What is Genius Hour? An Overview of Genius Hour and 20% Time in the Classroom
752Genius Hour begins with a simple premise. Give your students 20% of their class time to learn what they want. They choose the content while also mastering skills and hitting the academic standards.
With Genius Hour, students own the entire journey:
They choose the topics based upon their own geeky interests.
It doesn’t have to be a traditionally academic area.
They might like fashion or food or sports or Legos or Minecraft or deep sea creatures
They can then match these topics with topic-neutral standards.
Students ask the questions and engage in their own research to find the answers.
Along the way, they design their own plan of instruction. They decide on the resources and activities. Each student sets goals and engages in self-assessment.
They work at their own pace and set their own deadlines.
Students decide on the grouping. Some work alone. Others work in pairs or small groups.
In the end, students figure out what they will make and how they will share their learning with the world.
A word of caution: It’s not a free-for-all.
The best Genius Hour projects have systems and structures that empower students to reach their full potential.
Even so, there will be mistakes. You’ll have to experiment.
But in the end, students are empowered to be be self-directed learners, engaging in creativity and critical thinking. In other words, they own the learning.