Many teachers wait until mid-year or the end of the year to launch solutionary projects to spark or sustain student engagement. Increasingly, however, we hear that teachers plan to start the year with solutionary projects. They’re finding that solutionary projects set the tone for the year ahead by immediately helping students engage in deeper learning, build a supportive classroom community, make real-world connections, focus on critical and systems thinking, and develop key skills through doing a practice run. In the process, teachers say they learn a lot about their students; students learn a lot about each other; and everyone develops agency, optimism, and skills. What a great way to set the stage for a productive year of learning and doing!
Reason 1: Engage Students in Deeper Learning
“Right away you are getting those students completely involved, which means they’re inspired, and they’re curious, and they want to do the work.” – Middle school teacher
When students are engaged in learning, they retain more and can transfer their learning effectively. Once deeper learning is part of your classroom culture, it becomes a habit, not something that constantly needs prompting. Developing that habit means setting expectations – and coaching students toward them – from the beginning of the year. A great way to do that is through:
- Cultivating curiosity – making good questions more important than easy answers;
- Fostering compassion – asking who benefits and who is harmed by the situation;
- Developing imagination – inviting students to consider what would need to change, what it would look like if things were different, what else we could do;
- Emphasizing the need to understand all issues from multiple perspectives.
One high school teacher we know guides students to work on their solutionary projects throughout the whole school year. Students begin in the fall learning about topics that interest them. Following regularly scheduled whole-class discussions, students brainstorm ways to research further and then share their findings at the next discussion. In the process, they learn how to write professional emails, interview stakeholders, and share insights.
This protocol of student-led discussion and inquiry lasts from September to November. Beginning in December, students identify the specific problem they would like to work on. In January, they investigate the causes and impacts of the problem. Between February and April, they innovate solutions, make plans, and take action. And in April/May, they reflect on what they learned and the advice they would give to others who may want to do solutionary projects.
(Of course, this is only one of many ways to schedule and structure solutionary projects!)
Tip: Deliberately foster curiosity, compassion, inspiration, and imagination to create fertile ground for solutionary inquiry-to-action projects.
Resource: Curiosity, Compassion, Inspiration, and Imagination (CCII) handout
Reason 2: Build a Supportive Learning Community
Starting the school year off with a solutionary inquiry-to-action project quickly builds classroom culture and relationships.
A shared project gives students a reason to talk to each other, negotiate ideas, and figure out how to work together. The benefit is that norm-setting happens naturally, and you learn a lot about your students’ strengths and personalities in the process. Establishing the expectation that students will be kind, respectful, and helpful to one another sets a productive tone for the whole year. By asking students to routinely reflect on how they are working together, students begin to see that the strength of their connections to one another and the quality of their collaboration is as important as what they accomplish.
A shared project gives students a reason to talk to each other, negotiate ideas, and figure out how to work together. The benefit is that norm-setting happens naturally, and you learn a lot about your students’ strengths and personalities in the process.
Why is this critical? In a recent study by the Walton Foundation (1), “the strongest predictors of whether students enjoy school are the extent to which they feel their coursework is interesting, important, and lets them exercise their talents, whether their teachers recognize and encourage their individual strengths and goals, and whether they feel like they belong at their school.”
Tip: Set up regular protocols, times, and expectations for students to reflect on their learning and process.
Resource: Student Reflection Rubrics
Reason 3: Make Real-world Connections
Research increasingly shows that when students work on real problems with real stakes, they are more motivated, engaged, and academically successful (2). The effect is especially strong for students who are underserved by traditional instructional approaches (3). Therefore, the sooner students see that school is relevant, the more engaged in learning they become, leading to better outcomes over the course of the year.
The sooner students see that school is relevant, the more engaged in learning they become, leading to better outcomes over the course of the year. By definition, solutionary community action projects connect student learning to the real world because students are addressing issues they care about in their schools and communities.
By definition, solutionary community action projects connect student learning to the real world because students are addressing issues they care about in their schools and communities. Regardless of focus—water quality, food systems, mental health, pollution, etc.—as soon as students engage with an issue that concerns them, they immediately understand that they have to use their numeracy, literacy, and scientific skills to conduct research, interview stakeholders, collect and analyze data, and make a communication plan. They are motivated to learn and practice these skills so they can apply them to investigating and solving a real-world problem.
Tip: Use place-based problem-based learning to create a motivating context for refining and practicing key skills.
Resource: Interviewing Stakeholders Checklist
Reason 4: Focus on critical and systems thinking
Educational leaders have talked about the importance of critical thinking for decades. Yet in most K-12 classrooms, critical thinking is often reduced to exercises that feel disconnected from students’ lives. When students don’t see the importance of practicing critical thinking, they may do just enough to get by. The result? Millions of students graduate every year without a strong ability to think critically.
Now, the buzz is about systems thinking – the idea that everything is connected and that working on one part of a system, without considering the potential impacts on other systems, can lead to adverse unintended consequences. By identifying leverage points in a system, we can act strategically and have greater impact when trying to solve multi-faceted problems.
When solutionary projects are undertaken at the beginning of the year, all students get essential instruction on critical and systems thinking, with ample opportunity to practice throughout the year. This is important because the real power of a solutionary project lies in the critical and systems thinking skills students carry with them into the rest of their lives, making it possible for them to be effective problem-solvers, able to address complex challenges they will face in the future.
When solutionary projects are undertaken at the beginning of the year, all students get essential instruction on critical and systems thinking, with ample opportunity to practice throughout the year.
Teachers comment frequently on how often they see students apply these thinking skills to solutionary projects – and beyond. As one teacher told us, “After working on a solutionary project, my students have tools they didn’t have before. They have tools that they can use in their lives beyond the classroom to solve problems wherever they go. They’ll remember to look for what’s underneath a problem, and they understand systems thinking, and mental models. They know that values and beliefs can perpetuate problems. They’ve learned to question assumptions. … Those are skills that will serve them forever.” – High School Teacher
Tip: Strengthen students’ abilities to engage in critical and systems thinking by teaching those skills while doing a solutionary project.
Resource: Six Resources for Teaching Systems Thinking blog
Reason 5: Develop Key Skills through Doing a Practice Run
When you begin the year by using the Solutionary Framework to guide inquiry-to-action projects, students do not have to wait to:
- Develop curiosity
- Deepen perspective-taking and compassion
- Become inspired to be a positive changemaker
- Imagine how they can shape a better world for people, animals, and the ecosystems that sustain all of us
People do not become proficient by doing something just once. It takes practice and coaching to develop expertise. When skiing for the first time, you do not start on a black diamond slope – you start on the easier slopes and learn some beginner skills. Then you practice, get coaching/instruction/pointers, and gradually move to harder slopes. This is a great rationale for doing a whole-class, collaborative solutionary project early in the year followed by small-group solutionary projects that include more student voice and choice in the second half of the year.
One middle school teacher starts each year with a solutionary project related to her unit on voting. Before embedding a solutionary project into her voting unit, engagement was low. Teaching students the Solutionary Framework and having them apply it to a project right away accomplishes several things at once: increased engagement in learning, immediate efforts to take positive action beyond the walls of the school, a problem-solving mindset, a commitment to rigorous thinking, and caring, supportive student relationships through collaboration.
This teacher incorporates all of the Social Studies and ELA standards she needs to address through the project. Students have carried out a variety of investigations and taken a wide range of actions related to voting. For example, students conducted exit polls, presented to 18-year-olds, about why they should vote; petitioned for clearer ballot language; and developed a data-based formula to predict turnout. The teacher told us that having this solutionary experience results in most students hitting the ground running when they choose their own problem to work on in the spring. That means that more students have the opportunity to go through the entire solutionary process a second time, from problem identification to meaningful action.
Tip: Teach the Solutionary Framework explicitly the first time through and refer to the stages and steps throughout the project.
Resource: Overview of the Solutionary Framework (5.1)
In Conclusion:
There is no one right time to do solutionary projects. However, starting the year with a solutionary inquiry-to-action project has many benefits. If you guide your students to begin solutionary work early in the year, we hope you’ll tell us how it went. Your tips and approach might motivate another teacher to give this a try!
What is the best way to learn how to use the Solutionary Framework to design and guide Think Global, Act Local student-led solutionary projects? Take IHE’s online Solutionary Micro-credential Course! Over 7 weeks, get practical tools, try tested strategies, and meet other educators excited to develop students into informed stewards of our beautiful planet. Learn More & Apply.
Many thanks to Betsy Farrell-Messenger, Ragan Elsesmore, Nannette Mills, and Jaylene Roths for generously sharing the solutionary work they have done with their students.
References:
1. Walton Family Foundation & Gallup. (2026). Voices of Gen Z study: Year 4 annual survey. Walton Family Foundation. https://static.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/3c/56/331765b64ebb8ea58c83c653b0f0/wff-gallup-year-4-annual-gen-z-report-final.pdf
2. Filges, T., Dietrichson, J., Viinholt, B. C. A., & Dalgaard, N. T. (2022). Service learning for improving academic success in students in grade K to 12: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 18(1), Article e1210. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1210
3. Lucas Education Research. (2021). Rigorous project-based learning is a powerful lever for improving equity in schools [Research brief]. https://www.lucasedresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Equity-Research-Brief.pdf