Cathy Davidson has a great report from the recent “Designing Learning Futures” conference in LA, sponsored by the Digital Media and Learning Initiative of the MacArthur Foundation. Here is a sample to encourage you to read her whole piece:

There were thirty or thirty five students, from Renaissance Academy in East Los Angeles, and they were part of the Out the Window project. …. I kept hearing … “critical thinking” over and over, so I asked one of the young artists, “What do you mean by ‘critical thinking’?” She didn’t even pause, “It means being able to see where I am standing and also where you are. It means having enough knowledge and research and discipline not to over-react if you disagree with me or if you dislike me or disrespect me but to pause, and think about who you are, and then help bridge the gap between us.”

Here is a video about the Out of the Window project.