Design challenges are a staple at The Idea School, typically done to kick off any new unit or project. Random ideas or concepts are purposely pieced together and the students are asked to create a solution to a problem in the world with those two ideas. Design challenges encourage creative thought processes, problem solving, collaboration and innovation while at the same time, the students are just having fun! In one of the opening design challenges of the school year, the ninth and 10th grade students, who are learning about civilizations, combined a value, such as loyalty, compassion or integrity—with a biome, such as a rainforest, tundra, ocean/beach—a resource such as wood or water—and a challenge such as political instability, an epidemic, or pollution, to create and manage a civilization.