In just a couple weeks, we kick off a project we’re calling Iowa Ideas. The project is meant to stir discussion and ideas to confront challenges and help position the state to thrive in the future. 

The project comes at a time where political polarization and mistrust is running very high, yet the need to collaborate and uniquely position ourselves to thrive in a global economy has never been more important. The project will focus on an array of topics — education to environment, health care to transportation — which impact all of us. 

We’re kicking the Iowa Ideas project off Feb. 28 in Cedar Rapids with daylong symposiums focused on two core areas: K-12 education and workforce/regionalism. Both are core in our region’s identity and critical to our future success.

The K-12 education symposium will focus on how classrooms are being designed and used much differently in teaching, how the focus is shifting to individual learning, the impact of adverse childhood experiences has in classrooms and how we can address it. We’ll look at how the education system is designed and how it may need to change in coming years.

To continue reading this article by Zack Kucharski, go to: http://www.thegazette.com/subj...onversation-20170205