SUMMARY

For inner city kids, disruptive behavior in the classroom is more than just defiance-- it's a cry for help and attention.   

TimeIn is an interactive web-based application that empowers elementary school students to recover from misbehavior and develop character strategies for the future.  TimeIn reimagines the traditional 'timeout', which is often a purely punitive measure, as a character growth opportunity.  Drawing upon the growth mindset psychology research of Professor Carol Dweck and The Character Lab, TimeIn guides students through a series of interactive exercises that encourage self-reflection, creative expression, and strategizing for the future.  TimeIn teaches students that good character-- like anything else-- can be grown with hard work and practice.

TimeIn grew out of a project by Julia Enthoven, Megan Faulk, and myself that won the "Best in Studio" award in an upper level interaction design course at Stanford University.  It is currently in use at San Francisco City Academy, a nonprofit school for disadvantaged inner city children in the San Francisco Tenderloin district.  In the future, we hope to make it free for other schools to bring into their classrooms.