Brandeis Hillel Day School (BHDS) is renowned for its pluralistic approach to serving the educational needs of the Bay Area’s diverse and forward-thinking community. Through its adaptability in meeting the changing needs of students, BHDS provides an exceptional education grounded in Jewish values and traditions.
BHDS prepares students to be innovative and fearless problem solvers by promoting divergent thinking through a Stanford-based methodology known as design thinking.
“Design thinking challenges BHDS students to consider both creative and analytical solutions to problems in an environment that embraces experimentation,” explained Doron Neuburger, Judaic Studies teacher at BHDS, San Francisco Campus. Empathy, observation and open-mindedness are key competencies that BHDS students employ when using design-thinking strategies.
This notion of enhancing students’ problem-solving and critical-thinking skills can be applied to core values of Judaism and BHDS’ core value of tikkun olam (repairing the world). “The practice of tikkun olam at BHDS focuses on repairing the world by addressing social injustice in clear, concrete ways, and by finding solutions to complex problems,” said Beverly Pinto, Judaic Studies teacher at BHDS, Marin Campus.
BHDS, in partnership with Lime Design founder Dr. Maureen Carroll, a consultancy group that catalyzes sustainable cultures of innovation in educational settings, is developing its design-thinking initiative to effect change in our educational ecosystem.
BHDS leverages the use of technology in its classrooms to support design thinking by providing the necessary tools to produce/design prototypes, create diagrams, record results from experiments and perform specific research. BHDS further promotes collaboration among students through their use of computers, tablets and interactive smart boards.
As a leading academic institution built upon on Jewish values, BHDS provides an ideal environment in which to develop fluid and responsive thinkers who can innovate, create and act as empowered change agents prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. n