Learning Outside the Classroom: The Medici Effect in Singapore

Frans Johansson is doing really well these days – “phenomenal” in fact, he says. When I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago he was headed to Singapore to launch a program to 60,000 Singaporean kids based on the concepts outlined in his wildly successful innovation book The Medici Effect.

Frans is a good friend of the BIF community. Many might remember his story from the BIF-2 Summit or his workshop “Diversity Drives Innovation.” His guiding philosophy is that innovation happens at the intersection where ideas from different fields and cultures meet and collide, “igniting an explosion of extraordinary new discoveries.” In The Medici Effect, he digs into how some of the world’s greatest innovators typically linger and learn at the intersections of diverse disciplines like biology, math, business, art, politics.

Since the publication of his book back in 2004, Johansson has traveled the globe, giving speeches and delivering corporate workshops. That travel has put him in the middle of a variety of intersections which is where he came to find himself one day at the offices of the Singaporean Minister of Education. Also in attendance were Singapore’s head of economic development and Lim Chin Wah, founder of Genesis Education Holdings, a cutting-edge educational services company. They wanted to talk about developing a new curriculum targeting junior high, high school and junior college students based on creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Fast-forward eighteen months and the Innovation Strategy curriculum was launched May 28th when Johansson gave the keynote address at the annual Teachers' Conference to over 2000 educators. Imagine instituting a program like that so quickly here in the states. Johansson says it’s a reflection of the Singaporean government’s commitment to infuse all aspects of society with creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Johansson partnered with Lim Chin Wah and Genesis Education and spent about six months breaking down the corporate teachings of The Medici Effect in order to rebuild them for school age kids. The end result: a 3-day program which takes kids out of the classroom and into the real world.

Johansson says the program gives kids the chance to think beyond standardized testing rituals – a path Singapore is trying to break away from. The Innovation Strategy curriculum offers an opportunity for students to both develop and execute new ideas by placing them in various "intersections" outside of school. It also gives them the chance to be curious and build intrigue, trust, and teamwork. Although experimentation rules, Johansson says it’s the kinetic element of the program that’s most critical: “In Singapore, they have a philosophy that you can improve learning if you move outside the walls of your classroom.”

What I find so compelling about this project, beyond the guiding philosophy of The Medici Effect, is both the stunning speed that it was introduced and that it’s not the first time Singapore has brought these new forms of curriculum into play Their entire educational foundation is based on experimentation. Johansson says that quick hit programs like this are introduced in the school system all the time. Some make it, some don’t. In the end, the most successful ones get integrated into all the schools.

Johansson is passionate about this new road he’s on. Reaching 60,000 kids during a school year can have massive impact. Already, he’s received eager calls from places like Mexico and India. So of course I had to ask him, what about the U.S.? “Frankly,” he said, “it’s more exciting when someone is actively pulling you in than trying to push in. And no one has asked me.”

The United States is the most innovative country in the world. I do believe that and so does Johansson. But it’s clear that our edge is shrinking and it’s shrinking fast. Time and again, Johansson says he’s experienced a raw hunger in some parts of the world for that innovation edge. Singapore sees it in places like neighboring Thailand and Malaysia. “Complacency is not an option for them” he said.

It shouldn’t be for us either.

Congratulations to Frans ~ we wish him success on this new endeavor.

Related BIF Content

• Watch Frans Johansson at the BIF-2 Summit
• Read my recap of Frans' workshop
• Watch Clay Christensen speak about education reform at the BIF-3 Summit
• Watch Dennis Littky at the BIF-1 summit. Dennis is one of the most successful school reformers in the country. His education model is based on the belief that schools must be personalized, educating every student equally, one student at a time.

Other Related Content

• BIF Research Advisor Clay Christensen's new book on education called Disrupting Class : How Disruptive Innovation Will Change How The World Learns was just published. This review by legendary education innovator Howard Gardner says it all: "After a barrage of business books that purport to ‘fix’ American education, at last a book that speaks thoughtfully and imaginatively about what genuinely individualized education can be like and how to bring it about.” Can't wait to get my hands on it.