As I’ve reported in the past, IQ scores are on the move, rising nearly ten points with each generation. Known as the Flynn effect, after James Flynn, a cognitive scientist, the reason behind the rise in scores is widely debated, but answers focus on one area that should be of interest to teachers: Scores are increasing because children are showing greater capacity for fluid intelligence. That’s the ability to see patterns and solve novel problems without prior information, which relies on better working memory (the capacity to manipulate information) and a longer attention span. Intelligence researchers consider fluid intelligence to be the ultimate cognitive ability—a kind of gold standard for smart. Until a few years ago, fluid intelligence was considered immutable, but research in 2008, using computer programs, showed that it may be improved through training.

The fall out from the research was predictable: Brain boosting software flooded the market. In our data driven, analytic, brain-centric-society, the enhanced ability to count and remember squares on a screen was seen as a competitive edge.

But I suggest that teachers approach fluid intelligence differently. First, don’t be fooled into thinking the brain alone is at work here. The brain is not an isolated cognitive organ whose neuronal pathways and exact mechanisms for problem solving have been identified, or whose mysterious interactions between emotions and a conscious thought have been parsed. Neuroscientists themselves caution us not be overconfident about applying brain science to the classroom.

Second, don’t be misled by IQ results. Another significant reason that IQ scores are rising is that formal schooling teaches students to categorize objects, which helps them on IQ tests. In 1900, for example, an IQ test might have asked about the relationship between rabbits and dogs. The correct answer: Dogs chase rabbits. Today’s correct answer? Both dogs and rabbits are mammals.

This leads to a culturally self-fulfilling prophecy: You have to go to school and learn facts in order to be considered smart. Richard Nisbett sets this standard in his book Intelligence and How to Get It, stating that, “Without formal education, a person is simply not going to be very bright—whether we measure intelligence by IQ tests or any other metric.” Sorry, natives of the rain forest.

Rather than a hyper focus on the brain and IQ, I believe we should put our faith in a multi-faceted, holistic approach that respects and enlarges human capacity, so that fluid intelligence includes the ability to create, empathize, and solve the issues of a divided global world. It’s quite possible, in fact, that fluid intelligence flourishes in a whole child environment, and that—in the 21^st century—the whole child is a smarter child. It tells us also that, with contributions from all of us, we can make children smarter. My ten point action plan:

Take charge of your teaching. In my last post, I advocated for teacher empowerment. Fluid intelligence requires a fluid environment, like moving waters seeking a new outlet. Rather than remain a pawn of a top down system, use your own creative and visionary ability to move your teaching and school forward. Students will respond by ‘feeling’ the shift and acting more intelligently.

Pose questions, not answers. Teaching to the test stops fluid intelligence in its tracks. By definition, the highest form of smart is the ability to question, see gaps in patterns, solve problems and create ideas. Either we teach young people to do this, or our civilization will wither. The choice is that stark.

Stay focused on the future. The new indicators of smart use the language of the future: Resiliency; empathy, collaboration; communication; creativity; ethics; and character. These are difficult to teach, but can be learned by students when teachers make these habits and skills important.

Practice the power of care. Know the basics of why small people become good big people: They feel loved. A recent news item detailed how a Missouri kindergarten teacher required a six-year old to sit in her pooped pants while the rest of the class took a test. The rationale? The teacher was preparing her for the rigors of state testing in the future. Enough said.

Start with the heart. The heart and brain work in an intimate partnership. In simple terms, this means that all successful learning begins with emotional safety. Take time to create a climate of safety, belonging, and transparency in your class.

Learn about the brain. Most teachers know remarkably little about the chief tool of their trade. It’s important to know about advances in neuroscience, as well as the current limitations of neuroscience. Mostly, learn about the frontal lobes. That’s where most of your words are processed by your students.

Tap collective intelligence. No more than anyone else do I understand world trends, but one fact is clear: people are now woven into a web of intelligence. They get smarter because other people help them get smarter. Our job as educators is to figure out why this happens, how to make it happen faster and better, and how to direct it for positive results. We can begin by teaching students to work in highly committed teams focused on deep, productive work.

Dive into creativity. A very recent study reported that only 25% of people thought they lived up to their creative potential. One major factor? They were not encouraged to develop their creativity in school. Yet creativity is the highest expression of fluid intelligence. Two useful tools: Use creativity rubrics and designate one column in other rubrics for ‘breakthrough’ thinking.

Be a coach. Whether you feel comfortable with student-centered learning or not, it’s day is here. The role of the modern teacher is still to convey information as appropriate and necessary, but that skill set must now be expanded to include coaching and mentoring. Intelligence can’t be taught; neither is it a fixed commodity. Somewhere in between is your role as a supporting adult who guides and instructs in a way that stimulates a young person to grapple with life in a way that kindles the growth of intelligence.

Model intelligence. What if fluid intelligence is increased by good modeling? Are you a good model? Are you whole and healthy? Do you convey curiosity, joy, an open attitude, and commitment to your own growth? As a test, how would you answer the question about dogs and rabbits? Are they just mammals, or do they represent two beautiful and amazing species in an amazing world that’s getting better by the day—because we’re all getting smarter?

Embracing revolution is a quick way to be terminated in education. More than most jobs, teaching demands fealty to higher powers, no matter their expertise, fidelity to the standard curriculum, harmful or otherwise, and the willingness to narrow your horizons to fit the prevailing winds of politicians and other suits who can best decide whether you’re doing a good job or not.

But it is time for teachers to revolt. In spiritual literature, there is reference to the ‘dark night of the soul.’ It seems to me that teaching as a profession is now fully entered into that darkness. Over-standardization of teaching practices, a narrow, test based curriculum, packaged solutions to every learning problem, value-added evaluations, and the tightening of industrial work rules hostile to 21^st century learning are overt signs of a more profound struggle that will decide our nation’s future. Will we celebrate and advance human capacities, or diminish them? Will we devise education that liberates the best in children, or seek to contain them in little jars labeled testing data, pacing guides, or a hundred other ciphers borne of the desire to regulate and limit human behavior in the name of ‘objective’ measures?

One can oppose the trends by speaking up, political action, or occupying education. This is fine, and I applaud the resistance. But I doubt that trench warfare will succeed until teaching is reinstated to its preeminent position as an ennobling profession that puts all its resources towards the development of well-rounded, capable, and emotionally stable young people. To my mind, defending union rights, sniping at testing, deriding corporate charter schools, protesting public shaming of teachers, or ridiculing the U.S. Department of Education engages teachers in skirmishes. The real battle is to reclaim and articulate a vision that transcends the current debate and carries the American public forward with a new and more inspiring narrative around learning in the 21^st century.

This is a task for teachers, not political luminaries and media CEO’s, and it will not be easy. Education is a sedentary, conservative industry, held inert by tired truths and ossified structures. That doesn’t help. But even more, the standards and testing mania has paralyzed teachers themselves. The result is self-inflicted disempowerment. Yes, teachers may have been beaten down by the system. But their willingness to accept the status quo has become part of the problem, too.

It doesn’t have to be this way. There is too much latent power and talent in the teaching ranks. I always return from workshops with teachers feeling inspired and energized by the number of bright, committed, high quality human beings I see in the classroom, who offer world class learning everyday to their students. I can’t resist one recent example: Working alongside a vivacious, energetic 25-year old woman who was designing a very complex, challenging project for her third graders, I wondered aloud whether her students would succeed. No worries. She nearly jumped from her chair, and whooped: “Oh, yeh! My kiddos can do this!” It wasn’t bravado; it was the loving conviction and sheer knowledge that she—and they—could pull this off. There are many more like her.

Her enthusiasm and care for her students stayed with me, but as I thought about it, I realized that she, though clearly at the high end in terms of her craft, no doubt sees herself as a worker in the system, subject to the next testing schedule and comings and goings of the experts and evaluators. And, the fact is, that’s her defined role: She has power over those 30 third graders, but little else. And, another fact: If she objected too much, she would be sanctioned.

So how can she revolt without losing her job? More important, how could 7 million plus teachers in the U.S. come together, foment a revolution, and still draw their paychecks? Instead of conflict, I prefer to think of a powerful, positive, collective vision that would bring about revolutionary change without the extreme polarity that characterizes our daily discourse today. I’m reminded of Gandhi’s reply to the British Viceroy who asked, “Do you believe the British will just walk out of India?” And the reply: “Yes.” If educators hold to a more expansive vision of learning, those who believe teaching is an assembly line job will eventually walk away.

As with Gandhi, it’s more about taking a personal stand rather than tearing down your enemies. Here’s a short manifesto for teachers:

Reclaim your power. Revolution begins with understanding that you have influence. The old adage that ‘Those who can’t do, teach’ needs to be countered at every turn by a new generation of teachers who have left behind timidity, resignation, a ‘punch the time clock’ mentality, or any other trappings of the industrial mind set. You work in the most creative, challenging arena possible: the world of preparing young people for the most fluid, dynamic, unknown future faced by any generation. Stand tall and speak out. Be conscious of your lineage. Be proud of your willingness to engage in work that directly affects the future of the planet. Know that millions of teachers in many countries feel just as you do.

Professionalize your profession. I know I’ll be dinged for this, but pay less attention to union leadership, District curriculum objectives, strict adherence to standards, or similar dictates than the vast rumblings and fresh ideas flowing from a profession seeking to reinvent itself. Keep an open mind and ask yourself: What does 21^st century education look like? How do I help reinvent education that serves our present generation of children? What new ideas are out there? Who is a good source for professional expertise? One practical step: Get on Twitter! 50 new ideas come through the phone each day.

Teach what is true. A study recently published by the Brown Center on Education Policy University found that more ‘rigorous’ standards didn’t lead to increased achievement on standardized tests. And if they did, so what? Every teacher I have worked with in the past ten years knows that tests alone are insufficient to measure learning. For that matter, most administrators feel that way, too, as do parents. Recognize that constant testing is driven by forces unrelated to good education, mostly by the desire to measure, quantify, and monetize learning. But the bottom line for the visionary educator? True learning is about thinking, understanding, and solving. So, if you need to teach to the test in April, do so; but don’t make that your year around objective. Also, know you’re in the majority: A recent report indicates that only 28% of teachers regard standardized tests as an essential or very important gauge of student achievement.

Stand in the light. You’re in a gotcha’ situation. If your performance is measured by tests, then test data will determine your future. If your performance is measured by understanding, depth of thinking, and student engagement, then no one knows how exactly to tell if you’re doing a good job. It’s like trying to invent a meter to measure an artist—it can’t be done well, at least now. The only way out is to leave the box—stand tall in the light—and admit that, yes, it’s difficult to measure learning, but that doesn’t mean you will settle for a reductionist approach that limits young humans to data points. Instead, commit to multiple performance measures, peer evaluations, collective reviews of student work, and portfolios—along with a few tests, but not too many—to measure the learning. This is key. The revolution will catch fire when the test and measurement mania subsides, and new measures prove far better at capturing the broad array of skills and habits of mind necessary to succeed in the 21^st century.

Know that standing still is moving backwards. I work with several Districts focused on transformation, but I walk into other schools in which nothing has changed in 50 years or in which teachers engage unenthusiastically in half-baked reform efforts. Worse, I encounter too many teachers who have given up. As one English teacher told me with a shrug when I visited a high school and inquired about reform efforts, “This is just a school,” she said in a resigned tone, meaning it was business as usual, nothing more. In 2012, with the headlines screaming at us, the world swaying with change, the problems looming, and the creative opportunities dangling, how can this be? Every school should be in some stage of transformation—and every teacher needs to be participating as a change agent, an insistent voice for reinvention and redesign.

Finally, I believe every teacher needs to take stand. The debate over education is not an argument about short term test results, or global competition, or getting more students into nameplate universities; it’s a referendum on the fundamental character of our nation. It goes to the heart of what we wish to be as a society and contributor to global progress. Deciding your non-negotiables in this situation is not easy (remember the poll numbers from the American Revolution: 40% for Paul Revere, 40% for King George, and 20% with their fingers in the wind.) Where do you stand, what do you believe, and how will you act?

A decade ago, project based learning was popular in a few schools and with a few teachers, but hardly widespread. And the movement was growing very slowly.  At that time, education was caught up by standards and high stakes testing, a focus that discouraged teachers and schools from implementing inquiry-based learning.

Not so now. With the rise of 21^st century skills instruction, the advent of career and college readiness goals, and the arrival of Common Core Standards, which emphasize inquiry, the game has changed. PBL is popular.

Perhaps the intervening years between 2000 and the present was a good thing. Many of us could foresee that PBL’s popularity would grow exponentially at some point, but practitioners also recognized that PBL needed improvement. Foremost, PBL needed to blend the best of discovery learning from the 90’s with the core content requirements of standards-based education. This took time, experience, and the development of tools and methods for what I term high quality PBL.

Fortunately, the timing is right. In 2012, education is in desperate need of more inquiry-based education—and PBL is available as a replicable, reliable method for teachers.

The most visible evidence of PBL’s new level of acceptance is a phenomenon I rarely encountered in prior years: Districts have begun to see PBL as the primary method for teaching and learning in all grade levels, and are backing up their decision by offering in-depth PBL professional development and coaching to teachers.

For any District, this is a brave step into the unknown. There is a dramatic difference between conventional instruction and a student-focused, inquiry-based approach. Often, this can show up in poorly planned projects that leave students, teachers, and administrative staff dissatisfied with results. PBL is a sophisticated methodology, with many moving parts, and teachers and staff developers may not recognize how challenging it is to implement—or how difficult to train for.

But it can be done right. In my experience, Districts benefit when they take a careful step-by-step approach that allows sufficient time and opportunity for PBL to take root and flourish, as well as avoiding a “one size fits all” approach to PBL:

• Prepare the Ground. Most teachers understand the rationale for PBL, but remain skeptical until they are reassured on several fronts. First, they need to know that PBL will help them meet their core content objectives. Second, they need to be shown how PBL differs from ‘projects,’ which they often equate with off task work, disorganized groups, or fuzzy outcomes. Once reassured, the discussion can broaden out to focus on the rationale for PBL (more engagement and deeper learning), the outcomes (skills and content), and the rationale behind the world-wide movement toward inquiry-based methods. The bottom line during this introductory period? Start with questions, discussion, and plenty of time to surface and explore objections.

• Differentiate the Task. Unseasoned advocates for PBL have a habit of treating PBL like other reforms: Everyone will do it, in exactly the same way. In fact, experience with PBL shows that implementation varies across grade levels, subjects, and teachers. There is no one ‘PBL’; it is a process and philosophy that must be adapted to each teacher’s situation. For example, algebra teachers will often design shorter, problem-oriented projects, while a World History teacher may have a much longer project in mind. The goal is to help teachers see the commonalities in the process, yet still leave room for common sense applications. It’s also important to recognize one of the chief commonalities: All teachers can teach 21^st century skills, and thus link to a PBL philosophy. Case in point: An AP Calculus teacher may not use PBL, but can group students into a team and assess them using the same teamwork rubric used by the World History teacher.

• Offer Methods and Tools. I leave teachers with a sophisticated set of tools for planning and assessing projects, as well as outlining a step by step method for high quality PBL. It’s important for teachers to understand that PBL uses a codified method that is rapidly being adopted in the U.S. and in many other high performing countries. The tools include showing teachers how to access the growing number of project examples on the internet. One important note, however: The project examples provide plenty of ideas, but rarely can be used off the shelf without revision and replanning.

• Plan for Coaching. Whole group instruction about PBL gets the conversation going and anchors the methods and objectives. But individual conferencing and coaching with teachers about their particular project is critical. Each teacher (or team of teachers) needs to develop a driving question, project plan, and assessment plan, including the sometimes unfamiliar task of deciding how students will exhibit results and deliver public products. In general, every teacher will need about 45 minutes of coaching to turn a preliminary design into a solid plan.

• Debrief and Replan. First year projects in a District usually yield mixed results. But positive results are often visible. In one District, I heard repeatedly that students who were previously disengaged or very quiet were now speaking out and contributing. This surprised and pleased teachers—and indicated a culture shift, one of the objectives of PBL. Beyond that, however, teachers will struggle with identifiable barriers in the first year, including teaching and assessing 21^st century skills and managing teams of students. They also need to learn to avoid default mode, which is to use PBL to cover a unit, and instead look for ideas that really challenge and engage students in a new way. The best way to handle this change process is to anticipate the gaps and address them by  scheduling teams of teachers to discuss, replan, and revise projects, using protocols or the norms of a professional learning community. 

• Have a vision for getting better. Implementing PBL on a large scale is much like a business start-up. Expect that it will take three years of consistent effort before the norms, methods, expectations, expertise, and results come together to achieve results. And, to progress from the start-up year through year three, each year requires a separate strategy. In the first year, the goal is to establish a PBL culture by aligning the 21^st skills assessments, training students to work in effective teams, and building a consensus on project quality. In the second year, the objective is to bring more power to the thinking and inquiry process within projects, and to ensure that the performance of students rises significantly. In year three, Districts should expect a noticeably higher level of student engagement (often with a spike in test scores), outstanding projects, and a consensus culture among teachers that denotes that PBL is widely accepted. 

I emphasize the term ‘high quality’ PBL for two reasons. First, many educators still equate PBL with ‘doing projects,’ ‘hands on’ learning, or ‘activities.’ This is an industrial holdover from the time when projects were designed as an antidote to lecture or a respite from seat time, as a culminating opportunity for students to finally demonstrate what they had learned during the year, or even as a simple reward for having endured tedious instruction.

PBL is a far more evolved method of instruction. Well-executed PBL begins with the recognition that, as in the real world, it’s often difficult to distinguish between acquiring information and using it. Students learn knowledge and elements of the core curriculum, but also apply what they know to solve authentic problems and produce results that matter. Students focus on a problem or challenge, work in teams to find a solution to the problem, and often exhibit their work to an adult audience at the end of the project. Most important, PBL emphasizes carefully planned assessments that incorporate formative feedback, detailed rubrics, and multiple evaluations of content and skills.

But even with a method, mediocre PBL is still possible (and too prevalent). Simply turning students loose on a problem or question, putting them in groups, and having them do an exhibition or PowerPoint at the end of two weeks, does not meet the criteria for ‘high quality.’ This is especially true if innovation is our goal. Fostering innovation is a complex, challenging task that requires a teacher to do many things all at once: Refocus learning on the student; teach critical content; develop and assess global-age skills; offer constant opportunity for deep thinking and reflection; and reward intangible assets such as drive, passion, creativity, empathy, and resiliency. High quality PBL can offer students that complete experience, but it doesn’t happen automatically.

High quality PBL begins with a consistent, considered project design. Teachers move through a design process based on specific principles backed by proven methods and practices. Taken as a whole, this methodology allows teachers to conceive and implement a coherent problem-solving process that brings out the best work in students and addresses the key standards in the curriculum. Slight variations exist among practitioners, but there is general agreement on these methods. In my work, I use seven design principles. Each principle represents a point—or fault line—at which the project can be made more powerful and engaging, or less so:

Identify the challenge. At the core of PBL lies a meaningful, doable challenge. This means that projects start with a powerful idea, an authentic issue, or a vital concept. The challenge must then be defined so that it aligns with the objectives of the course, but not so narrow that it doesn’t demand innovation and insight.

High quality tip: Design projects that matter. A project that gives students an opportunity to contribute to their community or prepares them for life will invite their best efforts and whole-hearted participation. Generally, if projects originate from a laundry list of standards, they lack a big idea to power the project. There must be a reason to learn beyond covering the curriculum.

Craft the Driving Question. Your intention drives a project. What is the deep understanding that you want students to demonstrate at the end of the project? There is a proven process for turning a challenge into a driving question that captures the intent and depth of the project.

High quality tip: Make the problem relevant. An effective Driving             Question taps a deep level of motivation. For example, a social studies team shifted their question on a Depression-era project to get at deeper lessons from the 1930’s that resonate today:

“What can we learn from the 1930’s?” to “How important is self-reliance in today’s world?”

Start with Results. PBL mimics the ‘plan backwards’ approach recommended by many educators. Given that PBL focuses on problem solving, innovation, and ‘fuzzy’ goals, it is imperative that you design both the knowledge acquisition as well as the process of learning. Think of yourself as more of a coach than a teacher. Your job is to put together a game plan for high performance.

High quality tip: Think beyond normal lesson planning. Questions that should come up at this stage: What protocols and peer methods will you use to encourage reflection and deep thinking? How will you organize your teams? What evidence will you require to reward innovative thinking? 

Build the Assessment. The key to high quality PBL assessment is to view content as one of several outcomes that will help students become more skillful, be reflective about their capabilities, and prepare them for post secondary success. This means designing evaluations and formative assessments in five areas: (1) global-age skills; (2) conceptual understanding; (3) personal strengths or habits of mind; (4) innovation and creativity; and (5) critical content.

High quality tip: Distinguish assessment and evaluation. Assessment is a constant tool, used to improve performance and support growth over time; evaluation is the final score. Formative assessment is essential to PBL. Use it regularly throughout a project to improve performance. Assess skill development as well as content mastery.

Enroll and engage. Starting right is the key to success at the end. This includes helping students connect their interests to the question or problem, and organizing teams for effective performance by establishing norms and clear benchmarks.

High quality tip: Use a Critical Friends or tuning protocol to have students refine the question or the project. This is an excellent time to incorporate student voice. If you need a copy of the protocol, download the Top Ten PBL Tools at www.thommarkham.com.

Focus on quality. High quality PBL relies on teams that demonstrate commitment, purpose, and results, similar to the organizational goals of high performing industries. To do this, let go of the notion of ‘groups’ and move to the language of teamwork. Allow plenty of time for preparation, drafting, and refinement of products, presentations, and skills.

High quality tip: Facilitate deep thinking. Teach your students the tools             of inquiry and require the teams to practice the skills of dialogue, visible thinking, peer evaluation, and critique.

End with Mastery. PBL is a non-linear process that begins with divergent thinking, enters a period of emergent problem solving, and ends with converging ideas and products. A good PBL teacher manages the work flow through the chaos of the project, but also closes the project by giving students every opportunity and support necessary to experience a sense of mastery and accomplishment.

High quality tip: Reflect. Take two days to review and reflect on the project. Reflect on accomplishments, and evaluate the project against criteria. Was the Driving Question answered? Was the investigation sufficient? Were skills mastered? What questions were raised? The project debrief improves future projects, as well as teaching students the cycle of quality improvement.

How can we sum this up? PBL promises more engaging school work and a shift in the culture of learning that should be visible in the form of more satisfied, higher performing, and more innovative students. But it does require a systematic approach that fully engages students, offers a potent blend of skills and intellectual challenge, and prompts or awakens a deeper curiosity about life. From that standpoint, PBL is still a work in progress.

This outcome, in my view, can be explained by a little observed fact: PBL is built on the same foundation as whole child education. Inquiry into adolescent mental health, youth development, and developmental psychology has revealed the three core conditions required for young people to develop a ‘drive and thrive’ outlook that leads to successful adulthood: Experiencing mastery; finding meaning and fulfillment; and having a constructive relationship to a caring adult mentor. These are the exact three factors critical to effective PBL, which cannot succeed without a strong teacher-student relationship, a challenging, meaningful problem to be solved, and broad-based assessments that emphasize mastery and growth over time.

The importance of aligning teaching with the fundamentals of whole child education can’t overstated. First, having an educational system disconnected from what we know about healthy adolescent development is unsustainable. And second, educating the whole child is now a national, as well as planet-wide, necessity if we are serious about helping students become skillful, resilient, collaborative, creative, and self aware. The dilemma is that the whole child can’t be educated through the transmission model, and it is impossible to graft a holistic version of human beings onto a framework founded on industrial objectives, punishment and reward, and the achievements of the left brain. We try, but everything turns out to be a work around. PBL offers a way forward.

A quick disclaimer: Right now, not all PBL is equal, and we’re not to the point in which all PBL supports the whole child. Too often, the goal is to cover standards under the guise of ‘student-centered instruction.’ Ultimately, however, I foresee that PBL, supported by initiatives such as Common Core Standards, will continue to evolve and become a consensus teaching philosophy designed to implement whole child objectives.

If you’re a PBL educator, attaining this goal begins with careful design. High quality PBL uses proven methods for planning a project that challenges students, stimulates deep inquiry, and requires them to demonstrate their mastery of skills and applied knowledge. This is the planner’s function—and it’s critical for setting up a thoughtful, scaffolded process that balances problem solving and mastery of core knowledge and concepts relevant to the lives of students.

The second aspect determines the internal assets students will bring to the project. I call this building a ‘PBL-friendly culture’. Driven by intangibles—the personality and style of the teacher, a sincere regard for students, and openness to the failure and success cycle of discovery among them—the culture directly affects the quality of thinking and engagement during the project, and thus the level of mastery at the end, by establishing the positive relationship with students necessary to effective personalization, differentiation, and individual feedback.

This may sound daunting, but the good news is that PBL is in the midst of a rapid improvement process, and experienced PBL teachers are developing student-friendly tools and teaching styles that aim for this more holistic approach. I see progress on at least four fronts:

Teachers as skillful mentors. A mentor relationship is the key to having conversations with students about the meaning and fulfillment they seek in life (what are their interests?) and about their performance (I’m going to tell you how well you are doing and you trust me enough to listen.) PBL led by teachers who talk at, rather than talk with, generally fails. But good facilitation yields amazing results.

Know the why. Very recent research reveals that even ‘rigorous’ standards have little impact on test scores. Rather than focus so tightly on standards, good PBL teachers envision a powerful challenge, invite students into the planning process, and then incorporate key standards and concepts that support the learning goals of the project. This shift—from coverage to questions—by itself addresses many whole child issues in schools today.

Redefine rigor. Both whole child learning and good PBL demand a broader view of human functioning and new standards for performance. Outdated notions of rigor as a tensile measure (How hard can I make this test?) or quantity (How much homework can I give them?) don’t tap the depths of motivation necessary to foster self-determination and awareness. Instead, detailed rubrics that describe world class skillfulness, work ethic, habits of mind, craftsmanship, and deep thinking help students develop from within.

Allow the ‘wow.’ The whole child is a creativity machine that can be turned on—and effective PBL teachers know how to reward innovative thinking, as well as honor divergent solutions that adults haven’t yet discovered. The best PBL employs creativity rubrics, ‘breakthrough’ columns on rubrics, brainstorming, peer protocols, and formal reflection as core tools. It is quite possible to activate the inner resources of children by simply following two guidelines—one, that today’s young people want to reinvent, not reenact, the world; and two, that ‘genius’ is derived from the same root word as joy.

The first question about Common Core Standards has been answered: What will they look like? The answer is: Very different. The internationally benchmarked standards will emphasize creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, presentation and demonstration, problem solving, research and inquiry, and career readiness.

The second question is more challenging: How will we teach these new standards? For several years, the winds of change have been howling in one direction, pointing educators toward greater focus on depth rather than coverage, thinking rather than memorizing or listing, and demonstrating and performing rather than ‘hand it in and grade it.’ With 46 states endorsing the Common Core Standards and half of those planning for full implementation in the next three years, we’ve moved into hurricane status. Quite soon, we’ll land on a distant, unknown shore. Teachers will have to teach differently.

States and professional development organizations recognize that the kind of transformative professional preparation necessary to meet the challenge of teaching the new standards is not yet in place. But for those teachers and schools who want to jump start the process, I suggest a solution is in place: Use project based learning (PBL).

First, I refer to high quality PBL, as outlined in a recent post. Successful implementation of the new standards will require innovative best practices that persuade and prepare students to engage in thoughtful problem-solving, as well as encourage better performance through more sophisticated, broad-based assessments. PBL, well done, accomplishes those goals. But old style ‘projects’ won’t come close.

The Six Moving Parts

There is an overriding reason that the Common Core Standards will challenge our professional capability as educators: Teaching inquiry and skillful problem solving is not a simple change of strategy to, let’s say, favoring one reading method over another. Instead, success relies on shifting a number of teaching practices simultaneously. When aligned, these practices act synergistically to activate a student’s desire to learn, support growth over time, invite deeper engagement, and stimulate the reflective and critical faculties—often in a team-based, collective environment—that lead to superior solutions and analysis.

I call these shifts the six ‘moving parts’ of PBL. They help meet the goals of the Common Core Standards in the following ways:

1) Moving from instruction to inquiry. More than ever, curriculum will now start with questions rather than the delivery of information. Subject matter is important, but teachers will now need to know how to apply knowledge through designing a problem solving process. PBL teachers begin by posing a significant challenge to students and capturing the challenge in a manageable problem statement or driving question. The question frames the project; the problem sets the solution process into motion. Choosing and crafting a suitable problem requires experience, curiosity, and passion, as well as thorough knowledge of the discipline.

2) Balancing knowledge and skills. The Common Core standards rebalance the equation between content and skills. In every subject, the emphasis is now on a blend of knowing/doing and learning/demonstrating, in which students apply what they know and demonstrate mastery of 21^st century skills such as presentation and collaboration. This shift changes expectations for student mastery, rearranges assessments and grading systems, and relies on coaching students (more on that in a minute) for better performance. These represent the core skill set for PBL teachers, and are backed by a well developed set of PBL tools.

3) Going deep. Deep thinking sounds good in theory, but takes time, making it problematic in the context of a 48 minute period or a 180 day school year. Deep thinking also conflicts with current testing requirements, which do not reward insight and analysis. PBL approaches this challenge by assessing fewer standards (the goal of the Common Core), using a variety of proven thinking tools, and designing a controlled process that helps students focus their thinking on the driving question.

4) Teaching teamwork. The Common Core Standards identify collaboration             and teamwork as a 21^st century skill to be taught. This is laudable, but   something bigger is underway. As the outside world shows us, we’re        moving into a collaborative culture of continuous learning within networked             communities. The Common Core Standards implicitly recognize this fact, but PBL teachers give it life in the classroom by using team contracts,    peer collaboration rubrics, and work ethic rubrics to turn group work into        effective teams. This guidance is a necessity for a curriculum that   emphasizes problem solving and inquiry, now generally done in the real             world in project teams.

5) Establishing a culture of inquiry. This moving part determines the fate of a project in a PBL classroom—and it will be central to the success of the Common Core Standards. The challenge can be stated simply: When you’re no longer standing in front of the room, giving instruction, it’s hard to be in charge. And, when you’re implementing problem solving and inquiry, you’re usually not standing in front of the room. The only way to remain in charge (and sane) is to teach students how to take charge of themselves, to respect the inquiry process, and become self-directed learners. This requires time, patience, a dose of psychology, and a careful blend of assessments and tools that promote the development of self-awareness, respect, self-control, and other attributes of a functioning community. PBL has led the way in developing and using these tools.

6) Blending coaching with teaching. Finally, high quality PBL demands coaching skills as well as teaching skills. In PBL, a teacher often works shoulder to shoulder with students, giving them feedback, questioning them, and urging them on to the next level of achievement. It is a collaborative, communal form of teaching and learning that requires good listening, appropriate praise, and focused criticism. The same will be true of the Common Core Standards.

Thom Markham is the principal author of the Handbook for Project Based Learning, published by the Buck Institute for Education, and the author of the Project Based Learning Design and Coaching Guide: Expert tools for inquiry and innovation for K-12 educators (available March, 2012). Download the Top Ten Tools for PBL on his website, www.thommarkham.com or contact him at thom@thommarkham.com.

One way to describe the tumult of the past few years, as well as the year we’re about to enter—the momentous 2012—is imbalance. The world is out of whack, whether the topic is climate patterns, wealth distribution, political power, job opportunity, food availability, or life-work balance. Most of us experience a rushing sense of unease and a desire to get things back in order.

Education, in my view, is not exempt from imbalance. To me, the reason is obvious: We’re stuck on the brain, and ignore the heart. The entire system is geared toward cognitive achievement, as defined in the narrowest sense by grades, tests, AP classes, and a dense, overblown academic curriculum. Most of us value a well rounded, heart-oriented whole child, but that is not the ultimate outcome of the system we have created. In fact, as long as education overvalues the brain and undervalues the heart, we can’t educate the whole child.

Why should educators refocus on the heart in 2012—and why would the world reward us, if we did so? I believe the most pressing goal of education in 2012 is to move forward and align our system of learning with unfolding global trends and the needs of today’s youth. The heart is designed for that task. Consider three findings about the heart:

1. The heart is not just a metaphor.

We’re accustomed to the greeting card version of the heart, with flowery language and a nice red drawing. But new scientific findings on the heart and the role of emotions in regulating brain function. Simply put, it is no longer ‘scientific’ to make the brain the sole center of learning, or assume that the keys to emotional development can be found in the brain alone. It is much more accurate to refer to ‘heart-brain’ learning, and to view emotions as ‘tools’ used by the heart to affect brain and body.

For example, we know the heart secretes hormones and neurotransmitters, as well as serving as a main hub for the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Through the vagal nerve, the heart has instant communication with the brain. There is a constant flow of information between the two organs, and with other body systems. Nearly 80% of the messages between brain and heart originate in the heart.

What does this mean for whole child advocates? Without trying to be definitive, the most obvious educational goals of the whole child movement are to nurture the highest human functions, such as creativity, insight, and problem solving. Even more, we hope to improve emotional balance and self-awareness in students, giving them better collaboration skills and enhanced internal assets such as resiliency, empathy, and perseverance. I suggest that if we want to succeed at this vital effort, then we will need to acknowledge the central role of the heart in emotional development, collaborative impulses, intuition and creativity, and the expanded use of the brain. The ultimate truth is that inner calm precedes mental clarity.

2. The heart is the processor of emotions.

The physiological response of the heart is programmed by emotions. Using a complex biofeedback system that affects the pattern of heart rhythms, various emotions have differing effects on the heart and thus the brain. Frustration, stress, and anger disrupt the heart and fog the brain; appreciation, unconditional acceptance and love, or other positive emotions smooth out the rhythms with a noticeably positive effect: The frontal part of the brain responds to the heart’s message of cheer by clearer thinking, faster response, and greater insight. By intentionally generating a positive emotion, an individual can make a conscious choice about how his or her brain will function. Simple exercises, such as heart-focused breathing and a feeling of gratitude, have remarkably positive effects on the brain.

In our brain-centric, cognitively-oriented society, it’s difficult to accept this reality. But, as our ancestors believed, the heart is the seat of emotions. The brain, with its limbic capability, moderates our impulses and helps us gain a meta-cognitive view of our emotional lives. Brain based learning encourages the full use of the brain. But the brain cannot act alone. For humans to function at their peak, the heart must be soothed. Most important, love, care, and positive relationships sooth us like nothing else. This is the foundation of whole child education—and should be the defining element of every classroom.

3. The heart connects us.

This statement relies on slightly more speculative science, but it is certain that the heart generates the most powerful electromagnetic field in the body (far stronger than the brain), and there is compelling evidence that through this field we communicate our emotional state to one another. Based on the concept of coherence, it is evident that emotionally balanced individuals entrain with each other and create a collective coherent field. It is even possible (and gold standard experiments are underway now to confirm this) that the field extends globally and we operate in a field of collective intelligence that can be enhanced through positive networking.

In other words, the brain excels at sorting and classifying, but the heart contains the secrets of connection and communion. Understanding this deep connectivity of the heart may be our most important task as citizens in a post-2012 world. If a majority, or even an influential minority, of ‘whole’ human beings becomes prominent across the globe, the human species will find it easy to collaborate peacefully, think clearly and with less distortion about the challenges of global life, and develop and share the deep intellectual and intuitive resources necessary for the race to flourish.

For educators, these possibilities imply that a more visible role for the heart in the classroom may be vital to the grand evolutionary drama playing out across the world, as youth collaborate and network on behalf of progress and justice. It tells us that the ultimate goal of whole child education should be to reinvigorate the heart’s capacity—and the potential of our children—to bring us together.

One overriding challenge is now coming to the fore in public consciousness: We need to reinvent just about everything. Whether scientific advances, technology breakthroughs, new political and economic structures, environmental solutions, or an updated code of ethics for 21st century life, everything is in flux—and everything demands innovative, out of the box thinking.

The burden of reinvention, of course, falls on today’s generation of students. So it follows that education should focus on fostering innovation by putting curiosity, critical thinking, deep understanding, the rules and tools of inquiry, and creative brainstorming at the center of the curriculum.

This is hardly the case, as we know. In fact, innovation and the current classroom model most often operate as antagonists. The system is evolving, but not quickly enough to get young people ready for the new world. But I do believe there are a number of ways that teachers can bypass the system and offer students the tools and experiences that spur an innovative mindset. Here are ten ideas:

Move from projects to Project Based Learning. Most teachers have done projects, but the majority do not use the defined set of methods associated with high-quality PBL. These methods include developing a focused question, using solid, well crafted performance assessments, allowing for multiple solutions, enlisting community resources, and choosing engaging, meaningful themes for projects. PBL offers the best method we have presently for combining inquiry with accountability, and should be part of every teacher’s repertoire. See my website (www.thommarkham.com) or the Buck Institute (www.bie.org) for methods.

Teach concepts, not facts. Concept-based instruction overcomes the fact-based, rote-oriented nature of standardized curriculum. If your curriculum is not organized conceptually, use you own knowledge and resources to teach ideas and deep understanding, not test items.

Distinguish concepts from critical information. Preparing students for tests is part of the job. But they need information for a more important reason: To innovate, they need to know something. The craft precedes the art. Find the right blend between open-ended inquiry and direct instruction.

Make skills as important as knowledge. Innovation and 21^st century skills are closely related. Choose several 21^st century skills, such as collaboration or critical thinking, to focus on throughout the year. Incorporate them into lessons. Use detailed rubrics to assess and grade the skills.

Form teams, not groups. Innovation now emerges from teams and networks—and we can teach students to work collectively and become better collective thinkers. Group work is common, but team work is rare. Some tips: Use specific methods to form teams; assess teamwork and work ethic; facilitate high quality interaction through protocols and critique; teach the cycle of revision; and expect students to reflect critically on both ongoing work and final products. For peer collaboration rubrics, see the Top Ten Tools, downloadable from my website.

Use thinking tools. Hundreds of interesting, thought provoking tools exist for thinking through problems, sharing insights, finding solutions, and encouraging divergent solutions. Use Big Think tools or the Visible Thinking Routines developed at Harvard’s Project Zero.

Use creativity tools. Industry uses a set of cutting edge tools to stimulate creativity and innovation. As described in books such as Gamestorming or Beyond Words, the tools include playful games and visual exercises that can easily be used in the classroom.

Reward discovery. Innovation is mightily discouraged by our system of assessment, which rewards the mastery of known information. Step up the reward system by using rubrics with a blank column to acknowledge and reward innovation and creativity. I call it the Breakthrough column. See the Top Ten Tools.

Make reflection part of the lesson. Because of the coverage imperative, the tendency is to move on quickly from the last chapter and begin the next chapter. But reflection is necessary to anchor learning and stimulate deeper thinking and understanding. There is no innovation without rumination. If you’re looking for ideas on how to reflect on learning, contact me and I’ll send you what I use.

Be innovative yourself. This is the kicker, because innovation requires the willingness to fail, a focus on fuzzy outcomes rather than standardized measures, and the bravery to resist the system’s emphasis on strict accountability. But the reward is a kind of liberating creativity that makes teaching exciting and fun, engages students, and—most critical—helps students find the passion and resources necessary to design a better life for themselves and others.

Our goal as PBL advocates is to design powerful projects. By powerful, I mean projects that fully engage students, offer a potent blend of skills and intellectual challenge, and prompt or awaken a deeper curiosity about life. Nothing less, I believe, is going to serve us in the decades ahead.

The methods for designing projects are well evolved. But to help PBL realize its potential, a shift in teaching philosophy is also required. Central to that shift is redefining teacher as coach.

I distinguish teaching from coaching in this way: Teaching is primarily about delivering information (think ‘in’-struction); while coaching focuses on eliciting the best performance from students (‘con’-struction).

Obviously, teachers do both. But successful PBL requires excellent coaching—and I believe there is a simple way for PBL teachers to check themselves on whether they’re designing projects from a teacher or coach’s point of view. I like to lay out the project planning process in seven stages. Each stage represents a fault line—a point at which good coaching measurably improves projects.

Identify the Challenge

A coach begins by designing ‘projects that matter.’ A project that gives students an opportunity to contribute to their community or prepares them for life will invite their best efforts and whole-hearted participation. Generally, if projects originate from a laundry list of standards, they lack a big idea to power the project. There must be a reason to learn beyond covering the curriculum.

Craft a Driving Question

A coach gets better performance out of students by capturing the challenge in a question that provokes interest and compels inquiry. An effective Driving Question taps a deep level of motivation, often by appealing to the feeling world instead of the knowing world. For example, here’s how a social studies team shifted their driving question on a Depression-era project to get at deeper lessons from the 1930’s that resonate today:  ‘What can we learn from the 1930’s?’ was changed to ’How important is self-reliance in today’s world?’

Start with Results

A teacher focuses on test results, but a coach thinks more broadly: How will students behave, speak, perform, and hold themselves at the end of the project? Through PBL, students learn both skills and content. But in PBL, skills are decisive. Students who work well in teams learn more content; students who practice to mastery on presentations bring that rigor to their content exams. The more skillful your students, the more responsibility and work can be off-loaded to them.

Build the Assessment

First, a coach distinguishes assessment and evaluation. Assessment is a constant tool, used to improve performance and support growth over time; evaluation is the final score. Second, a good PBL coach views content as the core of a broader process designed to help students become more skillful, be reflective about their capabilities, and prepare for post secondary success. This means designing evaluations in five areas: (1) 21^st century skills; (2) conceptual understanding; (3) personal strengths or habits of mind; (4) innovation and creativity; and (5) critical content.

Enroll and Engage

Introducing a project is a sales event—and a good coach knows how to sell. A teacher relies on handouts and a brief introduction; a coach uses the tools of the trade—entry events, need to knows, and refining protocols—to get the project started with the right focus. Above all, a coach takes as much time as necessary to get students hooked into the project.

Focus on Quality

The chief aim of the PBL coach is to facilitate deep thinking through inquiry. This requires a relentless focus on the process of the project, a two step process that begins with effective teamwork. By forming student teams according to well-thought out guidelines and using proven team-building methods, coaches help team members take collective responsibility for the quality of their products, commit to each other’s success, and collaborate respectfully. Once that happens, the real work begins: Coaching students as they use the tools of inquiry and  practice the skills of dialogue, visible thinking, peer evaluation, and critique.

End with Mastery

Instead of concentrating on a test at the end of a unit, coaches work backward from the main event, allowing sufficient time for preparation, drafting, and refinement of products, presentations, and skills. Prototypes and a well thought out project schedule are the chief tools of a PBL coach—plus plenty of time to practice, just like on the field.

It’s surprising to me, but I see little discussion within education of why PBL succeeds. To experts in the field of human performance, however, there is no mystery. Three decades of research—including findings from youth development, organizational psychology, positive psychology, and emotional intelligence—has identified three core factors that maximize individual effort and the desire to achieve:

• · Caring relationships. Whether growing up in a household, studying in school, or working in a job, people perform better when they feel cared for and attended to. A caring relationship begins with recognizing and respecting the autonomy of the individual.

• · The desire for meaning and purpose. Human beings work harder when they have a goal and purpose. The goal must be relevant to the person’s needs and desires.

• · The power of mastery. Achievement is a natural state of being. People enjoy doing tasks well, and feel intrinsic rewards that sustain more effort.

Carefully-designed projects tap into these intangibles. That is the core strength of PBL; it can inspire drive, passion, and purpose in students.

But if the goal is peak performance, then the culture of the classroom must support the methodology. Here are simple suggestions to establish a ‘PBL-friendly culture’ by translating the principles of human performance into daily teaching practices:

• Trust. Trust encourages peak cognition and intelligent behavior. Successful PBL depends very much on your belief that young people desire to learn and will perform well when respected by an adult and guided appropriately.

• Use the language of peak performance. IQ is malleable and performance is driven by self-fulfilling belief systems. Students who move from a ‘fixed mindset’ to a ‘growth mindset’ will believe in themselves, and in their creative potential. Your language will shape their beliefs.

• Treat ‘soft’ skills as ‘hard’ skills. Writing an essay or solving a math problem is traditionally regarded as a ‘hard’ skill, while communicating with someone who disagrees with you is a ‘soft’ skill. The reverse is actually true: Communication and collaboration are the most difficult of human skills—and need to be taught and practiced relentlessly.

• Expect mastery. Setting high expectations for academic performance is usual in good teaching. But setting high expectations for performance is crucial in PBL. Expect students to communicate and collaborate according to the standards of high performing industries.

• Train the imagination. Teaching innovation, problem solving, and creativity to the global generation is now a primary goal. Creativity will soon be valued as a basic skill and has been identified as the number one leadership competency of the future. Use creativity exercises, encourage brainstorming, and—most important—design projects that challenge the imagination.

• · Reward ‘wow!’ Currently, we have no measure for peak performance in schools. But you can design rubrics with a ‘breakthrough’ category—a blank column that invites students to deliver a product that cannot be anticipated or easily defined in words. The breakthrough column goes beyond the A, rewarding innovation, creativity, and unusual performance—a kind of ‘wow’ column.

• · Pass along the 10,000 hour rule. Mastering a skill at a high level takes 10,000 hours of practice. Your students aren’t likely to put that many hours into Algebra 1. But let them know that practice works—and the more they practice, the better they will be. Most important, let them know that achievement comes from hard work, not a special gene for brilliance.

• · Teach to the iceberg. Remember that the deeper self—the domain of creativity and motivation—is not immediately accessible or public. Think in terms of an iceberg. Below the tip of the iceberg is 90% of the human being. If we want skillful, motivated creators, we need to pay attention to empathy, bias, and all the normal variations in a young person’s emotional makeup. Take time and care to surface the deeper aspects of learning.

• · Be aware of your ‘emotional content.’ PBL involves ‘up close and personal’ teaching. As you work side by side with students, they will closely observe your own attitude toward skills, lifelong learning, and emotional balance. Be aware. Be positive.

• · Do the small things. Small acts of kindness and respect can leverage larger shifts in your classroom culture. Stand at the door and greet students at the beginning of the period. Wish them well as they exit. Reward them with unexpected five-minute breaks when they perform well. Celebrate on occasion.

• · No ‘teacher’ talk. Sarcasm and put-downs by teachers are all too common in classrooms. Be firm when necessary—but don’t question character or use a tone of voice that a respected friend would find offensive. This violates the first rule of performance: care.