The Power of Student

Driven Exploration:
Genius Hour
By: Kaelii Stout
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Proposed Audience:

● Grade Level for the Pilot: 2nd Grade - Gifted Students

● Department/Content Area for the Pilot: Science - Natural Disasters
(rapid changes) -- integrating research components through ELA
● Number of students that will benefit from the program: 25 students
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Student Summary:
My gifted students have demonstrated a strong Encourages Students…
understanding for the basic concepts that
• Engagement
support natural disasters (how are they formed,
• Personalization of their learning
where do they occur). In efforts to advance and
• Student choice
challenge their learning to think more deeply,
• Creativity
students will be engaging in genius hour to
• inquiry
explore, research, and communicate about their
self-selected question.
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Proposed Idea:
My piloted idea is to implement genius hour with 2nd grade students during our science time.
Students will be choosing a rapid change to research and explore further. They will be given 40
minutes each day (end of the day writing time) to each research a student-generated question
about their rapid change. They will then use their creativity to create a final product to display and
communicate their learned information. A few examples of final products could include, but are
not limited to, a powerpoint, Adobe Spark video, newscast, etc.
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How is this project innovative?

• it allows students to generate their own questions
• explore through resources
• use their creativity to choose how to deliver and communicate
their learning about a specific rapid change.
• Genius hour provides students with an opportunity to engage in
their learning.

My students are always questioning and inquiring new learning about a

selected topic. By allowing them a broader topic of natural disasters, they
can narrow it down to their chosen natural disaster to then explore deeper
and further. Creativity is a huge push in our classroom that we assess
through multiple learning experiences, and genius hour provides students
Image source: Strategy Execution, 2018
with a way to independently explore their creativity.
 How does this project align with the four big shifts? 6

(mcleod & Shareski, 2018, pg.4)

Higher Level Learning Student Agency

● inquiry/develop questions ● Personalize their learning through exploration
● Researching information ● Based on interests
● Analyze information

Authentic Work Technology Integration

● Connecting critical thinking with real-world ● Use of technology to research/explore reliable
natural disasters sources
● Real-world application of natural events ● Creating a final product using technological
tools
● Communicating new learning through
technology
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References:
McLeod, S. & Shareski, D. (2018). Different schools for a
different world. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.