Educating generalists in a world that increasingly rewards specialists is a daunting prospect—especially when you're talking about American high school students following the Common Core curricum. So when I saw the announcement from the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum for a chair design competition, I dug in.

The announcement begins: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum announces the launch of Student Design Challenge #ThinkOutside, its first-ever nationwide competition for high school students, inviting them to submit ideas for an outdoor chair inspired by objects from the museum’s collection. Organized by Cooper Hewitt in collaboration with Target, the challenge’s winning chair design will be manufactured by the retailer for exclusive use in the museum’s recently redesigned Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden. The deadline for entries is Feb. 21.

The fast-track program will lead to the manufacture of a limited number of chairs designed by the winner, to be unveiled during National Design Week this fall. Once the designs are evaluated, the finalists will follow a rigorous set of stages for evaluation, prototyping, and review, which will take place through videoconferencing with Target designers, in March. Info

The finalists will then bring their designs before a panel of creative experts during a three-day workshop in April, in New York, with the winner announced on the final day. Info

In reading through the competition requirements, it quickly became evident that this is a model program based on professional practices—and designed with training teachers in mind as well as directing students. Teacher and student resources include study materials derived from the Cooper Hewitt collections; guidelines for design thinking and process; a lesson plan for teachers; peer review criteria; and more.

Among the design tips for students, these sang out: 
Encourage wild ideas
Defer judgment
Write everything down
Go for quantity [in terms of ideas and sketches]
Build to think
Fail early to succeed sooner
Don't fall in love with your ideas
More

Following this competition should be a fascinating prospect—it will be interesting to see the range and distribution of participating classroom. For more information about Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Education Programs, go here.

Photos, top: Chair designed by Tom Loeser, dated 1984, from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collections. Info  Below: Students exploring Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collections in the Immersion Room.