What is Genius Hour and Project Based learning? How are they relevant for the education of our children?

It used to be the 3 R's: Writing, Reading and Rithmetic.
We are now in the in the 21st Century. Technology has had a huge impact on the way that we access information. We are also recognising the way children learn.
The features of a 21st Century classroom are creativity, Collaboration and Curiosity.

Genius hour is a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom. It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school. Genius Hour Mar 29, 2013

Student Engagement
Retention of information is greater. Students invest themselves more.
In PBL, students not only understand content more deeply but also learn how to take responsibility and build confidence, solve problems, work collaboratively, communicate ideas, and be creative innovators.
Differentiation for student's needs.
Syllabus requires critical thinking

Genius Hour start with an essential driving question. The answer to the question is one that cannot be found on Google. It needs to be open ended and allow students to find multiple answers to the question.

The students had to create a proposal which they presented to the teacher. This process helps to ensure that the learning is clear and intentional.

Students need to develop research and investigative skills when looking for a solution to the problem. For younger children this aspect is supported and directed by the teacher. Students need to document what they have learnt. Feedback and discussion is essential through each part of the learning process.

The process then moves into the phase where students start to develop and create their ideas.

The ideas and prototypes of the process are refined through feedback. Students often find that they need to look at their work to find what are the strengths and weaknesses. They then use that feedback to produce a final product.

Showing their work to an audience means that students are able to share what they have learned with an authentic audience. It also ensures that the results of the learning are of a higher quality when they know that there will be other's who will be viewing their project. The students shared their work at a Kidmeet, based on the Teachmeet we are attending today.

Three things that my students gained from Genius Hour was:
1. Persistence- learning to persist with their project when they came across a problem that needed to be solved.
2. Organisation- learning to make sure that they were prepared for Genius Hour each week and to invest their time into their project.
3. Enthusiasm for learning- they enjoyed doing something that they were interested in. There was an enthusiasm to work on their projects.

Some things that I gained from Genius Hour:
1. A different perspective of my students- the students who didn't always achieve academically were the ones who showed the greatest creativity, persistence and ideas.
2. that I needed to be proactive in the process through inquiry and feedback. Giving feedback was vital to process.
3. To have the opportunity to watch how each student went about the process of learning.