Today, and over the next week, our class will begin planning our inquiry based ‘Genius’ projects. This project will be a longer term venture that culminates in an expo in week 7 next term. Genius projects allow students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom. This project provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time each week.

The idea is based on Google’s 20% time, where their employees are encouraged to spend a percentage of their time working on a project that they are passionate about. The idea is that when you allow people to work on something that interests them, productivity will go up. Google’s policy has worked so well that it is estimated that 50% of Google’s current products are a result of this time.

The same principles apply for this project in the classroom. A limited amount of time will be given each week for the students to work on their passion projects. Students are challenged to explore something that they want to learn more about. They have choice around their projects but must meet some requirements!

The first task in this process is to complete a project proposal. This proposal includes information about what they want to learn about, it needs to include an inquiry question, and a clear idea of what the intended learning is. This can be a challenging part of the process for students! Unless they have CLEARLY met these requirements they are unlikely to get their first proposal approved. It can be tricky to match a topic that a student is passionate about (eg cricket) with a project that has challenging  learning at the centre of it. When a proposal has been approved, each group meets with a teacher to set assessment criteria for their project.

The next task is to develop a progress time line that guides the project process. This timeline set deadlines for certain parts of the project to be completed by. Again, this is a challenge for students to stick to, but works well to keep them on track and avoid last minute panic!

A log book / journal is another part of the project that keeps a record of what is achieved during each project session, including the input of each group member. Students also log any out of class time that they spend on their project. Students are also encouraged to record ‘snapshots’ of their progress along the way.

The culmination of this project is an ‘expo’ event that will be held around week 7 next term where students will display their final projects and explain their process to their audience. A final reflection piece will then be completed by each student.

This is not an easy project! It will require students to stretch their thinking and be organised. We expect that students will be highly motivated and engaged in challenging learning that they have had a hand in designing. We look forward to sharing our learning along the way!