World ready citizens | Mikela Tarlow & Stone Creek Charter Students | TEDxVail

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Project based learning takes these students beyond their typical classroom studies; allowing them to find their own creative voice and discover paths for taking action in the world. Supported by a web based platform, these students design, manage and share their creative solutions. Empowered, engaged, and enthusiastic, they offer a brief tale of what's possible through PBL (project based learning).

Mikela Tarlow, founder of Actionlab360, an online project based learning platform, interviews three Stone Creek Middle School students on their transformational educational experiences. Troy, Connor, and Nicole come to life when sharing how PBL (project based learning) takes their interest in learning up a notch.

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)