- Saturday 06 October 2018
- 1 Comment
Genius hour, also referred to as twenty percent time, is a student-driven learning approach that has been gaining momentum in classrooms in recent years. The aim of this approach is to allow students the space and time to investigate passions or interests of their own choosing.
The idea of genius hour is to allocate twenty percent, or one hour of a teaching day, to a student’s passion project. Although this is the typical framework, some teachers have had success with allocating a ‘genius day’ in which one day every week is devoted to a major project.
This concept may sound quite chaotic or difficult to control in a classroom environment; however, instead it allows teachers to play the role of a facilitator. With each student conducting their independent learning, the teacher is able to help students plan and guide their projects.
How does genius hour relate to the Australian Curriculum?
While genius hour was conceptualised to give students complete creative license, teachers do have authority to provide their students with a selection of topics that more directly relate to a particular learning area or module. This way students still have autonomy in choosing their topic from a predetermined scope, and will therefore still be active in their learning.
Not only does genius hour help students achieve academic learning outcomes, it also assists them in developing important transferrable skills such as problem-solving, researching and time management.
Genius Hour isn’t about making students good test-takers, it’s about giving them permission to innovate. More information is available here (http://geniushour.com/), or play the video below to get your little entrepreneurs motivated!