For two decades, the Raikes Foundation has been at the forefront of researching and promoting a learning environment where all children can thrive, regardless of their sex, race, or family income level. Their commitment to the science of learning and development is truly inspiring.

The Raikes Foundation came to us with a desire to tell a story on behalf of Mindset Scholars Network, a consortium of educators and academic researchers who are working to design and promote inclusive, effective learning environments for all students.

We followed our standard process for making this video, but along the way we had to learn a lot about the unique expectations of our audience, which ranged from parents and educators, to educational researchers and theorists, to philanthropists and nonprofit leaders. That meant lots of revisions and deep thinking about how to accomplish our client’s goals. To give you insight into that process, check out version one of the storyboard on the left below, and the final version of the storyboard on the right. There are many subtle, and not-so-subtle, changes that represent an interesting journey as we developed this project. You can download the complete final storyboard here, and version one here.

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Additionally, the folks at the Raikes Foundation were generous enough to share some feedback about their experiences working with us:

What was your overall experience of working with Planet Nutshell?

Planet Nutshell took the time to learn about the work and understand the scientific nuances and need for precise language in certain contexts, while still pushing us to be clear, concise and relatable in our approach. They were transparent about the process and costs and always stuck to deadlines. We enjoyed working with them.

What were the goals of your project?

This work is just beginning to take hold in some classrooms around the country but we have a long way to go to realize the promise of what the science is teaching us. Primarily, we wanted other funders to get excited about this work so that we can bring others to the table and more quickly and efficiently embed the important scientific conclusions into the work schools do every day.

Why did you choose to make an animated video?

The work we do is, on the surface, complicated. But when it is well-explained, the role that mindsets play in student success is a no-brainer. We thought showing through animation how these mindsets manifest in the classroom would help our audiences better understand what we are trying to accomplish through our grant making.