Higher-Order Thinking Skills
Incorporating technology-based classroom activities to promote creativity, self-regulation, and higher-order thinking skills
Genius Hour
Once called Passion Projects, Genius Hour has become a teaching phenomenon unparalleled in modern education. The concept is for teachers to allow 20% of weekly class time for students to devote entirely to something of their own interest or passion to learn more deeply and/or to develop curiosity and new interests. The concept in a classroom originated from Google Corporation's idea that allows its employees to work on their own ideas beyond their assigned duties and has led to some valuable new ideas (Kesler, 2013; Heick, 2018). Genius Hour projects incorporate technology at minimum at a basic level by requiring students to research and the internet is a treasure trove of information students can sift through. Additionally, students can move beyond researching with technology to using technology to create their projects.
Some ideas for student Genius Hour projects are:
- learning to play an instrument
- learning a new language
- building a robot
- learning to code
- creating and maintaining a blog
- writing a book or poetry
- rebuilding an engine
- learning to paint, draw, or sculpt
- creating awareness campaigns
- starting a business
- creating a new product
Each Genius Hour project entails a high-level of creativity, requires self-regulation and resourcefulness, and higher-level thinking skills. However, Genius Hour also is not a free-for-all, but requires teachers to structure the learning environment, encouraging students to use their time and resources well (Heick, 2018).
Alignments
Genius Hour projects also align with the following ISTE standards:
- Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences (ISTE, 2019).
- Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others (ISTE, 2019).
- Innovative Designer: Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions (ISTE, 2019).
Genius Hour Resources
References:
Gonzalez, J. (2016, November 6). Your top 10 genius hour questions answered. Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/genius-hour-questions/
Heick, T. (2018, April 4). 6 principles of genius hour in the classroom. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/learning/6-principles-of-genius-hour-in-the-classroom/
ISTE. (2019). Standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students
Juliani, A. J. (n.d.) The research behind genius hour and choice in the classroom. Retrieved from http://ajjuliani.com/research/
Kesler, C. (2013, March 31). Genius hour ideas. Retrieved from https://geniushour.com/ 2013/03/31/genius-hour-ideas/
Spencer, J. (2017, March 10). The 5 biggest mistakes I made with genius hour. Retrieved from http://www.spencerauthor.com/the-5-biggest-mistakes-i-made-with-genius-hour-and-how-i-fixed-them/
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