We are Blue Dot Education

Blue Dot Education is a San Diego based non profit. Our mission is to do human centered work in education in an effort to create a better and more equitable space for all.

Our Work

Today's students are information rich and experience poor. We provide educational experiences for students so they can make connections between themselves and the world,

bringing meaning and context to their learning.

Our current focus involves a two-rpong approach. One is to provide resources that enable young folks and educators to pursue meaningful learning experiences. The second is to spark discourse and change by creating an example to the world of what learners are capable of when given a personalized and creative space to grow.

The Larger Picture

We believe that a more equitable space for all in education is a move towards decentralized learning. Below, we outline three programs we've designed to achieve this.

1 In our Coaching and Pedagogy Accelerator programs, we demonstrate, offer, or help teachers create educational experiences that provide a framework for pedagogical development. By infusing new approaches into existing practices, we can immediately begin supporting teachers and schools in their service to students and the community.

2 To work towards building a culture of learning beyond schools, our Blue Dot Scholars program provides resources and funding to support teachers, students, and learners in crafting and pursuing their own learning experiences. It is our intention to share the learning happening through this program to help decentralize education, build community, and inspire others to engage in their learning.

3 In our Research and Development program, we continually explore, research and generate opportunities for learning and human development. Through this work, we actively connect with individuals and organizations in the field to create a community fosters the emergence of new educational experiences.

Our History

The Beginnings

In the Spring of 2015, Blue Dot Education incorporated as a nonprofit in San Diego, CA with a mission to do science and science education in the community. Blue Dot Education is the result of many years of tinkering and experimentation in the classroom by founders Andrew Lerario and Brian Delgado. Working along parallel, but distinctly separate tracks, Lerario and Delgado both began to see vastly improved levels of engagement and interest in the sciences among students who were given the chance to ask and explore the very biggest questions - Who are we? Where do we come from? Where did our universe begin and where is it going? What are the biggest issues facing us globally and locally, and how might we address them? These big picture questions naturally led into an exploration of physics, astrophysics, rocket science, astronomy, and space science. The synthesis of work in these fields, along with a push toward outdoor and adventure pursuits as an access point, solidified the Blue Dot ethos of an exploration of the sciences through outdoor, eco-adventure pursuits. As these ideas were percolating in the classrooms of Delgado and Lerario, Lee Newlin, a business guru and science enthusiast operating out of Las Vegas, NV, caught wind of their work happening in San Diego, and realized it had the potential to reshape lives while doing the work of educating the young in STEM early on. Newlin encouraged Delgado and Lerario to take these projects happening in San Diego’s High Tech High and form a non-profit that could support their work in the school and also reach a greater number of people throughout the region. Blue Dot Education was born.

An Arrived Vision

Soon after we were founded, brilliant and talented educators, Adam Borek, Mike Strong, and Wes Davis joined to help build Blue Dot Education. As we continued to work with young people and develop our programs, the potential for this work became increasingly clear. We noticed our projects were engaging for more students than merely those who did well in school or liked science. Students who previously disengaged from their learning were thriving. We were disrupted in our practice as educators, not because we theorized some new pedagogical approach, but because we could not unsee the capability of students once they owned an opportunity to learn and created something beautiful. We realized that educational experiences such as these, that increase inclusivity and paths for success, provide an opportunity to access a wealth of untapped intellectual capital. We believe that when the world sees the amazing things kids can create, they will not be able to ignore it, and the implications for science, art, technology, innovation and social progress can only be imagined. We will continue to do educational work that builds culture, community, and equity, and share it with the world as we progress towards an exciting and more inclusive future.

"Blue Dot"

Our logo is a rendition of the famous Pale Blue Dot image of Earth captured by the Voyager 1 probe as it reached a distance of nearly 6 billion kilometers. In the original image, the three colored lines are bands of scattered light and the Earth is a small tiny dot (less than a pixel) seen within the yellow band.
We were inspired by the fact that the furthest extent of human exploration, according to Carl Sagan, produced one clear conclusion - that we ought to deal more kindly with one another and take care the planet. In imagining the future of education, it emphasizes the need for a human-centered, holistic approach to learning that centers on the individual. The work is to create the conditions that lead to emergent practice and community.

Our Strategy

The Case

Traditional education is antiquated. Students are continually finding less relevance and coherence to their lives. This creates a filter, and perpetuated over time narrows the scope of the type of individual who generally succeeds. Simple shifts, such as increasing the scope of what is significant in a learning experience, creates inclusivity that elevates more learners. It is especially impactful for those who have long been marginalized, and in turn to the communities they bring new ideas to. In addition to the experiences we are currently providing for students, we've built three programs, a Pedagogy Accelerator, Blue Dot Scholars, and our Research and Development initiative that allows us to support individuals, teachers, and communities in shifting their approach to learning according to the following continua: 1. Doing Real Work 2. Experience as the Text 3. Assessment Through Discourse

Shifting Learning

Doing Real Work Traditional schooling is mired in assumptions about what individuals need, must have, or must be, creating a system of compliance and conformity to often inauthentic ends. Real work is not confined to a school, has an authentic audience, and runs on a parallel track to professional communities. As such, student work and products are assessed and evaluated by real world standards within the relevant communities of practice, and not by artificial educational currency such as points or grades. Experience as Text Not too long ago, students were rich with experience and poor with information. Access was fairly limited. People mainly had schools, libraries, and possibly an encyclopedia to acquire new understandings. Over the past 30 years, there has been a vast increase in access to information, where we now find that students are rich with information, but poor with experience. There is no longer as much a need to acquire information as there is to manage it while pursuing learning, and this reality shifts the emphasis on learning content to process-driven criteria. As students engage in learning experiences, they gain a metacognitive awareness that assists in acquiring skills to navigate issues they confront while they grow. Assessment Through Discourse Learning is an intimate and dynamic human experience. When driven from the individual, it is visceral, entailing an emotional, cognitive, and psychological impact. Grades bastardize this experience, and worse, may possibly alienate individuals form their learning. Students engaging in discourse with real world practioners and telling stories of their experiences allows them to share and connect with a real audience and community. Dialogue and storytelling authentically shift the script on how we assess student work. Through dialogue, student work is assessed according to real world metrics by practitioners capable of critique. The creative and reflective process of storytelling is deeply educational, and provides a powerful and personalized lens to measure the success for each individual. In these alternative forms of assessment, each student gets to create their own signature work. Everyone gets noticed.

Our Programs

We've identified the need for our education system to increase inclusivity through engagement and new paths to success, and we feel this can be accomplished by building a culture of learning through community based learning initiatives. It's a push for a decentralization of an antiquated system, with the goal being that traditionally underrepresented students and those confined by traditional barriers will find greater success, and introduce new and creative ideas to the world. This will inevitably lead to more equity and spark innovation. Our three areas of focus for impact are to assist current schools and teachers in shifting their practice, to create a space where individuals and educators can pursue their own development, and to build an educational structure that can adapt to support learners as times and societal systems change. Our Pedagogy Accelerator program is our way to support teachers and schools in bridging from traditional education to newer, more progressive approaches. Our Blue Dot Scholars program is to decentralize learning from schools, and allow individuals, students and teachers to own and develop new learning experiences through their curious pursuits. Our Research and Development program is our way of staying on the forefront and remaining connected to the world as we develop new educational programs and learning communities. Additionally, we have recognized that it is important to be purposeful in the process of proceeding through a learning experience. Our Habits of Mind of science, exploration, stewardship and innovation help to guide the culture of learning throughout our experiences, while also contributing to the creative and reflective process of storytelling.

Our Team

Our team consists of educators with broad backgrounds and diverse skill sets. Combined, we have over 70 years working in the classroom. Through this time, we have developed and refined our expertise in progressive pedagogies, including project-based education, place-based education, and experiential learning.

Brian Delgado

Wizard

Andrew Lerario

Craftsman

Adam Borek

Swiss Army Knife

Mike Strong

Hero

Wes Davis

Adventurist