Youth Engagement in Project-Based Learning

ALL children and youth are active people who want to be actively involved in learning, teaching and leadership throughout their communities. Responsible adults acknowledge that its not up to young people to become involved; in our adult-driven society, it is adults’ responsibility to engage youth. Project-based learning can give young people meaningful opportunities to move beyond negative participation and become meaningfully involved.

Ways Youth Engagement in Project-Based Learning Happens

Youth-Led Media — Assuming control when adults act out of control, young people can use media to create their own messages, share youth voice and build community belonging through youth-led media. Whether they use the Internet, social media, video, print media, or otherwise, youth-led media can change the world by positively empowering children and youth to create the messages and share the stories that matter to them.

Youth as Facilitators — Facilitating project-based learning can allow learners to become teachers and leaders, too. Centering on activities that matter to them, youth facilitators might teach their peers, younger learners and adults, too, in a variety of settings, including schools, nonprofits, community centers and other places.

Service Learning — Centering their projects on changing the world in positive, powerful ways and serving other peoples’ agendas can allow students to understand interdependence and community in powerful ways. Service learning connects real service with classroom learning goals, completing the promise of project-based learning in a different way.

Needs for Youth Engagement in Project-Based Learning

Education — Discovering what project-based learning is empowers many young people in new and powerful ways. Learning how to implement this strategy is powerful too. But when children and youth discover the assumptions behind project-based learning, the realities of facilitating project-based learning, and what it takes to assess and share project-based learning with the world they soar even higher.

Youth/Adult Partnerships — Working together across generations towards creating, completing and fulfilling the promise of project-based learning can empower young people in new ways. Youth/adult partnerships foster youth equity and support mainstreaming in powerful, meaningful ways.

Technology — Using the power of the internet, social media, gaming, texting and other technology can allow young people to change the world through project-based learning. Embracing their everyday technology as a learning device can bring them through indifference and inability towards empowerment and sustainable youth engagement.

Elsewhere Online

“Meaningful Student Involvement and Experiential Education” by SoundOut (A Freechild Project sister program)
“Boss Level: Collaborative Student-Led Learning at Quest to Learn” by Rachelle Vallon for Edutopia

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Other tools are out there, too – share your thoughts in the comments below! For more information about how The Freechild Project can support experiential education in your community or organization, contact us.