Mikela Tarlow: So how do we prepare kids
for the future that they are going to face?
Because I believe
when these kids graduate high school, college, get their first jobs,
I think their future is going to look radically different.
It's going to change so fast,
I don't think we can even predict what's going to happen.
So how do we prepare them for that kind of world?
So, that question has obsessed me for the last six or seven years.
And I feel like we are slowly stumbling on some solutions
where we are working with portfolios that allow kids to find their voice.
We have developed a way for kids
to customize and approach to an assignment.
So 20 kids can have the same assignment,
but each find their own way into approaching that same assignment.
But a large part of what we're doing is project-based learning
where we are asking kids to apply what they know and make something happen.
We call it action-based learning,
because we're asking them to go even further than that
and to make a real difference in the world.
So one of our partners in this has been Stone Creek Middle School here in Edwards.
I'd like to introduce three of the students
who have been working with us for quite a while.
This is Conrad, Troy, and Nicole.
So my first question is to you, Conrad.
You have just started working with project-based learning.
I am wondering what the impact has been for you.
Conrad: I definitely become a better researcher.
Because with my project there wasn't too much about the topic
that I was doing, net zero energy.
So I had to go to some sites that I wouldn't normally go to.
M.T.: So you start to think outside the box?
Conrad: Yeah. M.T: OK.
Troy: It has taught me how to be a better leader,
and that a leader is not someone who is mean to their employees
or bosses their group members around.
They find everybody's strengths
and help them work together as a good group
and make them feel empowered,
and that way, your project will get done in a much more efficient and fast way.
Nicole: It has taught me not to feel scared.
Because deep inside of me, I want ideas to be expressed,
but I am always scared about being judged or being called different.
And now I know that I don't have to worry about that.
MT: So let me ask you another question.
You've been watching a lot of your friends go through this.
You have been watching the whole class go through it.
I will start with you, Nicole.
What kind of changes have you seen
in your friends and others you have watched?
Nicole: Well, I have two personal friends.
They are like anti-social. They really don't talk with anyone.
But when the problem-based learning day comes, they are jumping off the walls,
they are talking, and interacting with everyone.
They are totally different persons.
Troy: My friends have so much more self-confidence,
because they feel that they can create an idea.
No matter how crazy it may seem, no one will judge them.
They can make it into a great project that everyone will be very proud of.
Conrad: My friends-- we did a couple of projects last year.
When it came to the day to do it, they are all just blah,
and now when it comes to the project-based learning day,
they are all just bouncing off the walls
and are really happy kind of like Nicole's friends.
MT: Let me ask you one more thing.
So the whole intention of this is to prepare you for the future,
for what you are going to face in the future.
So how do you feel,
do you think it has prepared you for the road ahead?
Troy: I really feel it has,
because in our future jobs we are not going to be doing huge algebra problems.
We are going to be working on practical problems,
and we are going to have to know how to put a plan together,
and how to put that plan in action.
Nicole: I agree with what Troy said.
You can't just sit at that table and say,
I am going work on my personal problems for 30 minutes.
You can't do that.
You have to think about what you are going to do in that moment
you have to think everything effectively, and everything will turn out right.
Conrad: People should include more problem-based learning in their curricula
because it definitely prepares kids more for the world ahead of them.
MT: So thank you. I hope you enjoyed our dialogue.
Students: Thank you.
(Applause)