Ben, a high schooler in Los Angeles, is an avid gamer. He is always coming up with imaginative storyline ideas, but he’s never known anyone with design experience to help him create original games. 

When Ben attended a summer program in 2023 to explore his career interests, he had access to an AI assistant, a resource built in just 20 min by the Reinvention Lab at Teach For America using Playlab. Ben prompted the tool with the broad topic of game design and the assistant asked: “Are there any topics, genres, or themes you might be interested in?” He responded: “I really like Marvel and DC comics. And fighting games.” After some back and forth, the AI tool recommended Ben make a Marvel versus DC Comics fighting game on Scratch, a programming tool designed for young beginners. 

Even though none of the on-site instructors or peers had gaming experience, Ben was able to pursue his passion during the program. AI helped him refine the idea, narrow a topic, pick an approach, and decide where to start, while Ben remained in the driver’s seat to choose what he took from the tool.

By harnessing the intelligent assistance, personalization, and real-time interactions of generative AI, students are independently following their curiosities and learning new skills more easily than ever before. In order to help realize the full potential of generative AI as a tool for youth agency, learning, and leadership, education leaders need to unlearn assumptions about adults as gatekeepers of knowledge. 

Education isn’t just what happens when adults assign coursework in a classroom. One potential power of AI is that young people aren’t bound by or reliant on adults to drive their learning. Young people can ask questions of chatbot tools and get direct, synthesized responses tailored to their age, grade, or level of understanding. For example, a student can ask: “I’m a 6th grader and an introvert. I want to stop the cyberbullying at my school, but I am scared of becoming a target myself. Can you help me think about what I could do?”  

The accessible, actionable responses from AI, whether written, verbal or visual, shift power to young people in unprecedented ways. Izzy, a first-generation college student in San Francisco, explored financial literacy information that had not been part of her high school curriculum. She started with a simple prompt: “What are the basics I should know about financial literacy, but without any confusing jargon?” After learning more through the AI tool, she created a card game for other first-generation college students to share resources in a playful, low-tech format.

Alexandra, a 5th grader in Denver, was curious about animal psychology and asked a conversational AI app if animals could choose a favorite color. This launched her into a discovery process about how some animals have color preferences based on what is beneficial to their survival, such as birds who see ultraviolet light to find ripening fruits and insects. Both Izzy and Alexandra were able to initiate learning beyond the required content and curricula already available in school.

For this wave of innovation to be deployed for greater student agency, adults need to reject assumptions that they are and should be gatekeepers for learning. Not only are today’s young people tech natives, they will likely utilize AI tools before their teachers. And they are doing so with incredible results.

Students from Delhi, India used AI to build a boat that can monitor water quality and help identify clean water sources for villagers. A Nebraska college student leveraged AI to make a major breakthrough in deciphering language on 2000-year-old scrolls. Students can use AI to simplify tasks, such as producing professional presentations or social media content, and then build interest and momentum among their peers. The newest advancement with Sora’s text to video capabilities shows that an activist-minded teenager who wants to create art or film will need significantly less equipment, software, and training to advance their vision of social change. AI is taking youth initiative, ingenuity, and impact to the next level.

Young people are already at the forefront of addressing the serious issues and racial biases that remain with AI. Encode Justice, a youth movement for ethical AI, thwarted a California proposition to use surveillance software in criminal justice settings and has pushed for more federal regulation and oversight of AI. 

To be clear, teachers, experts, and peers remain critical partners in education and should never be fully replaced by AI. Learning is an inherently relational act, and students need support that positions them to engage critically and cautiously. 

As educators, we believe that if used responsibly, this wave of advancements in generative AI has the potential to transform education and youth leadership. Let us dream up and build a future of AI where students are in the driver’s seat.

Michelle Culver is the Founder of the Reinvention Lab at Teach For America. She serves on the board of RISE Colorado, a non-profit that works to put families most impacted by the opportunity gap at the forefront of the movement for educational equity. She is an advisor to Playlab, aiEDU and The Circle in India.

Tiffany C. Taylor is a Partner and Chief People & Impact Officer at GSV Ventures. She serves as a director on the AI Education Project board, a non-profit that creates equitable AI literacy learning experiences.The ASU+GSV Summit is hosting the inaugural AIR Show, an April 2024 exposition on the transformative future of AI and learning.

The post The AI Revolution Should Foreground Youth Agency appeared first on Getting Smart.

Student Experience

True to their stated goals of focusing on purpose and student profiles, KWS students are gaining a variety of skills outside of core content areas to grow into both thriving students and humans. Through Seminar, students engage in real-world discussions that develop their critical thinking skills. The students may be presented with a question like: Is college worth it? Is climate change a bad thing? Are U.S. elections fair? Will people live to be 150 years old or more? Should we pause AI development? They will then work together to reason and address challenges, develop solutions and better articulate their ideas on the subject. 

Along their learning journey, students focus on specific passion projects, developing their research and creativity skills. “We encourage choice and voice as much as possible. For example, in all humanities courses (and many STEM) students can self-design projects to demonstrate mastery,” said Jessica Jaeger, Khan World School Guide Manager and Humanities Guide at ASU Preparatory Academy. KWS allows students to exemplify their skills and knowledge in any way they choose, but are still expected to reason through their thinking when answering questions, they are assessed on their processing as well as their accuracy. 

Jaeger continued, “The parents are noticing that through projects and Seminar, students are building transferable skills. Employers can teach job-specific skills, but [at KWS] we’re helping equip them with some of the more durable skills.” 

At KWS, particularly at the high school level, oftentimes the feedback cycle is peer-to-peer rather than facilitator-to-student. This helps form a close cohort of students while also getting them comfortable with content and expertise, editing and much more. One 6th grade student reflected on the agenctic model by sharing “We DEFINITELY have a choice in what we dive deeper into here! For example: book talks. We can read any book we like as long as it’s not a baby book. ANY BOOK! Do you know how many books there are in the whole world?”

Student Projects

These passion projects have yielded impressive results. One student shared “I really like the mastery projects because you can do ANY IDEA YOU CAN IMAGINE!” Through co-authorship and intentional rubrics, the students are given just enough information to get started and just enough flexibility to follow their curiosities wherever they may take them. For example, one student leveraged their love of video games to explore Ancient Mesopotamia through the game Sumerians. Their critical question revolved around the historical accuracy of the game. Unprompted by the facilitating staff, this student sent an email to Dr. Irving Finkle, a scholar at the British Museum and asked questions about the game and how it compared to research on Mesopotamia. In another history project, this one at the middle school level, a 6th grader completed a humanities inquiry project that centered on the building techniques of Roman Aqueducts. They then used this lens to investigate the water system of their city. 

This work is not limited to History class, however. It also applies to Science. Some labs are structured, but when they aren’t, students are encouraged to “Design Your Own Science Lab.” This has resulted in some of the following questions and corresponding projects: 

High School

• What is the effectiveness of a linearly progressed strength training program?
• What is the effectiveness of special moves in chess?
• What was the effectiveness of COVID-19 protocols on public health outcomes (using an ASU simulation)?
• What is the correlation between the mass of an organism and the size of its genome?
• Do PEMF frequencies affect plant growth?
• What is the effectiveness of UV phone sanitizers?
• What is the effect of exercise on sleep quality?
• How efficient are different rowing strokes?

Middle School

• Does a PCle 4.0 slot actually make a huge difference over a PCle 3.0 slot when compared to desktop and gaming functionality?
• Which sports drink actually contains the most electrolytes when measured by a multimeter?
• Is a pneumatic system or a hydraulic system more efficient?
• Which colored light will cause the least amount of bacterial growth in an agar plate
• Does the density of a liquid change how fast something sinks?
• In randomized samples would people prefer photos that have an increased amount of saturation?

Additionally, a high school student in Art Independent Study has been experimenting with a variety of mediums and painting techniques.

In addition to core content projects and assignments, the KWS model provides learners with the flexibility to pursue additional passion projects outside of school. Some examples include competitive gymnastics, world champion chess, national robotics competitions, theater and a student who worked on developing an app for pregnant women in rural India that would help them track their pregnancy including when they should be visiting a doctor.

What’s Next

Khan World School is a free virtual public school option that operates as a private school in other locations. It is now enrolling for the 24-25 school year.  Interested applicants should submit their application online and select their interest in the Khan World School program. Applicants can expect to submit the following materials:

• Current transcript
• Most recent standardized test scores in math and ELA
• Letter of reference
• Student interest video essay

Interested in learning more? Check out this conversation with Sal Khan and Amy McGrath on the Khan World School.

The post Passion Projects and Peer Feedback: A Recipe for Work That Matters appeared first on Getting Smart.

If you were allowed to reimagine what education could be through the creation of a completely new school, what would it look like? What would be its overarching purpose? How would students engage and what student outcomes would you insist on? These are enormous questions that not many are willing to think seriously about, much less put into action. But, in 2012, Buffy Cushman-Patz did just that. What she and other trusted advisors landed on was SEEQS: the School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability, located in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

Cushman-Patz and her four co-collaborators, including Josh Reppun (host of the What School Could Be Podcast), were once fellow teachers in a traditional independent school, frustrated by the structures that limited their ability to teach in a more innovative way, one that would allow more freedom in how required learning standards could be achieved. They began to imagine how they could design and co-teach courses that were interdisciplinary, integrating both science and history and helping students recognize the similarities between scientific thinking and historical thinking.

Years later, long after they went their separate ways, Josh got a call from Cushman-Patz. She had a request: help design an innovative charter school. After a year spent interviewing education thought leaders, they collaborated with Mark Hines, Carole Ota, and Raleigh Werberger to develop a progressive school model deeply rooted in an interdisciplinary, project-based approach centered on examining Essential Questions of Sustainability (EQS). 

The Power of Essential Questions

Each SEEQS course circles an essential question cleverly aligned to state-mandated course content standards. Students navigate these questions as a class while exercising agency in the process. Essential questions are seemingly short and simple, yet in reality, they are large, broad, and complex questions with no readily apparent answer. It is for this reason that they are ideal for the kind of student inquiry that leads to deep learning. By framing learning through essential questions, the learning experiences can be co-authored while enabling teachers to scaffold learning standards around them.

On our recent student ambassador-led tour of SEEQS (a middle school whose charter includes the eventual development of a high school), a high degree of student agency was evident from our student ambassadors: 8th-grade student, Sophia, and 7th-grade student, Avyay. Sophia explained that her class’s EQS for the semester was: How can service lead to change? In the process of exploring the impact of service, students engaged in a variety of service opportunities. Sophia described to us the experiences she had both investigating with her class what service is all about and what it was like to engage in community service projects. When asked how participating in service activities for the benefit of others changed who she is as a person, she shared that she could more easily empathize with others, and, without provocation, she said she would continue engaging in service work for the rest of her life. 

Throughout our hour-long tour, we asked a hundred questions of Sophia and Avyay. Both fielded them as if they were veteran shortstops for the Kansas City Royals, something we talked about in the parking lot after the tour. They fully understand the DNA of their school.

Avyay’s class was investigating the EQS: How can we develop a reliance on clean energy? Avyay and a classmate broke from the rest of the class to research and prototype the feasibility of electric-powered flights for transporting goods. Doing this is a great example of how SEEQS’s teachers allow for flexibility in learning to fit students’ particular interests. The first few days of each semester when new EQS are introduced, students participate in a project-based learning launch event known as EQS Camp where they spend time researching their topic and visiting important off-site locations learning from experts and engaging in field work. 

This year’s semester-long Essential Questions explored by students are listed below. As you read through them, take note how each question topic aligns well with things residents of the Hawaiian islands are thinking about and issues they are grappling with.

• EQS Cultural Preservation: How can preserving Hawaiian culture benefit society? 
• EQS Kai (the sea): How can restoration solutions help mitigate the impacts of invasive species?
• EQS Waste and Consumerism: How do humans impact the waste cycle? 
• EQS Forests: What are the dynamics of the forest system and how do humans fit in?
• EQS Responsible Tourism: How can tourism sustain Hawai’i’s land, people, and culture?
• EQS Clean Energy: How can clean energy be used in responsible ways?

Values and Sustainability

Regardless of the question investigated by students, each has been created to result in students also developing Essential Skills. These Essential Skills are all covered under the SEEQS Core Value of “Living Sustainably.” For this reason, they are known as Sustainability Skills but are associated with every aspect of learning and life. 

• Reasoning Analytically
• Managing Effectively
• Communicating Powerfully
• Collaborating Productively
• Thinking Systemically

Cushman-Patz is known for talking about the following: “How you spend your time is how you enact your values” and the labeling of these skills as “sustainability skills” certainly lives into the values of SEEQS. She also notes that students leaving SEEQS most often head to a traditional high school and have a different set of challenges.  

While these core skills make for lifelong real-world learners, we would be remiss if we didn’t ask about state standardized test scores. After all, charter schools like SEEQS are not exempt from this measure of student performance. In data as recent as 2022 (as the COVID crisis receded), SEEQS’s students met proficiency in percentage far above the state average; 24% above the average in English Language Arts: 15% above the average in Math and 26% above the average in Science.  

When viewing the school’s weekly schedule, the afternoon EQS project-based courses are taught collaboratively by three teachers (two content teachers and one student support teacher). In this way, teachers become adept at subject-area content integration and therefore unafraid to collaborate across the rest of the schedule. This kind of instruction must be planned deliberately for it to be systemic. 

The law, passed by Hawaii’s legislature in 1994, that established a system of charter schools said that they should act as “demonstration schools.” Hawaii’s charter schools now account for 37 of the state’s nearly 300 public schools. They operate with more autonomy than district schools. As demonstration schools, it is explicit and implicit that each of these schools explore education innovation, creativity, and imagination. They are, under the law, directed to explore what school could be. SEEQS, under Cushman-Patz’s guidance, has done this to a remarkable extent. So much so that when folks both in Hawai’i and outside the islands ask to see great examples of student-focused innovation in education, SEEQS is most often the school of choice.

Bill Nicely is an educator-in-residence for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he works on activities related primarily to the high school design portfolio within the Real World Learning initiative.

Josh Reppun is the host of the What School Could Be Podcast and co-founder of SEEQS.

The post Values-Driven Learning in Hawai’i Helps Learners Find What They Are SEEQing appeared first on Getting Smart.

Embark Education is a competency-based school driven by the authentic integration of learning in projects at our enterprise, Pinwheel Coffee and co-authored learning experiences. My own collaboration with a group of learners has brought a transformative and deeply personalized dimension to learning. Rather than design and ask my colleagues for feedback through tuning protocols, I co-created a learning experience with learners in an effort to support them as they explore how to courageously inquire, engage, and discover a sense of self. Learners are not only the intended audience of instruction and engagement, but primarily, deserve a space and voice to best target personalized support, realize what is possible for all learners during the course of a project, and manifest more eloquent, nuanced pathways to learning that our adult minds would not have fully devised, appreciated, nor comprehended as possible. 

These learners, who have already engaged in empathy exercises, prototyping, and community partnerships throughout the last few months, have selected family recipes that hold special significance to them. As we finish out these last two weeks before winter break, we step back to recognize the intricacies of their cultural and community memories and incorporate these elements into the curriculum to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belongingness.

Our project is a collective endeavor, and as the co-designer of this curriculum, I have found inspiration in the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our learners.

Sharing Personal Narratives

In the heart of our journey toward understanding empathy and the power of storytelling, I began by encouraging learners to explore their personal narratives during the inaugural storytelling session, as if we were in Week 1 of the actual project. These stories offered a window into the rich tapestry of their cultural heritage and the enduring presence of their communities. Quickly, the theme of ‘recipes’ began to emerge. 

In this collective exploration of cultural memory, our learners were invited to share the stories, which have been passed down through generations. These narratives, steeped in the flavors, aromas, and love of family kitchens, evoked an intense sense of belonging, an understanding of the connection to one’s roots, and a growing awareness of the importance of community in preserving and celebrating our diverse traditions.

For these learners, the act of sharing these stories was akin to flipping through the cherished pages of a well-worn family recipe book. These recipes are not mere lists of ingredients and instructions – which, at minimum, would still offer wonderful applications in quantitative reasoning through ratios, proportions, and conversions – rather, they were the vessels of each learner’s cultural history, a testament to the endurance of traditions, and a symbol of the enduring power of food to bring people together.

Just as Grandmas Project beautifully showcases the stories of grandmothers from around the world, our learners brought forth their own family narratives in the ideation phase, revealing the universal importance of food as a means to bridge the gap between generations, cultures, and individuals. It’s in the recipes handed down from mother to child, grandfather to grandchild, that we discovered a shared humanity—a warmth that transcended community borders and various languages.

The NPR article, “Carrying on a Family Recipe in Your Own Way,” exemplified the idea that these recipes are more than just instructions; they’re a living testament to our ability to adapt, innovate, and express our unique identities while still honoring our heritage. Our learners critically evaluated the content of this article, along with several others with similar themes, to seek out a deeper why, apply analysis and critical thinking, and make connections in and outside the classroom. 

As a learning facilitator, I actively participated in and guided discussions that were, at times, challenging, such as when addressing the understandable questions regarding changing culinary traditions between themselves and their grandparents, and at other times, revelatory, as was the case when these middle school students were able to consider the macro-level inequities that have historically uprooted generations of families living throughout various neighborhoods of Denver.  

Facilitating Critical Analysis

The exploration of historical and systemic inequities briefly introduced above took us on a journey that extended beyond the kitchen and into our very neighborhoods. The diverse perspectives and backgrounds of our learners serve as a foundation to enrich our understanding of how belief systems, policies, and ideologies have transformed over the years, particularly in the context of culinary traditions. Yet, this transformation isn’t isolated; we needed to make the connection with broader societal changes, including issues like gentrification, migration, and shifts in public perception.

As we ventured into the complex terrain of gentrification, we courageously faced the consequences of urban development that have unfolded over decades. Gentrification often occurs when once-neglected neighborhoods experience an influx of wealthier individuals, leading to changes in real estate values, public education, and public perception of neighborhood safety and value. It is understandable to believe that learners at this age cannot fully comprehend the weight of such a topic (or should); yet, I found it essential for them to understand the intricacies of this phenomenon without indoctrination but through factual, illuminating exploration.

To facilitate this exploration, I drew on valuable resources like the New York Times’ interactive guide, which offered insights into how neighborhoods in New York City have evolved. Learners examined data and articles that reveal the shifts in real estate values, population demographics, and the subtle ways marketing strategies have influenced people’s perceptions of various neighborhoods. Furthermore, we introduced the concept of redlining through University of Richmond’s Panorama, which provides a historical context on how discriminatory lending practices in the past have shaped neighborhoods and reinforced racial inequities. This resource offered a concrete example of how systemic racism has had long-lasting impacts on neighborhoods like ours in North Denver. Lastly, we explored urban displacement and its cultural, commercial, and industrial aspects using the data available at the Urban Displacement Project. This allowed learners to grasp how communities have been affected by shifting demographics, changing economies, and redevelopment efforts.

My role as facilitator was to guide our learners through these materials, fostering a balanced and evidence-based understanding of how gentrification and related issues impact communities. By encouraging them to think critically and analyze their own shifts in perspectives, I hoped to empower them to navigate nuanced discussions with empathy and respect for diverse viewpoints. This approach enabled learners to make informed connections between their personal experiences and the broader theme of inclusivity, and additionally, equip them with the tools to critically evaluate societal changes in their neighborhoods. Ultimately, the achieved goal was to instill a sense of agency in our learners to participate in creating more equitable and just communities for the future.

Collaboration in Cookbook Creation

Our journey in creating a cookbook that encapsulates the cultural richness and diversity of our learners’ family recipes took an exciting turn as we developed a continued partnership with the Shop at Matter, an independent, Black- and woman-owned design consultancy, letterpress workshop, and bookstore that uses joy and love as acts of resistance. This collaboration amplified the value of our project, adding an enriching layer to our exploration of communication competencies and the art of storytelling through food.

The learners actively engaged in the cookbook creation process, drawing on their experiences and personal connections to the chosen family recipes. As the project unfolded, learners were given the unique opportunity to delve into the history and significance of these recipes, and to share them with a wider audience, fostering a deep sense of pride and ownership. How did we plan to do this during the actual project? We drew inspiration from Ladson-Billings’ vision of parent “artist or craftspersons-in-residence” as outlined in But That’s Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Recognizing the invaluable contributions parents can make to the educational experience, our co-design journey extended to anticipation invitations to parents to be integral members of the educator team. This collaborative endeavor aligned with the collective vision of creating a more inclusive and diverse learning environment.

In implementing this offering, we explored a commitment during the project to promote racial literacy, utilize inclusive language, and provide virtual options to ensure broader and more accessible participation. Acknowledging the importance of diverse perspectives, we wanted to create a space where parents could share their unique skills, knowledge, and experiences, contributing to the rich tapestry of this learning experience. This approach not only aligns with Ladson-Billings’ framework, but also emphasizes the principles of equity, inclusion, and embracing the varied expertise that parents bring to the educational journey.

As we contacted and developed partnerships with local culinary academics and community kitchens, learners found themselves hands-on in the process of crafting and documenting these recipes. This approach ensured the authenticity and accuracy of the cookbook, from ingredient lists to cooking instructions. As they kneaded, stirred, and sizzled, learners not only gained culinary skills instructed through the expert knowledge of older family members and community members, but also a profound understanding of the cultural and historical contexts that infuse each recipe. This hands-on experience not only fostered a sense of empowerment but also provided the communication competency of “developing ideas,” as learners gathered insights from their research and shared the cultural and historical context behind each dish.

In the realm of communication competencies, our project’s additional goal is to emphasize the process of learning, not just the end result. The “organize thoughts” competency was honed as learners sequenced ideas, evidence, and events to create a coherent narrative within the cookbook. Varied transitions helped connect the rich stories and origins behind each recipe, making the book an engaging read. Learners also grasped the significance of crafting logical introductions and conclusions that offer insight into the cultural significance and implications of each dish.

The “Use Language” and “Address an Audience” competencies were intertwined as learners mastered the art of selecting the right words and tone to convey the essence of each recipe. Naturally, their audience ranges from fellow learners to a broader community eager to explore diverse culinary traditions. Thus, they understood the importance of adapting their language and style to cater to the purpose, task, and audience. Given that we’re living in a digital age whose language is best understood by learners of this age group, they also utilized various media tools to effectively share their stories, justifying their choice of medium to reach their audience. As a result, the presentation and product supported audience engagement and understanding, allowing their culinary narratives to come alive. Lastly, the “Deliver a Message” competency involves using verbal and nonverbal language to interact with an audience effectively. In the last few weeks, learners presented their dishes with passion and authenticity, incorporating appropriate body language and speaking skills to engage their audience. This was top of mind in a reflection by Mark Gabriel, Director of Adult Learning Experiences at Embark Education, after experiencing the aforementioned workshop with What School Could Be: “Experts in their field were being taught about learner-centered education by our learners and while it was so impressive, it was like the learners didn’t even realize how amazing their work was because it is so natural to them. It really showed how special Embark is!”

Learner’s Role in Transformative Learning

At Embark Education, I’ve discovered that the magic unfolds when learners actively shape their educational experiences, fostering inclusivity through shared narratives. Below, I offer a generalizable step-by-step process to begin a journey where students take the lead in crafting a personalized, nuanced, and deeply meaningful learning adventure. Finally, be sure to look for a follow-up article after this project’s completion in February, as I’m excited to unveil this project with our whole learning community!

Step 1: Embrace Student-Centric Integration

Encourage learners to actively contribute to the curriculum design, tapping into their diverse backgrounds and experiences. In our co-design project, learners brought forth their unique perspectives, shaping a project that reflected their collective vision and interests. Josh Reppun reflected on this phase of the process, noting, “As the host of the What School Could Be Podcast, and now with 117 episodes under my belt, I have heard what feels like hundreds of incredible examples of real world, student-driven learning. This Embark family recipe project just might take the cake, no pun intended. The extent to which Jimmy’s students have taken the learning deep into their communities is truly remarkable. They embarked on a journey together that will surely resonate over their entire collective lifetimes. What a gold star example of deeper learning!”

Step 2: Unlock Personal Narratives Through Storytelling

Initiate a journey toward empathy and storytelling by prompting learners to delve into their personal narratives. Family recipes, as showcased in our project, became a powerful tool to connect learners to their cultural heritage, community, and shared human experiences. Adam Haigler, Co-founder and COO of Open Way Learning, has been a close mentor and friend throughout my time as an educator, which has led me to this second step. In fact, my developing competency in this educational approach is due to his insight and guidance, believing that culturally revitalizing and place-based education “is the perfect vehicle to explore our respective places. The ingredients of the instructional model encourage us to explore our communities, bring in authentic contexts, and present our findings publicly. The intersection between co-designed learning experiences and place-based learning is a natural fit.” When I asked him how he would lead a similar co-design exercise with learners, he responded, “We do this by first asking what makes our place unique and what problems our students might be able to solve around us. We use co-designed projects as the model that structures our exploration and helps us build toward significant contributions to the community with the authentic context it provides. Co-designing with students pushes us to create a collaborative culture and the community becomes a key collaborator.”

Step 3: Cultivate a Tapestry of Perspectives

Transform your curriculum by recognizing the significance of personal narratives beyond cultural boundaries. Just as in our project, where family recipes became a celebration of diversity, consider incorporating elements that resonate universally, fostering a rich tapestry of perspectives.

Step 4: Facilitate Inclusive Discussions

Take on the role of a co-facilitator, allowing learners to lead discussions on inclusivity, diversity, equity, and belonging. In our project, this step brought authenticity to our conversations, allowing learners to reflect on their identities within the broader context of DEIB. As Jennifer D. Klein noted throughout our preparation and virtual educator workshop, “I loved being part of students’ growth when it came to engaging new audiences with their ideas and learning. The first time we met virtually, it took a little while for learners to open up and share more than just a word or two. As Jimmy drew them out with questions and encouragement, and as I modeled transparency and vulnerability myself, they leaned into sharing more about their narratives and experiences. Everyone who attended our later event on What School Could Be noted that it was like being in on a conversation among students who were fully empowered—not just to follow their teacher’s lead, but to follow their own sense of purpose, which was beautifully grounded in who they are and the neighborhood they’ve grown up in.”

Step 5: Venture into Critical Analysis Beyond Subject Boundaries

Extend your exploration beyond the subject matter, engaging learners in critical analysis. Utilize real-world issues, as we did in our project, to empower learners to think critically and analyze societal changes. This approach is adaptable to a wide range of subjects.

Step 6: Foster Collaborative Creation

Elevate your project by encouraging collaboration, potentially through partnerships with local businesses or organizations. In our experience with the Shop at Matter, this collaboration enriched our exploration of communication competencies, adding a layer of real-world application to our project. As the shop owner, Rick Griffith, noted, “Learning what’s important to the young people we’re working with and actively incorporating their ideas into this project is really important to building trust as a primary currency in learning (and teaching in systems) that I don’t take for granted. It’s with these small amounts of trust that we can get the active participation of more young people in their experience. This is both exciting and deeply moving for me.”

Step 7: Personalize Learning with a Real-World Touch

Insert yourself into the curriculum to enhance the learning experience and promote broad principles. Facilitate discussions on privilege and equity, engage in critical analysis of various perspectives, and inspire civic engagement. Your journey and experiences serve as valuable assets in creating a vibrant and inclusive learning environment.

Jimmy McCue is an Educator at Embark Education.

The post How to Co-Design Curriculum: Fostering Inclusivity through Shared Family Narratives appeared first on Getting Smart.

Grandview superintendent Dr. Kenny Rodrequez (Missouri Superintendent of the Year) explains how the four career academies — health and engineering (both PLTW pathways), business and the arts — are adding client projects and dual enrollment courses. Grandview hosted the first PLTW engineering program in the area and their leadership encouraged regional growth to now over 95,000 students. Grandview Assistant Superintendent Prissy LeMay said Grandview elementary schools are adding more real world learning.

On recent visits to metro Kansas City high schools, we spotted evidence of more real world learning including more client-connected projects in core and elective courses, more internships and entrepreneurial experiences during and after school, and more dual credit courses and industry-recognized credentials.   

Summit Technology Academy (STA) is a next-gen career center in Lee’s Summit that opened in 2017 with the University of Central Missouri. It offers half-day experiences in five pathways: engineering, computer science, health, human services and natural resources (which is offered at a new location this year). Each pathway offers a career capstone project assessed for agency, authenticity, and articulation (i.e., how well students tell their story). Lucy, a senior, is completing an engineering capstone project to reduce contaminations from electronic waste. Lilli is taking on a challenging digital media project for a client and learning to use constructive feedback. JC appreciates time in the flight simulator (which he helped build over the summer). Blake will graduate in the spring with extensive work experience, 60 hours of college credit and will be on track to finish a finance degree in two years at KU. Instead of sports trophies, the results of PLTW biomedical research projects are proudly displayed at STA. 

North of Kansas City, Kearney High teachers are adding client projects to core and elective courses. Botony teacher Kaitlyn LaFrenz lined up garden projects with civic organizations and a church. Culinary teacher Kassidy Robertson helped students organize a catering event. Students in Angie Carmack’s Graphic Arts class served community clients with campaign collateral. Dustin McKinney turned choir into a client project with community deliverables while teaching quality, service, and entrepreneurship.  

Kearney Principal Dr. Andrew Gustafson showed off the professional broadcast studio where students produce news and sports programming. Several dozen Kearney students are engaged in an education internship where they teach an elementary class for an hour each afternoon. 

Shawnee Mission high schools (in southwest Kansas City and home of Kansas Superintendent of the Year Michelle Hubbard) are adding client projects in core and non-CTE courses. Tenth grade English at Shawnee Mission East High includes a project for a school district client; students problem-solve real issues in school operations and deliver a written report with solutions.   

Like Summit Tech, the Shawnee Mission Center for Academic Achievement opened in 2017. The next-gen career center hosts a world-class culinary program (above) and restaurant, the Broadmoor Bistro, which serves more than 150 guests per day (and is booked out through Valentine’s Day). It is supplied (in part) by a horticulture program that includes a greenhouse and garden (below). 

Above the restaurant are labs where seniors are doing capstone biomedical research with a molecular biologist, Dr Kenneth Lee (below). Research topics include microbes that degrade plastic, mycelial networks, micro-building blocks, and treatments for diabetes.  

Shawnee Mission elementary schools have added career exploration experiences. There is a middle school career fair and a high school internship fair. Secondary students use YouScience to identify strengths and interests and match them to possible futures.   

Bringing Real World Learning to Scale in Kansas City

The first cohort of 15 school systems received planning grants four years ago. It now includes 35 systems and 80 high schools in three Missouri counties and three Kansas counties. 

The goal is that all students will graduate with at least one valuable experience (called Market Value Assets) including internships, client projects, college credit (9 hours) and industry-recognized credentials. 

Many of the participating school systems have improved the number of students graduating with valuable experiences from a baseline of one-fifth to almost half. A few systems had more than 70% of graduates earn MVA, with many earning two or three. 

The Kansas state board has recommended that students should graduate with at least two valuable experiences (with a slightly broader definition). 

Principals from 49 of the regional high schools are participating in a fellowship program learning from each other how to add more real world learning. (The school visit observations in this blog resulted from accompanying principals as they visited other real world learning schools.)

Adding more real world learning experiences is boosting student engagement and job-ready skills, it’s developing learner agency and social capital, it’s connecting youth to possible futures and inviting them to experience success in what’s next. As more graduates leave school with valuable experiences, it’s likely to boost entrepreneurship and economic mobility and make Kansas City even more equitable and vibrant.

The post More Real World Learning in Kansas City appeared first on Getting Smart.

In many high schools in the nation, the traditional course sequence and graduation requirements remain static: four years of English, three years of math, three years of science, etc. Both mathematical and language literacies still hold major importance for every graduate. And, as the world becomes more complex and unpredictable, new consideration should be given to the required core content. 

We talk a lot about the most innovative learner-centered schools that combine personalized, competency-based and project-based learning co-designed around real-world experiences. Here, content emerges from student interest in high-purpose topics while also linking to standards or competencies. These learning environments are challenging the Carnegie status quo and sit on the horizon of education. While important signals for the future of learning, they remain the minority.

Updating content areas would accelerate learning around three core types of skills expected by schools: core skills (typically the skills of writing, reading, mathematics, history, arts found in state standards), technological skills (industry skills earned through CTE programs, work-based learning, apprenticeships, career pathways, etc.), and transferable skills (durable skills, XQ). Weaving in the content below will create engaging and future forward ways to nurture the core, technological and durable skills while preparing young people to govern, contribute and thrive as adults.

Next-Gen Economics

Every learner should engage in learning about entrepreneurship. Releasing a generation of empowered problem-solvers equipped with the tools to contribute to ventures that have both financial and/or social impact, helps future generations find their sense of purpose and ownership. Uncharted Learning, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), and KnoPro from NAF all provide resources to embed entrepreneurial experiences and content.

Additionally, with both our country and many individuals experiencing significant debt, financial literacy remains low for graduates. Yet, it can have the most profound outcome on financial stability. Budgeting, credit, borrowing, and investing increase the long-term probability of financial stability for graduates. Both entrepreneurship and personal finance are well-represented in those who choose the CTE Finance or CTE Business and Administration career clusters, but this is not universally available. Many free or low-cost resources exist (see list here).

Artificial Intelligence

While school leaders and educators still are in the early stages of understanding the impact of AI, there is no doubt that it will rapidly become immersed in the education sector (likely in hyper-personalized learning of core skills and support for learning design and assessment). However, every graduate should understand the core principles of AI functionality and how to use it to augment intelligence and performance. These skills will be requisite in almost every future professional career. TeachAI.org recently released a guide for AI implementation while some districts, like Gwinnett County Public Schools, offer an AI CTE program pathway.

Civics and Citizenship

While often found in civics classrooms, the content remains less about good citizenship and more about the structures and function of government. While the structures and function are important, every student should understand their role in a democracy through political processes, how to move an idea to action, and community organizing for change. For example, the United States, with less than 50% of eligible 18-29 year old voters participating in elections, is in dire need of core education in civics. Organizations such as iCivics and Citizens and Scholars offer innovative and engaging approaches to civic education.

Media Literacy

Few other influential forces impact the current (and future) generations like digital media. The power of disinformation, misinformation, bias, etc. propagated through heavily financed algorithms will only increase. High school graduates need the tools and filters to process and evaluate everything they see online to better understand ways to get to the truth. Advances in AI around image, audio and video generation will make discernment of fact even more difficult. Resources such as Civic Online Reasoning at the core of every high school curriculum will have a significant positive change for future generations.

Healthy Living

Data shows the declining mental and physical health of adolescents. A generation struggling with mental and physical health increases the emotional and financial costs of a nation. While physical education programs have changed significantly over the years (like less dodgeball and rope climbing and more yoga and personal fitness), students still disengage from physical education. Accelerating, personalizing and customizing healthy living as part of core learning will increase the odds of healthy adults. Healthy food programs such as Food Corps and innovative physical education programs that focus on personal fitness can be integrated into the school day.

Place and Sustainability

Too many learners graduate high school with little to no knowledge about their local context and the long-term social, economic and ecological factors that drive the success or demise of a community. Every learner should graduate not only with a deep understanding of their own place, but should also know how to understand and impact future communities. Finding local purpose to inspire students through the creation of high-impact projects (Teton Science Schools’ Place-based Education, High Tech High) and building content around sustainability standards (Cloud Institute) can increase the long-term vitality of local and regional communities.

Neuroscience

One of the last frontiers in understanding the human body (along with the microbiome) is the brain. Every day, students are bombarded with outside stimuli that impact their brains from substances (alcohol, vaping, drug use, etc.) to technology (media, phones) – all while going through one of the more significant changes in the human brain – adolescence. Teaching relevant neuroscience could improve choice-making, mental health and learning in general (Global Online Academy, University of Wisconsin Neuroscience Training Program). By graduation all students should be able to describe the conditions and processes for how they learn and how they manage stress.

Data Science

Data science has surfaced over the last decade as critically important in many higher ed institutions and professions. Too many young people graduate high school never having had to create a spreadsheet, let alone organize, analyze and synthesize large amounts of data. Given the continued acceleration (again hyper-charged via AI) of data creation, every graduate needs to understand how to find, interpret, organize and analyze data in every form (YouCubed). 

Current Events 

While traditional history has expansive coverage in schools, most learners experience fact immersion rather than relevance and understanding. Every high school learner should experience history through a modern-day lens to both understand the throughline (see Throughline podcast) and the repeated themes of history — war, peace, power, oppression, freedom, religion, etc. — to find hope and skills to imagine a more peaceful future. Facing History provides a Current Events toolkit for those ready to jump in.

Systems and Futures

Understanding both systems thinking (the complex interactivity of multiple elements) and futures thinking (aptitudes for transformative vision-seeking over short-term solutions) is critical in a complex and uncertain world. By explicitly creating content and experiences around these concepts, young people are better equipped to anticipate and address current and future challenges.

To be clear, literacy remains paramount and a core pillar of society. While as a nation we still greatly struggle with literacy rates, we cannot wait to adapt our current content base toward possibility, opportunity and contribution. If a high school does not have the support or resources to complete redesign, rethinking the core curriculum may be an alternative first step when state or local policy allows. Replacing or merging the typical core content with the ten content areas above better supports the current generation of students to tackle an unpredictable and uncertain world.

The post The Content Every High School Student Should Learn (But Doesn’t) appeared first on Getting Smart.

At first glance, you might not be able to locate the teacher in Greg Zapasek’s class at Notre Dame High School in Ottawa, Canada. Instead of stationing himself at the head of the classroom, Greg Zapasek is working alongside individual students, conferencing with a small group of students, or triaging between different student groups on projects related to environmental sustainability. Similarly, just over 5,000 miles away in Lagos, Nigeria, Caleb British International School teacher Victor Okosun takes on the role of facilitator and coach to his students who are developing an eco-friendly refrigerator to help local farmers extend the shelf life of their produce. 

What connects both classrooms is Challenge Based Learning, a framework for learning while solving real-world challenges. This framework anchors the Ciena Solutions Challenge, a global design challenge run by Digital Promise and Ciena where students create solutions addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their communities. The SDGs are a collection of 17 interlinked goals for all countries to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Through the three phases Engage, Investigate, and Act, Challenge Based Learning invites learners to identify big ideas, ask questions, identify and solve challenges, gain in-depth subject area knowledge, develop 21st-century skills, and share their learning. 

Challenge Based Learning and the Sustainable Development Goals

While there are many frameworks for hands-on, project-based learning, Digital Promise embraces Challenge Based Learning for its ability to empower students and teachers to be co-learners. The framework encourages students to determine the questions that can lead them to solving their challenge and the steps to discovering what they need to learn. The process supports teachers to act as facilitators and mentors as they learn and problem-solve alongside students, and collaboratively develop a solution to address their challenge. 

“My role as the educator felt more like that of a coach, collaborating with students and offering support as they participated in their challenges,” said Greg Zapasek.

Because Challenge Based Learning helps cultivate authentic, student-driven learning experiences, it serves as a great scaffold for taking action on the SDGs in ways that are relevant to students’ personal lives and local communities. This is demonstrated by over 2,200 students around the world and their teachers–like Greg and Victor–who participated in the Ciena Solutions Challenge. We profile two of these teams from India and Zimbabwe who received a Ciena Solutions Challenge Sustainability Award to sustain and scale their projects.  

Taking Action on Good Health and Wellbeing in Purulia, India

Located in Purulia, West Bengal, India, a team of high schoolers and their teacher Susmita Roy Chowdhury at Santamayee Girls High School used the Challenge Based Learning framework to take action on hunger (Goal 2), good health and well-being (Goal 3), and decent work and economic growth (Goal 8). 

The team says their community is facing challenges such as high rates of unemployment and child malnutrition. Starting with the big ideas of combating malnutrition and empowering women financially, their essential question asks “How can we solve the prevailing rate of hunger and malnutrition in our community?” 

The team conducted surveys with adults and children in their community to learn more about their personal experiences accessing nutritious food. They consulted with nutritionists to learn about what constitutes a healthy diet, and along the way met a team of researchers and scientists at Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University who introduced them to pisciculture. 

With the help of scientists and researchers, they learned about the nutrients in small fish in their local waterways and discovered which types of fish are the most nutritious. After learning about ring pisciculture, they are working toward developing a fish farm on school grounds. The fish farms will be operated by senior students and women in the community who can earn income from cultivating the fish. 

“Teaching the students in the classroom [in a didactic style] and guiding them on a Challenge Based Learning Project are two completely different experiences because in the classroom, the students mostly follow in the teacher’s lead but in this kind of project, it is their thinking and performance that directs the overall progress,” said Susmita Roy Chowdhury. “So, as a teacher, it provided me an opportunity to witness how my learners react when faced with challenges, how they think and work as a team and how they implement their ideas into working models and that helped me understand my students a lot better than teaching-learning in a [didactic] classroom environment can ever do.”

Taking Action on Quality Education in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

In 2017, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education of Zimbabwe introduced a new competence-based curriculum incorporating the use of education technology. However, teacher Jobert Ngwenya and students at Eveline High School in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, recognized that there were few quality learning resources meeting the new standards. The team used the Challenge Based Learning framework to take action on quality education (Goal 4) and sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11). 

Starting with the big idea of 21st century learning, the team’s essential question asks “How can we provide free digital content for learning areas that are under-resourced?” Layered within this challenge were their desires to document, record and promote local history and culture, and encourage the use of mobile technology as a learning tool. They explored their essential question by researching readily available printed and online content in history, economic history, and heritage studies reflecting the new standards; comparing the average cost of textbooks with the average income of people in their region; and conducting a survey with students on their access to mobile devices and the internet. 

Based on the results of their research, they created Ilifa Lethu, a podcast through which they share information from difficult-to-access textbooks, local museums, people in their community who hold historical and cultural knowledge, and others with expertise in Zimbabwean culture and history. Their podcast is designed to provide more educational content for students in their community and share important cultural and historical knowledge to their community at large. They plan to scale up production by hosting more educational interviews, visiting and recording information from Matopo World Heritage Site, and getting their podcast disseminated through local radio.

Reflecting on the experience, Jobert Ngwenya says, “The Challenge Based Learning framework is a useful tool for addressing the SDGs because it provides a multidisciplinary, structured approach to problem-solving that engages learners in real-world challenges and encourages them to develop practical, feasible, and sustainable solutions that can make a positive difference in the real world.”

Elyse Gainor is a Program Director at Digital Promise. Elyse works on initiatives supporting youth voice and innovation, including the Ciena Solutions Challenge, a global design challenge for middle and high school youth, and the YouthMADE Festival, a global celebration of youth creativity and innovation.

The post How Challenge Based Learning Helps Students Around the World Make a Difference on the Sustainable Development Goals  appeared first on Getting Smart.

Forest Hills Northern High School (FHN), located in Grand Rapids, Michigan is home to several nontraditional education pathways offered to students in the Forest Hills Public Schools district. Two of the district’s programs, Project NEXT and the STEM Academy, coexist within FHN and strive to bring the “real world” into the classroom and prepare their students for successful futures. These programs are thriving in a newly developed space, in response to their growth, that now reflects the innovative work being done by their students.

Project NEXT

FHN took a bold step to offer their students a new way of learning through a project-based program called Project NEXT in 2018. Project NEXT is a 4-year parallel path program of study that was driven by the school and teachers’ visions to provide students with hands-on and collaborative ways of learning. Educators participated in project-based learning training through the Buck Institute for Education to gain the knowledge and skills needed to support the curriculum. The program originally began as a pilot initiative in the media center with just a handful of students. At the time, a modest investment was made in the pilot program by designing and refreshing the school’s media center with new, flexible furniture more conducive to next-generation, collaborative learning.

As the program has grown in popularity and success, it was clear this type of learning required more dedicated space to continue. Redesigning the school’s west wing to accommodate those musts started with converting a courtyard into a central learning commons, known as the Design Center, which acts as the hub of the program. Project NEXT now supports over 90 students in the high school and continues to grow as students express interest in this new way of teaching and learning. 

“This project was really unique because the architecture complemented the already established program and better supported the curriculum,” said GMB Project Lead, Chris Arntzen, about the project. “We were able to work with the district and teachers to create really intentional spaces based on the class work they had already practiced.”

The goal of Project NEXT is to prepare students for life through soft skills like communication, teamwork, public speaking, and independent thought. The specially designed spaces are intended to be multipurpose, flexible, and connected to achieve the program’s vision. Students in the program must identify and propose solutions to real-world problems, so spaces that fuel collaboration and creativity were essential. The Design Center includes a dedicated presentation area, an extension of a classroom set up for technology/computer lab overflow, and a mimicked coffee shop area. Next to the commons, each grade level has its own classroom pod of four classrooms and a breakout space. The pods can be interconnected for collaboration and co-teaching as needed.

“Students engaged in their learning tend to enjoy school more, retain their learning for a longer period, and build the necessary skills to succeed after high school,” said former Forest Hills North High School principal, Jon Gregory. “The new space allows for this type of learning to occur in a variety of ways due to the flexibility of the space and furniture. Students have commented on how easy it is for them to collaborate and engage with each other in their learning.”

STEM Academy

The Forest Hills STEM Academy is a program that is grounded in actionable learning and has been providing students with interactive learning opportunities since 2015. Coursework includes a thematic and interdisciplinary approach that gives students foundational skills and builds relevant connections in STEM education.

The original setup for the STEM Academy included a couple of science labs with connected instructional classrooms and refurbished classrooms that acted as maker spaces. With continued success in the program, and the addition of another hands-on learning program called Gone Boarding, the STEM Academy has found itself working alongside Project NEXT in the new Design Center. STEM Academy students can now split their time between more traditional academic classrooms and the commons area, which was designed with flexibility and multiple learning styles in mind.

One tangible outcome of the STEM Academy’s unique program is flourishing in the new space and turning their students into budding entrepreneurs. Handmade in the Hills is a soap business organized and maintained by sophomore STEM Academy students studying chemistry. Students are responsible for the development, packaging, marketing, and selling of soaps that come in different shapes, colors, and scents. Students are learning practical skills in manufacturing, mathematics, industrial arts, economics, and more from just this one portion of their curriculum. The success of this self-sustaining business also impacts students beyond just academics; it also develops their core life skills like teamwork and problem-solving.

“A lot of our students come back (to Forest Hills) and say that what they learned in presenting, collaborating, communicating really made a difference in their post-graduation life,” said Austin Krieg, STEM Academy chemistry teacher who leads Handmade in the Hills. “Giving students the opportunity to learn where they will do their best work is a unique aspect of our programs.”

One of the goals of project-based learning is to create cross-pollination between disciplines and build cohesion between curriculums in art, science, and beyond. The Design Center and adjoining science labs, art room, and woodshop can be used by any student at Forest Hills, creating a sense of unity throughout the school and creating opportunities for everyone.

“There is something for every student,” added Krieg.

Hannah Pier-Herendeen is the content writer and storyteller at GMB Architecture + Engineering.

The post Project-Based Learning Programs Support Creativity and Entrepreneurship in Specialized Space appeared first on Getting Smart.

One of the things I most appreciate about working at High Tech High (HTH) is that, in addition to teaching middle and high school students throughout my tenure, I’ve been able to help other teachers incorporate project-based learning (PBL) into their own practice. PBL is an integral part of our approach to teaching and learning and, over the years, our organization has grown from a single high school to 16 elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as a graduate school of education (where I earned my own master’s degree).

Since 2019, I’ve had the opportunity to work with educators from the Ulster Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) as part of a partnership that has connected teachers and students from San Diego, CA, to New Paltz, NY. Here’s how it works.

From Teacher to Trainer

High Tech High is a publicly funded charter school organization centered on PBL and guided by four design principles of equity, personalization, authentic work, and collaborative design. As our organization has expanded to add more schools, I’ve worked at several of our campuses, at both the high school and middle school level, over the years.

Though our funding comes from a statewide benefit for charter schools, we are embedded in the San Diego Unified School District. Students apply to attend and are selected through a lottery. A certain percentage of students from each zip code from across San Diego County is accepted to ensure a student body with diverse demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

As more educators outside our school became interested in project-based learning, we began offering PBL 101 professional learning opportunities to other schools. In the beginning, these usually consisted of teachers visiting our campus and seeing how we worked with students. Over time, some of us teachers had the opportunity to visit other schools to share an overview, and later, we began offering professional development facilitation through our graduate school and coaching as a follow-up. Today, our graduate school offers a range of other in-person and online events to further project-based learning through collaboration with other educators and schools around the world.

It’s work that comes on top of my teaching time, but I love it. We have many unique opportunities at HTH, and being able to work with other schools is one of the many things that I enjoy.

Partnering with Ulster BOCES

We began working with Ulster BOCES in 2019. Having an ongoing relationship with teachers over the years, and seeing new teachers come in as ideas have been disseminated through their district, has been amazing.

The first time that we went to Ulster, we worked with a single-component district. It was productive because they had visited HTH, were familiar with how we did things and knew exactly what they wanted from us. It was a really good fit in terms of us sharing what we do and then receiving feedback. I’ve been brought out to coach there six or seven times now, and it’s definitely a two-way relationship in that I always come back with new ideas for my own practice. After seeing teachers from Ulster’s Hudson Valley Pathway Academy (P-TECH) facilitate an exhibition of student work in front of their community project partners at Viking Packaging, for example, I started implementing their format for panel discussions of student products. Their system for feedback specific to product improvement was great, with benefits to both students and community partners and I have used it ever since.

About 50-60 educators attend the professional development workshops we’ve offered at Ulster this year, which were held in October and January, with one more to go in May. In the professional development sessions, we have everyone from administrators to first-year teachers. It’s difficult to get into solving specific problems in that context, but it provides a good look at the big picture. If a school is really going to dig into PBL, getting everyone together to see how it works from a range of perspectives is useful to everyone involved, even if they’re each only going to use the information in specific ways.

Coaching sessions are attended more on a drop-in basis by teachers who feel a need for some additional support. These are held monthly and attended by different people each time. There are usually about 15 educators in each session.

One of the highlights of working with Ulster has been the freedom they give us to share what we think will be best for their teachers. Having the autonomy as a designer of professional development to be able to ask what is going to work for each specific group allows us to have workshops that are as effective as possible. We have a lot of meetings before the early sessions, especially to talk about what is happening at each new school coming in.

Hudson Valley P-TECH has been a big collaborator from 2019 to today. We’ve collaborated on projects that allowed our students to meet their students, which has been really meaningful. A great example of project collaboration came during the pandemic, when another HTH teacher, Matt Haupert, collaborated with Steve Mason, a P-TECH teacher, to start a virtual project-based summer school course in which students from classes in the Hudson Valley and San Diego worked together to create their own online media publication called Teen Voices. Students worked with a variety of professional journalists and developed everything for the site, including written content, graphic design, and website layout.

A True Collaboration

We spend a lot of time planning the professional development sessions, with the first and third taking place in New York, and the second here in California. The coaching takes place monthly, which provides a great opportunity for us to receive feedback to refine further workshops. Teachers drop into those coaching sessions to get help on whatever they’re working on, so we can plan activities that are more likely to help them further their practice in the next session or the next workshop. During these coaching sessions, we have worked on elements of PBL such as scaffolding critique and revision lessons, ideating for launch ideas and setting up plans for school exhibitions. Most recently we discussed collaboration between teachers and hospital staff at Health Alliance as part of an upcoming health project.

Coaching is collaborative work. The teachers who show up have questions about how they are implementing PBL ideas, but once the questions are out there, we shift and begin working together. It’s a process of asking how we might meet these challenges and then working together collaboratively to push it forward. It’s not me saying, “This is what I do, so you should do this.” It’s me saying, “This is what worked for me as a teacher,” and then the other educators in the room sharing ideas that might also work. We’re all teachers, all dealing with the same things, so how do we make it work? As a teacher who’s been on the other end of coaching myself, I appreciate having an outside voice that isn’t embedded in my classroom to act as a sounding board and source of feedback.

I love working at High Tech High because I get to design with and for my students, and that means we’re always doing something innovative and new. I love coaching opportunities like the one I’ve enjoyed with Ulster for the same reasons. I get to work with teachers who are trying to solve a range of challenges and it’s always exciting to see how we’ll work together to find solutions.

Matthew Leader is a biology teacher at High Tech High. A native of San Diego, he received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at San Diego in General Biology and Teaching Credentials at San Diego State University. Matthew is an Americorps alumni, Socrates fellow alumni and he completed a Masters in Education in Teacher Leadership at the HTH Graduate School of Education. He can be reached at mleader@hightechhigh.org

The post From Designing Project-Based Learning to Designing Professional Development appeared first on Getting Smart.

Over the past seven years, I have been fortunate enough to dive deep into problem and project-based learning. This includes research, professional writing and professional learning facilitation all over the country. I have worked with hundreds of educators and dozens of schools on implementing project-based learning.

To get started, teachers volunteered to attend summer professional development dedicated to PBL. This was not only a great way to get buy-in and launch more inquiry-based learning, but it also served as a fantastic way for me to work with groups of teachers whom I’d be serving. We worked to not only implement more problem and project-based learning this year, but also to chronicle our work. Here is a summary of our collective experiences thus far.

The Driving Questions

Teachers designed inquiry-based projects that challenged students to not only think, but to allow their creativity and ownership to emerge. A few examples of the driving questions are:

What is something in the world that you would like to see change?

How can you use the Hero’s Journey to recognize and celebrate a local hero?

How are roles of women today similar or different from the Victorian era?

How can stress and anxiety be useful components of productivity?

How would you rank decades overall based on political, social and economic impact?

Student Voice & Choice

Teachers focused on designing projects that offered menus of options. This included various ways for students to focus on diverse approaches to the driving question, as well as unique ways to share their learning. These included podcasts, infographics, documentary films and even live theater productions.

English teacher Patrick Shattuck fully embraced the power of student choice. Shattuck not only applied this to projects but also made it an integral part of the classroom culture. He said he continually tells his students that the classroom is theirs and not his.

“We come up with class expectations, policies, and even deadlines together,” said Shattuck. “When I assign a project, students are always given the option to create their own topic as long as it meets certain criteria.”.

He said that both he and his students benefit. “It gives students a sense of autonomy and they enjoy taking the reins of their thoughts and futures,” he said. “Student voice and choice enhance my teaching by making the curriculum fluid, fresh and exciting. I learn a lot too.”

Civic Engagement

Many of the projects this year thus far have challenged students to engage with their greater community and even partner with professionals.

English Teacher Casey Reck challenged her 9th graders with the Local Hero Project. Working in self-selected groups, students chose a local hero to interview and then used the Hero’s Journey to share their story. Final products included podcasts or videos and Reck was extremely enthused about the outcomes. (see sample project here)

“Students learned how applicable the Hero’s Journey can be to real people; it isn’t just something found in literature or movies,” said Reck. “They realized that everyone has to overcome obstacles in life–whether that is moving to a new country and learning a new language or paying for grad school or switching careers.”

Social Science Teacher Greg Wolf challenged his juniors to choose a current issue of their choice in which they would like to see change. Once issues were chosen, Wolf said that students had to conduct research to both tell the story of their chosen issue and then generate a ‘call to action.’

In effect, Wolf said that students took on the role of single-issue lobbyists. Products ranged from documentaries to podcasts to websites to social media campaigns to change.org petitions, all of which were actually published (check out examples on the Social Science Dept. Instagram).

“My biggest takeaway thus far is the realization that the more I focus on what I want my students to do with the content, the more it becomes about what skills I want them to develop and how meaningful the learning experience can be,” he said.

Wolf said that his students would learn if he formed the right relationships with them, creates the right environment, and then got out of their way.

“Students have been happier this year in my class than I have ever seen, which I attribute to the new dynamic of meaningful inquiry coupled with student voice and choice,” he said.

Student Ownership

One of the most powerful projects thus far this year emerged from the Advanced Drama Class. Teacher Jeff McKinnon decided to pursue a devised theater project that uses the procedures of docu-drama to create an original, collaborative, and authentic performance piece.

McKinnon said that the students were instructed to interview one another about how stress affects their lives. He said the initial objective was to compile enough perspectives on stress in the high school culture to normalize it as a potentially useful tool, rather than an affliction to be avoided.

After some initial work, McKinnon said the unexpected happened in the process. He said what began to emerge from the transcribed student interviews was a subculture of intolerance and sexual abuse that students had experienced both on and off campus.

“This is really the key when creating a collaborative project,” said McKinnon. “That is to pivot toward what is emerging, rather than forcing the issues into an expectation of a pre-packaged result.”

McKinnon said he was reminded that process beats product. “I suppose the real revelation for me too is that something so easily generated can have such a profound impact and can be easily replicated along a variety of topics,” he said.

McKinnon said he learned more than he had originally bargained for and felt honored to have the experience. “I felt I was being given a privilege, an insider’s peek into a culture that was not mine,” he said.

For McKinnon, the result codified the power of project-based learning. “It is, at its base, collaboration on a devised and original project from start to finish,” he said. “Often at the start we have no idea what it will look like at the finish, but that is what many of us educators crave and most enjoy about the process.”

Final Reflections

This journey thus far has only reinforced to me that deeper learning is as much of a mindset as a pedagogy. As a school site instructional leader, nothing is better than creating the space and culture necessary for both teachers and students to address real-world problems in truly creative and collaborative ways.

The post Santa Ynez Valley Union High: An Organic Project-Based Learning Journey appeared first on Getting Smart.