{"id":1128,"date":"2026-04-04T09:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/rumpus\/?p=1128"},"modified":"2026-06-04T10:33:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T09:33:34","slug":"thinking-like-an-explorer-investigator-and-innovator-lessons-from-david-perkins-and-project-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/rumpus\/index.php\/2026\/04\/04\/thinking-like-an-explorer-investigator-and-innovator-lessons-from-david-perkins-and-project-zero\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking like an explorer, investigator and innovator: lessons from David Perkins and Project Zero – Harvard University"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr Alexandra Okada<\/strong>, Researcher in Global Education, AI and Sustainable Futures, The Open University \u00b7 UK\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A conversation with David Perkins at Harvard’s Project Zero reveals how the REACH framework \u2014 built on the mindsets of Explorer, Investigator and Innovator \u2014 offers a powerful new lens for designing learning that is passionate, purposeful and transformative.<\/p>\n

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“It’s not something you just do \u2014 like exploring. It’s something you are: an explorer adopting a certain mindset toward the world.” \u2014 David Perkins<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During a visit to Harvard’s Project Zero, Dr Okada spoke with Professor Perkins about REACH \u2014 a framework built on three learning mindsets: Explorer, Investigator and Innovator. Perkins argues that too much schooling stops at “learn it and pass the test,” missing the passionate engagement that makes learning last. For Okada, this resonates beyond the classroom: in higher education, research projects are increasingly fuelled by funders’ agendas and ever more competitive grant cycles \u2014 creating a similar risk of losing the\u00a0 passionate commitment for the lifeworthy transformation that research should lead. The conversation revealed striking alignments with the CARE\u2013KNOW\u2013DO framework at the heart of the METEOR project, and explored whether AI could help sustain these deeper models of learning and research impact at scale.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

What does it mean to truly understand something? Not just to recall it, but to act on it, connect it to the world, and keep asking questions? These are the questions that have driven the work of David Perkins and his colleagues at Project Zero<\/a>, Harvard Graduate School of Education \u2014 and they feel more urgent than ever as we reimagine education for sustainable futures.<\/p>\n

It was a privilege to visit Harvard and speak with David, whose decades of work on thinking, learning, and understanding have shaped education systems worldwide. At the heart of our discussion was a framework called REACH<\/strong> \u2014 and the profound idea that deeper learning needs not just skills, but mindsets<\/em>.<\/p>\n