Through its Education Innovation Grants, the Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) at MIT Open Learning aspires to develop the building blocks, ideas, and connections that power global transformation in learning. J-WEL 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 Ann Berger Valente, educational research manager at the MIT Media Lab, working closely with her collaborator, Leo Burd, director of the Lemann Creative Learning Program at the Media Lab. Valente’s project “Promoting creative learning through Festivals of Invention and Creativity: building on a successful model from Brazil,” builds on the Media Lab Lifelong Kindergarten group’s Brazilian Creative Learning Network program.