Jean graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in Studio Art, then continued at Brandeis University for educational certification in K-12 Art. Her Master's degree in Fine Arts is from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, she completed programs of study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and at the Central School of Art in London.

Developing as an artist has been a part of Jean Knodt's life since she was child. Over the years, she has pursued a wide variety of professional directions in the field of art, including museum illustration, graphic design, architectural rendering, printmaking, drawing, and painting." Teaching art and designing educational programs has run parallel to these activities intermittently over the past 26 years.

The ten years prior to her taking on development of the Think Tank were spent studying fine arts and developing herself as a professional painter, while also teaching painting and drawing as a college professor in the Washington, DC area.

Jean took on the task of establishing Kent Gardens Elementary School's "Discovery Room" as a way of helping at her son's school. She then uncovered a unique opportunity to employ the high-level thinking and process orientation from her art background, into an open-inquiry, critical and creative thinking lab. With an inspired interest in Multiple Intelligences, the Think Tank evolved. Jean comments that feeling connected to Project Zero stems not only from an interest in Multiple Intelligences, but also from the PZ's emphasis on exploring the cognitive side of art and applying it to other disciplines or programs.

Recently, Jean has taken targeted courses, consulted with professionals, and attended various educational conferences and institutes such as Project Zero's Classroom '98. As a passionate designer, she loves to brainstorm ways to put new ideas into action, and sees the Think Tank lab as a synthesis of many progressive educational programs, concepts, and theories. Jean maintains that a successful program or classroom is one that can develop its own voice:

Jean comments, "I look to be challenged, inspired, and awakened by educational concepts and theories, but find it essential to remain flexible and creative as I employ them. I apply an idea, only after finding inventive ways to make it connect and integrate with the existing program. While maintaining the theory's integrity, I make sure the concept becomes an effective tool for the lab. This seems the only way to remain focused on what our kids really need."

Jean lives in Northern Virginia with her husband Richard and son Nicholas.

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© Jean Sausele Knodt, Kent Gardens Elementary School, Fairfax County Public Schools, Area III Administrative District, 1998.

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