The Life Design Lab

The Life Design Lab @ Morristown High School

What is it?

The Life Design Lab at MHS is a suite of 4 Honors-level electives that you can take during your time at the high school. Each elective focuses on the process of Design Thinking, a way of solving problems that utilizes a Human-Centered approach. Once the process is learned, we open the class up for students to delve deeply into passion projects and self-directed learning. At the end of the year, we present our work to the community during MHS Design Week.

There is no application process for the Lab. The only requirement is that you want to start directing your own learning, and develop your passions. However, the electives must be taken in order, and you have to start the program as a Freshman or Sophomore in order to enter into the full Lab. For incoming Freshmen, the course you will sign up for is “Introduction to Design Thinking” and it is located in the LDL, English, and STEM sections of the MHS Course Catalog. While the first class is open to all students, it will be a requirement for both the subsequent Life Design Lab courses and STEM Academy.

Is the Lab a good fit for me?

That depends. Are you independent? Do you wonder about things? Is there a project you’ve always wanted to do, but never had the time? Would you be interested in directing your own learning? If not, are you interested in learning how to do these things? If so, the Life Design Lab is the perfect place for you.

How do I find out more?

Our website has a ton of information and videos, you can access them through the “Departments” tab on the MHS website. You can also come to one of our Feedback Nights, where current students present their works-in-progress to members of the community. All of the upcoming dates for the Feedback Nights will be posted in the near future on the school website.

The Design Thinking Process

The Life Design Lab utilizes the Design Thinking Process developed by the Hasso Plattner School of Design (d.school) at Stanford University. The course delves into the various steps and teaches students how to use the process to solve almost any problem.

Mindfulness

A core value of the program is an emphasis on, and practice of, Mindfulness. Mindfulness is key to attending to the different aspects of the Design Thinking process, and we start this by providing guided Mindful Meditation practice to begin each session.