CMYK Future Learner Day | Meaningful learning begins with authentic questions

What happens when we stop giving students answers, and instead start with their own real questions?

This summer, CMYK Future Learner Day explored this shift with students, educators, and partners across three distinct learning environments.

Here is a glimpse into how future learning took shape:

In Beijing: Empathy & Design Thinking in Action

During our three-day program, 50 students started not with textbooks, but by observing everyday life. Immersed in the design thinking process, they focused deeply on building empathy to identify questions that genuinely mattered to people. By interviewing locals, observing the environment, building prototypes, and creating films, they discovered the immense value of truly understanding a human problem before rushing to solve it.

With HD School (赫德学校): The Young Entrepreneurs Camp

Our school partnership took the form of an intensive entrepreneurship camp, bringing together ambitious students from five different cities to solve authentic problem. Their challenge? Developing a comprehensive, real-life marketing and business plan for YiPai, our new public learning space in Shenzhen which is currently under development.

With Mingwan School (明湾学校): The Glimmer AI Hackathon

Over 200 students experienced the true meaning of user-centric design by conducting in-person interviews with people with different disabilities and needs. By listening firsthand to these lived experiences, they used interdisciplinary collaboration and AI tools to turn deep empathy into actionable, inclusive innovations.

We were also incredibly grateful to have Marco Shek, Executive Director of Ednovators (教育燃新), join these conversations. His insights on embedding transferable skills into the core of learning added a brilliant layer of depth to the summer.

Different contexts, but one shared belief: meaningful learning begins with authentic questions.

We’re excited to continue co-creating these spaces with more schools, educators, and partners. Let’s discover together what the future of education can look like.