Teach Design Thinking & Empower Changemakers

Unlock your students’ potential with Pactful’s free Design Thinking curriculum, equipping them with the skills to solve real-world challenges through creativity, collaboration, and innovation.

Join a global community of educators inspiring the next generation of problem solvers, entrepreneurs, and social innovators! Pactful supports you every step of the way with resources, professional learning, and a network of like-minded educators.

Get started today and bring the power of Design Thinking to your classroom!

What is Pactful?

Pactful® is a patent pending social good innovation tool and curriculum used globally by teenagers and teachers who want to build a better world. Pactful’s entirely virtual solution inspires students to actively engage in the design thinking process and develop an innovator’s mindset to create solutions aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

How Pactful Works

Pactful teaches teenagers how to become social good innovators in order to help build a better world. Starting at the Innovator’s Guide, students are introduced to the innovator’s mindset, the 17 UN Global Goals (or SDGs), and design thinking.

Students then form teams and identify a local or global problem that feels relevant to them. Teams work through a three-phase design thinking curriculum—Understand, Ideate, and Prototype—to create a solution to their identified problem. During each phase, teams:

Explore – learn about the phase and how it relates to their project
Do – complete activities
Document – submit their activities to their teacher for review and feedback

Once completed, teams will develop a Pitch to share their solution with a larger audience. Using the Showcase feature, teams can see other projects from other classes and how they are aligned to the Global Goals.

Why teach it?

Research shows your chances of becoming an innovator and inventor depends on several variables:

Where you live
Your race
Your gender
Your socioeconomic level

If you are not wealthy, white, rich, or a male who lives in one of the five major US cities where the majority of patents are developed, you are up to ten times less likely to become an inventor.

It's estimated there are millions of "Lost Einsteins" due to access inequality to innovation culture

Map of US showing where inventors grow up. NE has more innovators than the SE.

Map of US with numbers on each state indicating their ranking in Bloomberg's 2019 US State Innovation Index

Chart showing that as parent income increases so do the number of inventors with the top 1% of wealthy being 10x more likely to innovate.

Pie chart showing innovators by gender. Males are 82% and females are 18%.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

Coming soon…

Build Solutions Aligned to the Global Goals

Using Pactful, students are introduced to the innovator’s mindset, the 17 United Nations Global Goals, and design thinking. Students form teams to identify a local or global problem that feels relevant to them and then work through three phases of a design thinking curriculum to develop solutions.

Not sure where to start? This list is your guide to designing an amazing innovation experience for your students.

A world-changing innovation begins with a brilliant blueprint. Before your students dive into the JTIC, this phase is about mapping your path to success. A solid plan empowers you to guide your students with confidence and create a truly transformative experience. Let’s build your foundation in three steps.

Make it official and ignite your journey! Registering for the challenge welcomes you and your students into a vibrant global community of educators and young innovators. This is your first step to unlocking the official JTIC resources, connecting with peers, and declaring your commitment to shaping a better future.

A thoughtful plan creates a supportive environment where student creativity can flourish. By defining the structure of your JTIC journey, you provide the clarity and consistency students need to do their best work. Use these questions to craft your master plan:

Define Your Innovation Space: Will the JTIC be integrated into your class curriculum or hosted as a dedicated after-school club?
Assemble Your Team: How many educators will be co-leading this challenge? Collaboration is key, so bring them into the planning process early!
Establish the Rhythm: How much dedicated time will students have to work on their projects, and how often will they meet?
Choose Your Starting Point: The design thinking process is a cycle. Will you begin with the Empathy phase to explore problems, or the Ideation phase to brainstorm solutions?
Select Your Tools: Explore our Learning Platform to curate a collection of activities tailored to your students’ needs and your teaching style. (Heads-up: A Google account is required to access the Learning Platform!)

This is the moment you spark curiosity and officially kick off the adventure! A memorable launch event builds momentum and gets students energized for the journey ahead. Consider these ideas for a powerful start:

Create Your Innovation Hub: Transform your classroom or workspace into a design studio that inspires creativity, collaboration, and big ideas.
Broadcast the Mission: Generate excitement across your entire school! Announce the challenge in an assembly, through newsletters, or with a school-wide poster campaign.
Host an “Impact Zone” Workshop: Dive into the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) together. This interactive session helps students discover the global challenges they are most passionate about solving.
Connect with an Expert: Bring the real world into your classroom. Invite a local entrepreneur, community leader, or industry expert to share their story and inspire your team of innovators.

Your plan is complete. Now, the real adventure begins: empowering your students to roll up their sleeves, tackle challenges, and build a better world. This part is all about guiding the design thinking process and sustaining the energy from launch day through the final prototype.

At the heart of the JTIC is the design thinking framework—a powerful, human-centered approach to problem-solving. The Pactful Learning Platform provides the structure and activities to guide your students through this dynamic process.

As you facilitate, keep these core principles in mind:

Embrace the Flexibility of Innovation: The design thinking journey is fluid and non-linear, not a straight line. You and your students can jump in at any of the three phases—Understand, Ideate, or Prototype—that best suits your project’s needs at any given moment.
Fuel a Thorough Exploration: Each phase on our platform contains essential steps. To ensure a well-rounded and impactful solution, we encourage teams to complete at least one activity from each step. This builds a strong foundation for their final innovation.

Innovation is a marathon, not a sprint. Keeping students engaged and inspired is crucial for seeing their incredible ideas through to completion. Here are some strategies to keep the energy high:

Host a Community Feedback Forum: Bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world. Invite community members, industry professionals, or parents to review student prototypes and provide authentic, constructive feedback. This valuable insight can spark new ideas and refine existing ones.
Showcase the Journey, Not Just the Destination: Celebrate every milestone! Document your team’s progress with photos and updates on your school’s website or social media. It’s a fantastic way to build community support and recognize your students’ hard work. Let us amplify your story! Tag @Pactful in your posts, or send your photos and videos to us directly. Our team would be thrilled to feature your students’ incredible work on our global channels.

The Pitch

The final step is to create and submit a compelling video pitch that brings their project to life. This is their opportunity to connect with the audience on both an emotional and an intellectual level, showcasing the passion and the data behind their creation.

The pitch should be a video recording of no more than six minutes that weaves together a narrative that is both heartfelt and data-driven. Encourage students to show the human impact of the problem and the evidence that proves their solution is effective.

To guide your students toward a polished and powerful final product, focus on these two key elements:

Plan for Excellence: A great pitch requires thoughtful preparation. Guide your team to allocate ample time for scripting their narrative, recording their presentation, and editing the final video. A well-paced and polished video makes the innovative idea shine even brighter.
Use the Rubric as Your Roadmap: The official JTIC rubric is more than just a scoring sheet—it’s a roadmap to success. Use it from the beginning to structure the pitch, ensuring every key element is included. Aligning with the rubric not only helps achieve a top score but, more importantly, ensures the final message is clear, persuasive, and unforgettable.

The end of one project is simply the beginning of a lifelong journey of innovation. The skills, mindsets, and passion your students have developed are the seeds for future solutions. Here’s how you can continue to cultivate a culture of creativity and empower your students to build an even better world.

An innovation is never truly finished. Consider hosting a “Beyond JTIC” bootcamp to dive deeper into your students’ project. Partner with the Pactful team and our network of community experts to sprint new ideas, troubleshoot challenges, and take your existing solution to a higher level of impact.

Ignite the spark of creativity all over again. Host an ImPactful Camp at your school to guide a new cohort of students through an immersive design thinking experience. It’s the perfect way to embed the spirit of innovation into your campus culture.

Is your students’ idea ready for the world stage? Encourage them to accept the “Beyond Lab” challenge, a unique opportunity designed to help young innovators scale their projects from a classroom prototype into a real-world venture. This is the ultimate next step for teams with big ambitions.