Interest-Based Learning

Secondary students can learn to manage assignments and achieve learning goals with teacher support and tools that promote success.

Adding some movement to lessons not only engages and motivates students—research says it helps them recall and retain information. And it’s fun!

Teachers can build rapport with students by starting the year with activities that encourage sharing of interests, and by connecting those interests to curriculum.

From sharing common interests to making connections through books and music, these engaging exercises provide stepping stones for teachers to build relationships in the classroom.

How to adapt principles from the famed approach to foster interest-based learning for the youngest students.

English teachers are wrestling with how to navigate the increasingly contentious terrain between student choice and assigning the classics.

Early childhood educators can use differentiation to help young students who may be gifted to thrive academically.

For young children, play is the primary vehicle for learning, and these ideas will help ensure that they continue to have rich play experiences at home.

A teacher shares what she did and what she learned when she implemented Genius Hour in her fifth-grade class.

By connecting learning to the real world, students begin to see themselves as a catalyst for change within it.

Play-based learning helps engage elementary students in their education and has cognitive, physical, social, and emotional benefits.

Teachers who guide middle and high school students to work on passion projects see several benefits, including greater learning gains.

Remaining politically neutral in the classroom opens up space for students to debate and discover their own beliefs.

When students care about an assignment, they're willing to take greater risks and are more likely to excel in their product.