By Maria Segala | May 15, 2023
Through its Education Innovation Grants, the MIT Jameel World Education Lab aspires to develop the building blocks, ideas, and connections that power global transformation in learning. Jameel World Education Lab grants support educational innovations across a rich variety of fields including: linguistics, mechanical engineering, literature, architecture, physics, management, political science, and more. More than $5 million in funding has been awarded to MIT researchers since 2017.
As part of an ongoing series, we are taking a closer look at each 2023 grantee’s projects. In the spotlight today is Joshua Bennett, Distinguished Chair of the Humanities and professor in the Literature department. Bennett’s project, “Minor notes: teaching the archival arts,” aims to address existing gaps in K-12 literary arts education through a novel approach that combines archival research with collaborative art making. Over the past year, Bennett has met with a cohort of high school seniors and their faculty advisors to explore local community archives and compose original works of art inspired by the historical materials they discover in those spaces.
In the following videos, Bennett discusses what excites him most about this project, his hopes for what the students involved will take away from the experience, and what success looks like.