By Elina Alayeva

Lingering on what’s possible in education is only worthwhile if we have a roadmap to get there. I’ve already written about the ways in which today’s high schools are falling short of what they could provide students, and how we can make those critical years of self-identity and exploration more meaningful for students.

Read the paper: “Making High School Meaningful”

At Springpoint, we believe that high school can be a place where students fall in love with learning, feel energized by their assignments, and develop a sense of who they are and why what they’re learning matters.

How can we make that dramatic shift? Research tells us that these kinds of opportunities can be delivered through project-based learning (PBL), an instructional approach that improves engagement, motivation, and self-efficacy among students and is associated with positive student outcomes regardless of racial and socioeconomic status. But our field has yet to fully capitalize on PBL’s promise to bring students consistently challenging and compelling educational experiences. 

Our team advocates a new approach to project based learning centered around the concepts of rigor and purpose: 

• Rigor is the demand for critical thinking in the context of open-ended questions that lack simple solutions. We frame it as the difference between work that asks students to “figure out” vs “find out.” Rigor also means that students, not teachers, do the thinking in the classroom—conversations and inquiry are guided by students’ ideas and student voice is nurtured.  

• Purpose refers to the authenticity and relevance of the experience to motivate a student’s interest and promote identity development. Putting purpose at the center of learning moves students away from passive, compliance-based activities and into explorations fueled by curiosity, passion, and an authentic desire to know more. 

Students engage in purpose-driven academic work because addressing the questions posed really matters to them. They stay engaged—and they engage with rigor—because purpose brings coherence to their learning. 

This kind of learning fosters true inquiry, challenges students with complexity, and pushes them to think deeply. We call this kind of learning transformative learning experiences.   

 So what makes a transformative learning experience? We’ve identified five essential components:

• A Driving Question that is focused on a relevant and engaging topic that places high cognitive demand on students. These may often align with current events or students’ personal journeys, such as the mathematics of career planning, combating the opioid crisis, demystifying fake news, examining neighborhood gentrification, and more. 

• The Creative Artifact is the culminating deliverable that brings together all of the concepts covered and has actual value beyond the classroom’s four walls. Far from a one-and-done assignment, it is the result of an iterative process, sustained practice or mastery of a given medium. Creative Artifacts can take many forms, including performances, presentations, videos, persuasive or creative writing or other art, a campaign poster, coded programs, podcasts, or even cooked meals.

• Written Commentary requires students to exercise critical thinking skills as they’re challenged to explain and defend the thinking behind each Creative Artifact. It makes cognitive processes visible, displaying a clear line of reasoning and incorporating a rich variety of credible sources. This element enables the reader to deeply grasp the logic behind students’ approach. Written Commentary can be demonstrated in many ways; for example, it could involve composing a persuasive essay, a letter to the editor, a judicial opinion, or a podcast script.

• The Authentic Exhibition is where classroom learning meets real-world consequences; it reinforces the application of what has been learned, raises the stakes for student work, and gives students an opportunity to experience pride in their accomplishments. The work is presented to public stakeholders who have a genuine interest in the topic and can provide important feedback. Students may host a panel presentation or interview; they might create a video, publication; or they could design an immersive in-person experience such as a gallery walk, or science fair booth.

• Metacognitive Reflection helps students cement shifts in their thinking and prompts them to consider their personal growth at the conclusion of a project, encouraging them to look holistically at the processes they’ve undertaken as they learned new concepts and skills. This process helps reinforce students’ identities as learners, which is essential for fostering independence, agency, and equity.

While several of these components are present in project based learning approaches, we at Springpoint have come to believe that all five are essential to transformative learning and need to be present across all subject areas and all projects.  These integrated components are essential if we want to deliver on the promise of PBL and help all students reach their full potential.

How might our world be different if a generation of students spent their high school years exploring their passions, grappling with challenging content and concepts, and engaging in meaningful and authentic projects that help them make meaning of their communities and the society around them? 

That’s a high school experience every kid deserves. Wouldn’t you agree?