Teaching sequence

Please note: This lesson does not have suggested timeframes as the development and progression of a Passion Project may happen over an extended period of time or even occur in cycles. Work with your students at the pace you feel is best for them.

Tune In:

Finding a Focus

Find Out:

Pursuing a Passion

Take Action:

Producing Outcomes from a Passion

Reflection

Tune In: Finding a focus

Step 1

First, we need to help a student start thinking about their passions. This might depend on the year level and age of the student you’re working with.

Some suggestions include:

Note specific observations about the student’s effort and work and how you might channel their passions
Design a short interview to conduct with the student - see Step 2.
Have students discuss their favourite shows, sports, books, games or other media (such as TikTok) and their examples of people who are invested and passionate about a topic or issue
- What makes their work impressive? What does it take to achieve that?
Ask the student to think about where they have seen passion in action - do they know people who love their jobs or their hobbies?
Work with the student to design an interview they can conduct with others about their passions - this can help identify a need for their passion or inform an opportunity to learn with and from another person.

Step 2

If a student is struggling to identify or select their passions to pursue, consider interviewing them with some or all of the following questions:

Can you tell me about a time you’ve loved learning about something (in school or elsewhere)?
What would your family say you are passionate about?
Is there something you want to see changed in our world or community?
Do you have a dream project you want to undertake that you haven’t been able to?
Have there been any moments where things have felt like they have clicked into place? What did your learning look, feel and sound like then?
Have there been moments when you haven’t wanted to stop learning? What has happened that made you feel that way?

You could also suggest they watch the following video, then reflect with you afterwards:

Watch this 10min clip:

How to actually follow your passions - Struthless (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeoVDeUhrms)

Step 3

Discuss the Passion Profile format with your student. There is no need to complete it yet. Just explain that it is a simple way to identify areas of interest using different lenses on passions, strengths, and learning. It can be edited anytime and reviewed regularly to see how it evolves. It can also form part of your learner profile at school and be useful outside of school.

Look at the information About the Passion Profile from The Passion Toolkit for guidance on the different sections of the Profile.

The teacher’s role is to guide, coach and provide boundaries. For example, if a student is passionate about space, the teacher might help narrow their focus to a specific planet, the physics of space, etc., and what they might need to expand their knowledge.

Find Out: Pursuing a passion

Depending on the type of project chosen by the student, they might have class time to work on their project or might work independently as negotiated.

Step 1

Introduce the opportunity to complete a student’s Passion Profile with them to help narrow down a particular focus. After the Tune In steps, students should be more aware of what a passion is for themselves and others

Share the Passion Profile (as an online questionnaire that you may have transposed into a Google Form or online document or in paper form) and start to complete it with them - here is the ‘Passion Profile’ template.

Complete one Passion, one Strength and one Learning together
Encourage them to develop at least three independently. They can also talk to friends or parents about it or even other teachers.

Once completed, revisit their Passion Profile together. Discuss the points that have come up, the mapping on the diagram, and what might sit right in the middle as the focus for their passion-led learning journey.

Step 2

Discuss whether a small or larger project is emerging using the Passion Profile and the connected themes or topics from the mapping. Consider the time allocated, any deadlines, other stakeholders, materials, or spaces required. Most importantly, consider what the student might be ready for.

Below are four broad categories that provide a scaffold for the complexity of a project. These categories were developed Charles Fadel at the Center for Curriculum Redesign in Boston:

Investigations	Short activities that engage learners’ curiosity and help them to identify and focus on their areas of interest - Approximately 1 hour or less duration
Explorations	Longer activities that help learners build skills and knowledge that allow them to advance their passion - Approximately 1-8 hours duration
Adventures	Collaborative action projects that apply learners’ skills and capabilities to their passion-focused topics, issues, and/or communities - Approximately 8-50 hours duration
Quests	Extended personal passion projects, often guided by an expert mentor or coach, that go deep and wide into a learner's passion pursuits - Approximately 50+ hours duration

Step 3

Co-design a timeline and milestones for the project. These can always be renegotiated as it progresses. A simple template like the following might help to keep track of progress and goals as the student works independently.

Week	Goal	Progress
1
2
3
4

Step 4

Consider where the student might work. Will they stay in the classroom and work separately? Can they work in the library? Or will this mostly be completed at home?

Regularly check in with the student and discuss their project and any tricky bits as they progress.

Take Action: Producing outcomes from a passion

Step 1

As the student’s project progresses, it will become more important to decide together how the impact and effectiveness of the project will be measured.

This is trickier than curriculum-based assessment because there may not be prescribed outcomes. However, there needs to be an endpoint, even if that is a project phase.

Start with questions such as:

What do you want to learn/get better at through this project?
Who is helped by the project?
Who else has a say in the effectiveness of the project?
How will you know you’re successful?
What do you hope is the impact of the project? On themselves and others.

Step 2

Review the milestones together. These might be based on time or completion of key steps or phases. Because of the iterative nature of the work, they won’t necessarily produce ‘X’ by ‘Y’ date. Rather, they may have to report regularly about their progress and effort rather than a final product. For example, encourage students to:

Research and report back on what they have learnt

Try something out, test their ideas in some way and reflect on what they have learnt
Be prepared to try again with a different tactic or approach based on their first attempt
Seek feedback from different people, such as engaging with relevant people from the community outside the school.
Have a clear approach for gathering feedback. A useful order of questions for feedback is: What do you like (be specific)? What could be better? What questions do you have? Who should I talk to next?

This process is about learning as they go and following the development of their passion. The focus for you as their teacher is to support and guide them. Help them navigate their choices if they get stuck, and ensure they have the momentum to keep going when they hit roadblocks.

Step 3

At the end of the project or a major phase, a student might submit, present, or complete their work in whatever way was determined. A key factor is knowing who is the intended audience for this work - it might take time to arrange ways to reach and ‘pitch’ to them.

This stage differs from their progress with the Passion Profile, which they will reflect on with you at the end of the Term. Depending on the project, they might:

Pitch to the intended audience - remember to have the student practice before doing so
Present it to their peers, teachers, or school leaders - never underestimate the power of sharing one’s passion within a trusted network
Share with their family (such as part of parent-teacher conferences), especially around how their learning has evolved
Set up a display somewhere in the school or even in the community
A more formal presentation or performance to a community, as part of an event, or even a TEDx Talk!

Reflection

No matter what their project or how a student has pursued their passion, it is important that at the end, they should consider:

What have they learnt? Were there unexpected areas of learning?
How was their resilience tested? How did they get past the tough times?
Did they meet their objective - Why/why not?
What has been the impact of their project on themselves and others?
What’s next for their passions?

Have the student revisit their Passion Profile first completing one from a clean template, then showing them their previous one to compare. What’s changed and what’s the same?

Passion-led Learning: Individual Passion Project

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

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Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

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