Mindy Ahrens

Mindy has designed meaningful and relevant learning experiences with students in elementary and middle school grades for the past 20 years. She has a passion for blending Design Thinking, Personalization, and Project Based Learning together to create hands-on, engaging projects that connect students to the world outside the classroom. She studied Project Based Learning techniques in depth and earned a M.Ed. degree in teacher leadership from the High Tech High charter school organization. This is where she first became interested in the Design Thinking method and began to focus her teaching on the 21st century skills of communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. She is currently part of the founding staff of an innovative K-8 public school in San Diego, Design39Campus, where she and her students often participate in Maker Faires, learning conferences, and public exhibitions to share their work and educational philosophy with the world.