upstream thinking in education

Because we think education could benefit from more upstream thinking, the Alabama Best Practices Center developed an online book study using Upstream as the guiding text. The study (one of the PLU Book Studies we host each year) is divided into three parts and features a series of asynchronous and synchronous sessions to introduce participants ...

Upstream thinking cultivates the proactive mindset needed to drive an organization through continuous improvement. ... So many times in education I have witnessed educators give up on something or not even attempt to fix it because they felt it was an inevitable social problem that was too big to fix. However, that is simply not true; with the ...

Create slack to escape the tunnel and unlock upstream thinking. As a nation of educators were settling into our respective shelter-in-place orders in spring of 2020, I was delighted to see an open invitation for great teachers from all over the country to join a book study. The book study was initiated and structured by members of the Teach ...

Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath. Published in March 2020. Upstream is the fifth book by Dan Heath (the first four written with his brother) that I've read. The first book, Made to Stick, is probably the most aligned with ideas about how we learn and, therefore, is likely of most significant interest to academics.. Subsequent Heath books (Switch, Decisive ...

This has become known as "Upstream Thinking," focusing on what can be done to keep people free from disease—from falling into the river of illness ( Butterfield, 1990 ). In today's society in which many of the morbidities and mortalities are related to preventable conditions, it is time to move from mainstream thinking to Upstream Thinking.

Dan Heath (2020) in his book Upstream gets to the heart of what drives our short-term thinking and I think it is a must read for all leaders. It is incumbent on leaders in schools to model this way of thinking for the sake of our students now and into the future. Upstream thinking is really quite a simple process and it makes sense.

Heath identified three principal obstacles and described how we can recognize and overcome them. 1. Blindness. "You can't fix a problem if you can't see it.". Some problems are so ubiquitous and ingrained, they fade into the landscape or are assumed to be inevitable, the price of doing business.

Heath, author (with his brother Chip) of books such as Made to Stick, Decisive, and Switch, shares thoughts on the value of solving—eliminating—problems by finding leverage points, developing problem awareness, and creating practices of "upstream witchcraft" (something that lean thinkers might recognize as poka-yoke). Tune in to the ...

This week's reading discusses Upstream Thinking, which I consider one of the most important ideas in education. This summary is from Peps McCrae of Edusnacks and is best told through a quick parable: 'You and a friend are relaxing by a river. Suddenly, there's a shout from the water—a child is drowning. Without thinking, you both dive ...

Addressing the Social Determinants of Health Upstream. Healthy People has made strides in reducing preventable diseases and injuries through the creation and monitoring of quantifiable objectives, yet we still lag on key health and well-being measures compared to our global counterparts. Now into its 5th decade, Healthy People's vision is to ...

Discover how Dan Heath's Upstream inspires educators to shift from reactive problem-solving to proactive prevention.

What is Upstream Thinking? An upstream thinking approach considers impacts, unintended consequences, and barriers that ripple through the systems an organization and their stakeholders interact with. Upstream thinking challenges the status quo through a series of powerful planning questions and other processes and serve as springboards for ...

EDUCATION EXAMPLE Chicago Public Schools (CPS) "was a system designed to fail half its kids". In 1998, only 52.4% of its students graduated (the symptom). ... Adopt the mindset of upstream thinking, take personal responsibility for issues and believe in your power to solve them - think of the Move my Chair example above. HOW TO SUCCEED AT ...

Upstream change demands long-term thinking. The holistic and long-term approach of upstream work runs counter to how governments tend to work and to how humans tend to think. For example: Action upstream almost inherently requires cross-departmental thinking and collaboration. In contrast, government departments often have a narrower focus that ...

Big Idea 1 - Downstream actions react to problems once they've occurred. Upstream efforts aim to prevent those problems from happening at all. Upstream efforts look at the systemic factors that influence problems. Big Idea 2 - Organisations have a natural tendency towards downstream thinking.

Maybe you have goals you need to achieve but are consumed with day to day work. Or maybe you've tried a number of ways to achieve your goals with limited success. Whatever it is, you can be confident that Upstream has tackled similar challenges. Start a conversation with us today! Upstream Thinking. [email protected]. +1 512 234 ...

In my case, I am fortunate to have a decision-maker, the State Commissioner of Education, who is forward-thinking and an early adopter. The problem is institutional inertia.

Our Approach. Upstream is an innovation consultancy focused on solving complex Health, Education, B2B, & Societal challenges around the globe. Whether augmenting your team or leading end-to-end projects, we offer 3 core services: We fuel innovation through mixed methods behavioral research. We generate solutions through human-centered design.