20% Time Redux Redux

I again assigned my high school seniors an end of semester  20% time project.

I've written before about this idea and my uses of it here, here and here. After a broadly positive experiences last year, I happily tried it again this year.

I'm largely pleased by the results of the students' efforts. The format forces me to really trust my students because I'm really turning it over to them. I conference with students and check in frequently. This year, I created and shared a google doc for each student to record our conferences and for me to remember what I said and to see resources I found for each project.

Here's a few projects I am particularly impressed by this year.

This student used complicated mathematical modeling to explore how these models are used in the field of International Relations. I confess that much of the math is beyond me. But I was very excited by the synergy between his Calculus/ Linear Algebra class and my IR class. He was able to use a theory he learned about in my class as a germ of an idea to develop his own model.

Central to the 20% time model is the requirement that students engage with experts in the field. The student who wrote the paper above worked with his math teacher to write a paper for his International Relations course, which is considered to be a history class at my school.

These two students used one of my favorite tools, Sparkpage, to produce their reports.
This young man, who is learning Russian, interviewed LGTBQ Russians to learn about their experiences of oppression under Putin's regime. These Russians are certainly "expert" witnesses to the LGBTQ persecution in Russia

This young woman is fascinated with cyber warfare and cyber security interviewed an expert on cyber security.

There were a couple of flops. I am clear with the kids that failure is an option and that as long as the effort was there, failure is okay. Some risks might not pay off. But letting the kids learn about what they are interested in usually pays off. I'm comfortable if the flop occurs because students took big risks that didn't pan out. Powerful learning still happens.