Google previously allowed engineers to spend 20% of their time working on personal projects, which led to innovations like Gmail, AdSense, and Google News. However, the article states this policy is now "as good as dead" as it is no longer actively used at Google. The document then discusses strategies for implementing a similar program called "FOS" (Focus on Success) in a school, where students spend one hour per week working on self-directed projects. It outlines scaffolding the projects with proposal systems, non-Googleable questions, marking rubrics, and culminating with a speech and exhibition to share their work.
Field of Study - how to create Passion Projects in Primary Classes
1.
2. …cited 20% time as instrumental to the company’s ability to
innovate, leading to “many of our most significant advances,”
including AdSense, which now accounts for about 25% of the
company’s $50+ billion in annual revenue. Google engineers
also used 20% time to incubate Gmail, Google Transit, Google
Talk, and Google News, among other projects.
http://qz.com/115831/googles-20-time-which-brought-you-gmail-and-adsense-is-now-as-good-as-dead/
3. (1) Autonomy—”the desire to direct
our own lives;”
(2) Mastery—”the urge to make
progress and get better at
something that matters; and”
(3) Purpose—”the yearning to do
what we do in the service of
something larger than ourselves.”
4. Allow students 20% of class time, or one hour per week, to work on and
explore one topic of their choice.
6. OUR FIRST TRY…
• A topic they were
- Passionate about
- or
- Interested in learning about
• Five subareas
• Scaffolded sections within each (that would work over all types of
project areas)
• Speech at the end (to their peers)
• Exhibition of their work to parents/teachers/students/community.
7. WHAT WE LEARNT THE FIRST TIME AROUND
• Lots of enthusiasm!
• Massive amount of engagement
• Parents hated us through the process but loved us at the end
• Great for PR
• But all we got in terms of learning was a
series of information dumps on different
topics. Was there real learning? In
some it was a copy and paste job only.
• We needed to tweak.
10. WE REALISED NON-GOOGLEABLE QUESTIONS
WAS THE ANSWER (OR AT LEAST PART OF IT)…
NO MORE
“I’m want to ‘do’ ‘Astronomy’.
NOW
“ Is the space race a waste of society’s time and money?”
NO MORE
“I absolutely love Manchester United.
NOW
“What makes Manchester United one of the most influential teams in the world?”
11.
12.
13. WHY FOS?
• To build agency and ownership of their learning
• Foster engagement
• Build research skills AND application skills. Not just get information but DO
something with it too!
• To create
• Consider design components
• To incorporate audience into learning
• Multi-media
• Build time organisation skills
• Build presentation skills – speech making, kiosk one-to-ones
• Create a project that could be shared with Mum and Dad
• Transition into high school learning because of its
- Criteria based rubric marking system
- Longer time frame for working
- Independent working
14.
15. SOME EXAMPLES
Overarching Question:
Can you still be successful if you don't believe in yourself?
The Three Sub Questions are:
1. What is success? And what is believing in yourself?
2. Do successful people share particular personality traits or core beliefs? (You could do case studies here or
even a survey of successful people you know).
3. How can people learn to build a self esteem (believe in themselves)?
Overarching question
Does reality TV reflect society? Does it benefit or damage society?
subquestion1
What is reality tv, what are the different categories and how did it begin?
Subquestion2
What is popular opinion on reality tv shows? Why do people like watching it? (Do a survey here - I can help you
design the questions).
Subquestion3
When is reality tv controversial? (Wedding show, goggle box, struggle st) what does this say about our society?
16. MORE
Overarching
"What role does superstition have in our society - does it rule our lives!"
Subq1
What is a superstition? What particular superstitions do we have in our community - what
are their origins?
Subq2
Are superstitions different from culture to culture (or in different countries?)
Subq3
What role do superstitions play in sports?
Overarching
"What impact does music have on our society?
Subquestion1
Why is learning a musical instrument so good for your brain?
Subquestion2
The piano was first created in 1655. How was it created and what makes a piano such an
unusual instrument?
Subquestion3
What place does music have in memories?
19. Deeper Thinking – what are they doing
with the information they uncover?
20.
21.
22. MARKING, THE SPEECH, THEIR AUDIENCE
• Marking is done in the holidays. We now give feedback
sheets with comments. Then a day later the same sheets with
the marks on them. Otherwise they don’t read the comments
• Their speech - we are not marking for content. Looking for
audience impact.
• We run our exhibition kiosk style. Students stand and talk
informally with people who approach their project. Have to be
on their toes! What they say changes depending on the age
of the person asking and the area they find interesting
enough to ask about. Much harder than giving a set speech!
• Year Seven teachers are specifically invited to meet, discuss
and mingle with the students and their thinking and
discoveries.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27. WHAT WE FIND NOW… AFTER OUR TWEAKING…
• FOS is a hugely anticipated Year Six project. We do three a year.
• More and more community people (parents, relatives, friends etc..)
come to our exhibitions.
• We now include a feedback wall at the exhibition
• The students are hugely engaged in this. We generally have 1 – 2
students (out of 45) that do a ‘sublevel’ job.
• Repeating the process means students take on board feedback and
reflect on their learning for the next time around.
• Design is a big factor at the exhibition. People are attracted to
interesting layouts, props, colours. Kids learn the hard way. FOS 2 is
always better visually than FOS1.
29. SO, BACK TO THE WHY…
• To build agency and ownership of their learning
• Foster engagement
• Build research skills AND application skills. Not just get information but DO
something with it too!
• To create
• Consider design components
• To incorporate audience into learning
• Multi-media
• Build time organisation skills
• Build presentation skills – speech making, kiosk one-to-ones
• Create a project that could be shared with Mum and Dad
• Transition into high school learning because of its
- Criteria based rubric marking system
- Longer time frame for working
- Independent working
