneurial Community in America - which is inspired by one of the Kansas Chamber’s Big 5 initiatives to make KC America’s most entrepreneurial city.
Today, our MECAs take a few different formats based on our community partners’ needs, including one or several-day—in-person or virtual, private or citywide—innovation challenges and pitch competitions. The purpose of these challenges is to introduce youth to the entrepreneurial mindset and human-centered design thinking.
Social Change Internship
The Social Change Internship (SCI) is an immersive, virtual 8-week program that challenges students to inspire, encourage, and create social change. Working in teams, students are led through a deep dive in design thinking and work together to create viable solutions for various social issues, including but not limited to areas of public health, political issues, racial injustice, climate change, and education. We also believe these examples and stories of student-led learning serve as models for teachers to follow in the classroom.
Students often continue to pursue their ideas beyond completion of the internship - having held large-scale community events and even pushing legislative bills through their city’s council.
Are you an entrepreneur, small business owner, creative or innovator and ready to make a difference for younger generations? Inspire students from the Kansas City area by becoming a Startland Mentor!
Educator Programming
Educators are key in helping us achieve our mission for student success, and central to our theory of change and the way this movement scales. We believe that teachers are the gatekeepers in student experience. Our programs focus on experiential training in design thinking and tactical coaching, equipping and empowering educators as they design and implement authentic learning experiences for youth, as well as spearheading these initiatives in their contexts.
“In 2020, Startland trained 295 educators who instruct roughly 22,000 students annually.”
Burns & Mac Early Educator Fellowship
Startland is proud to be partnering with Burns & McDonnell to offer a new immersive professional development opportunity for K-6 educators.
The Burns & McDonnell Early Educator Fellowship is a two-semester program focused on human-centered design thinking. Through this fellowship, educators learn how to leverage design thinking for impactful project-based learning and how to infuse problem-solving across the curriculum.
MECA Methods
MECA Methods is a program for educators to explore the design thinking process so that they’re able to bring their students through similar learning experiences. After completing MECA Methods 1.0, we offer continued learning opportunities for educators by expanding on the process.
Educator Resource Library
Startland offers free videos, guides, and other resources for educators looking to immerse themselves in the design thinking process & commit to real-world learning in the classroom.