In a half-day visit to the partner business, students work with employee mentors to apply their inventive thinking skills in the business setting. Business mentors participate as judges, providing awards and recognition for student work. History FutureMakers is an interdisciplinary program pilot tested in a variety of traditional subject area classrooms including language arts, social studies, technology, science, special education, and talented and gifted. Over 600 teachers have completed FutureMakers training since 1989, reaching an estimated 14,000 students in Oregon and Washington. Implementation Proven training and materials are available for implementation of the FutureMakers program in any community.
Workshops are rapid paced with hands-on activities.
The workshop concludes with structured planning time, allowing teachers to prepare for classroom implementation. Teachers are encouraged to implement the program as interdisciplinary teams. Workshop facilitators include middle-school teachers who have themselves successfully implemented the FutureMakers program. The partnership with a local business is critical to the success of the FutureMakers experience. Partnerships allow students to apply reasoning and problem-solving skills acquired in school to problems in workplace settings.