I remember when I first started at High Tech High obsessing for hours on end over project ideas. I lost sleep at night, stayed extra hours at school, and created complicated multi- page documents detailing how everything would connect.
And still, many of my projects fell flat.
It wasn’t until year four that I discovered the secret to great project ideas:
The best project ideas are ones that already exist.
Best project based learning experiences aren’t thought up in a classroom; they are constructed where true projects exist, in the community.
They involve creating solutions to real world problems that involve high stakes, collaboration with experts, and a chance for students to engage in real world work.
Discovering this secret has helped me distill the project ideation process into five simple steps. These are the same steps I use in work with educators within schools, after school programs, and in engaging summer camps that teach innovation.
I have detailed those steps in the video below. I have also attached a simple worksheet to help you organize your ideas and decide upon the best one. The main goal: Help you come up with your own engaging project idea.
I hope you find the video and worksheet helpful. If after watching the video, you are interested in purchasing the whole course, right now it’s available here for a discounted price. You can take the course as an individual educator, or as part of a collaborative school group. Please e-mail me if you want to learn more.