As the only girls' school based on Quaker values in the United States, Lincoln honors the value of each individual while centering the Quaker values of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship (SPICES).
Innovation Nation
Included in our Middle School Division, Grades 6-8
Each April, the entire Middle School participates in our annual Middle School Design Thinking program–Innovation Nation, a partnership with Bryant University. The Innovation Nation program is an immersive and dynamic Design Thinking experience for Middle School students and faculty mentors which includes:
- Workshops on the five phases of Design Thinking
- Application of the model to a complex problem (the “design challenge”)
- Off campus field research and interviews with experts
- Presentations of teams' final solutions and prototypes to our community
For three days we transform Middle School into a human-centered Design Lab where students are the innovators. We start with the idea that students, working together in teams, must “fail early to succeed sooner.” Students learn that effective leaders must be empathetic and integrative thinkers must have the ability to wrestle with multiple ideas.
Design Thinking for Middle School
Lincoln School has made a intentional commitment to teach Middle School students to become design thinkers.
Design Thinking is an approach to innovation and creative problem solving that enlists and promotes 21st century skills including collaboration, critical thinking, iteration, communication, empathy, digital literacy, and presenting–plus, it's just plain fun!
The Design Thinking process is especially important for Middle School students, as we emphasize brainstorming and creativity and combat notions of perfectionism throughout the exciting rapid prototyping design process.
Alumna Allison Butler '96
Lincoln School is very luck to have alumna Dr. Allison Butler ’96, Ph.D and Professor of Psychology at Bryant University, serving as our program director. Dr. Butler is certified in Design Thinking by IDEO at Stanford University and the Luma Institute of Design Thinking.
She spearheads Bryant University's Innovation and Design Experience for All (IDEA) Program and teaches innovation courses at Bryant. Bryant University students with extensive design thinking expertise are also on-site to work with and teach Lincoln students and faculty.
Women have been proportionally outnumbered by men in STEAM fields due to long-standing gender stereotypes and biases which lead to a dangerous lack of confidence in women's abilities. The program provides an entry point for young women to succeed in engineering, science, and mathematics-based fields.
- Allison Butler '93, Bryant University Professor and Innovation Nation Program Director