Challenge-Based Learning

An Approach for Our Time

A Research Report from

The New Media Consortium
Table of Contents
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Case for Challenge-Based Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Challenge-Based Learning in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Overall Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The Student Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The Teacher Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Recommendations for Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

The New Media Consortium i

 © 2009, The New Media Consortium.

ISBN 978-0-9765087-4-8

Permission is granted under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license to replicate and

distribute this report freely provided that it is distributed only in its entirety. To view a copy of
this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to
Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Citation
Johnson, Laurence F.; Smith, Rachel S.; Smythe, J. Troy; Varon, Rachel K. (2009).
Challenge-Based Learning: An Approach for Our Time.  Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Cover photograph: “Desert Moon Rising” by Josh Sommers on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshsommers/935470210/). Creative Commons.

ii Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

Executive Summary
Public education in America is in trouble.

We’ve known about it for more than 25 years now, since the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, and
despite billions of dollars of investment and massive reform projects like No Child Left Behind (NCLB), we
still find that three of ten kids drop out of school without a diploma.1 Each year the US sees its children do
worse in math and science than countries such as Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Lithuania.

The most recent study of global math and science performance2 shows US students making some gains
in the last four years, with fourth graders moving from 12th to 11th place, and eighth graders in from 15th
to 9th place in math results, but what the rankings do not show is that that is largely due to erosions in
performance around the world, not in the US making great strides. In fact, there is no significant difference
in science performance among US students in the last four years at all.

At the same time, the world has never had a greater urgency in ensuring that our children are equipped to
tackle the serious challenges that lay before them. The world, to a teenager, is a place rife with serious issues
— a global financial meltdown, planetary warming, dependence on fossil fuels, wars on two continents.
When polled, dropouts report that they leave school because it has no relevance in their lives. Employers
sponsor study after study documenting the skills the American workforce needs to stay competitive in a
global marketplace, yet increasingly employers are left looking overseas for those skills, as US schools are
by and large not cultivating them.

1 See Barton (2005) One Third of a Nation: Rising Dropout Rates and Declining Opportunities. Educational Testing Service Policy Information
Report
2 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, 2007 Results. See the full study at http://nces.ed.gov/timss/

The New Media Consortium 1

 It is not that we don’t know we have a problem. It is not that plenty of good people are not working on
the challenges. And we are not alone. Most of the industrial world is experiencing many of the same issues.
We have seen some gains in the quarter century this problem has been in the public eye, but they have
not been nearly enough.

We need to think differently.

What if we focused our energy not on test scores and rankings but on engaging students in their work?
What if their work was more than facts and formulas as presented in books, but relevant to the world they
see? What if rather than trying to teach them problem solving, we actually encouraged them to take on
problems that needed solving? Rather than teaching them a science curriculum, what if we opened the
door for them to do science?

Imagine a class where that sort of thing was the central focus. A class organized on solving real-world issues,
in the spirit of the exhortation made famous by John Lennon to “think globally, act locally.” A class where
the goal was to reach out to any discipline that could provide a piece of the solution, where kids helped
steer other kids to useful resources and knowledge. A class where the outcomes would be absolutely
authentic. A class that would touch on all the essential 21st century skills listed recently by over 40 leading
companies.3 Imagine further that in this class, more than 95% of the kids would self-report that they were
deeply engaged, and that they routinely worked in groups, accessed the Internet for just-in-time tools and
resources, and used the web and digital media to richly communicate their solutions.

That is just what a group of 29 teachers did in December 2008, working with a visionary team of educators
from Apple, Inc. The concept they all embraced was called challenge-based learning,4 and by any measure
it was a fresh approach. It called for a new way of thinking about the role of the teacher, one in which
he or she had to be comfortable as the students struggled and wrestled with a meaningful challenge,
letting them choose their own path to understanding within a clearly global issue like sustainability, global
warming, or war, and ultimately allowing them to come up with both questions and answers as they
directed the course of their own learning.

In a pilot of the approach that ran in a variety of formats in six schools across the US, fully 97% of the
321 students involved found the experience worthwhile. Students self-reported that they were learning
and refining skills that closely matched those identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, even
though they were never shown that listing. Initially unsure their efforts would matter, by the end of their
respective projects 80% of participating students reported that they had made a difference in their schools
or communities by addressing their challenge. Students strongly endorsed challenge-based learning, with
four out of five saying they would definitely recommend the approach to other students.

3 Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009) http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

4 Apple Education wrote a concept piece on the topic in 2008 that describes the method in considerable detail. See http://images.apple.com/
education/docs/teachers/Apple-ChallengedBasedLearning.pdf

2 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

Teachers were surprised by the time and energy expended by their students, and at how they found ways
to address group communication issues and work together, and at how they so enthusiastically embraced
their challenges.

This white paper tells the story of their efforts, and how the results of this pilot show that there is indeed
room in public education for fresh thinking. Kids are clearly engaged when they are allowed to craft
creative solutions — and the evidence from this pilot shows that when given the room and flexibility to
tackle things they see as not only relevant, but critical to their lives, they are not only engaged, but they
bring the learning to themselves.

The story begins as it did in real life, with an assessment of the reality faced by our public schools, and an
acknowledgement both of the work that has been done to this point and the work that remains to be
done. Challenge-based learning builds on a longstanding stream of solid educational thinking, and it is
clear not only from this pilot, but also from the literature that it works, so the case for change is something
we will touch on, but not dwell upon. Most of this story begs to be told via the voices of the students and
teachers who participated, and it is in their excitement and their
passion that the true success of this pilot can be felt.

The hope of everyone involved in the project is that these ideas

will take root and generate more fresh thinking, and new ways
of bringing kids to the knowledge and skills they will need in a
dangerously challenging world. What we know will not work are
short-sightedness, bolt-on marginal approaches, or strategies that
put too much distance between the world kids see before them
and the material they are asked to master.

Challenge-based learning puts that world in center focus, and

surfaces the essential relevance of their core subjects at the
same time, as the six remarkable case studies we present make
powerfully clear.

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 The Case for Challenge-Based Learning
Although the news about American public education is dire, it is not new. It has been evident for some time
that our schools are in trouble. In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published A
Nation at Risk,5 an open letter to the American people and a call to action. A Nation at Risk made it clear that
the United States had lost the advantage it briefly held in the world in science, commerce, technology,
and industry; that as custodians of the education of the young, we were failing; that without immediate,
conscious, and focused effort, that failure would only compound itself; and that in countries all around the
globe, students were being better prepared to take part in a rapidly flattening marketplace than our own
students were.

If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose No such immediate, conscious, and focused effort has taken place.

on America the mediocre educational performance that The reform efforts that have been implemented have not served
to rectify the situation; some have arguably made it worse. The
exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.
most recent and, possibly, infamous of these, No Child Left Behind
— A Nation at Risk
(NCLB),6 has resulted in a severely restricted curriculum, greater use
of test preparation drills in place of instruction, and channeling of services away from students at the top
and bottom of the achievement scale in favor of those who are closer to the “pass/fail” cutoff for high-
stakes tests.7 To make matters worse, some feel that the harsh penalties for failing to meet the standards
set forth in NCLB have drawn schools’ focus away from deeper, more endemic problems.8

5 National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. Retrieved from http://www.
ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html
6 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
7 See Laitsch (2006).
8 Chapman (2007) makes this point, as well as pointing out that educational testing experts state that the 2014 standards goals set for schools
are utterly unattainable as set forth in NCLB.

4 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

The reality remains that 25 years after A Nation at Risk, high school achievement for American students has
not improved.9 Even in the first five years under NCLB, American students showed no gains whatsoever in
reading, and very small ones in math.10 While students in other
nations enjoy rising scores and better preparation for a global …the stress on rewards and punishments based on test
workforce, our students suffer under a system that is known not scores forces schools to consider the data generated as
to support their needs, stifled by a crippling inertia that limits evaluative rather than as useful for informing instruction.
new ideas. The result is a system that appears coordinated, but results
Further, American students have a lower graduation rate in a number of unintended—although not unpredict-
compared to students in other industrialized nations.11 able—negative consequences.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), — Laitsch, D. Assessment, High Stakes, and Alternative Visions
the proportion of American students who leave school before
completing their degrees is increasing — and in recent years, researchers have reported that the figures
may have been even higher than suspected due to inconsistent measurements. In his report, One Third of
a Nation: Rising Dropout Rates and Declining Opportunities (2005), Paul Barton describes the situation as an
underreported problem and voices his suspicion that there is a tendency for schools to avoid classifying
non-degreed high school students as dropouts in order to avoid penalization by national accountability
standard requirements. This likely results in inflated graduation numbers as well as underreported dropout
rates.

Barton’s are not isolated observations.12 Although the situation has drawn considerable attention and
political focus to public education in the United States, teachers are still frustrated and we are still losing
30% of our students; it was only recently that we could even agree how to count dropouts. Students
are also leaving school earlier: in the past, students who left high school before graduation typically left
between their junior and senior year. More recently, the majority of dropouts leave high school between
grades 9 and 10.13

Legislative efforts, then, have not only failed to improve performance, but are also failing to keep kids
in school. The evidence shows that one of the main reasons students are leaving is because they are

9 Strong American Schools. (2008).

10 Sanchez, C. (2007). U.S. Test Results Show Growth in Math, Not Reading. All Things Considered, National Public Radio. See http://www.npr.org/
templates/story/story.php?storyId=14698611
11 See Strong American Schools (2008).
12 Studies conducted by four other independent researchers during roughly the same time period (1998-2000) reported similar findings. Each
study indicated that as many as a third of high school students do not complete high school (Barton, 2005). The most recent NCES findings
for the 48 states for which comparisons between 2002–03 and 2005–06 could be made found that dropout rates increased for 26 states and
decreased for the remaining 22 (NCES, 2008).
13 See Haney (2004). Haney and others interpret these findings to be an indication that more students are being flunked to repeat grade 9, possibly
in an effort to avoid passing students who are not likely to score well on 10th grade accountability tests and to keep reported passing numbers
higher.

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 disengaging from school.14 While some factors leading to disengagement are related to their home life
and family issues, it is becoming clear that an important factor is that students feel very strongly that what
they are learning in school is not relevant to their lives.15 Surveys of students who have left school have
revealed that a lack of perceived connection between the curriculum and their everyday life or future work
was a key factor, and many former students felt that more could have been done to keep them engaged
through the type of schoolwork they were asked to do.16

Clearly, something has to change. If the reason students are leaving school is disengagement and a feeling
that the work is irrelevant, clearly the solution is not to mandate higher test scores. Rather, let us consider
for a moment the implications of addressing the dilemma students are actually having.

Young people are not blind to the world’s problems. They are aware that the world
The time to begin is now. There
economy is in a dangerous and delicate condition, and they have a clear sense of what
is not one moment to waste.
a collapse would mean — to themselves, their families and friends, and to people across
— A Stagnant Nation
the country and around the globe. They realize that the planet’s temperature is climbing,
slowly but perceptibly, and that they may see the effects of that change in their lifetime.
They understand that their lifestyle is built upon nonrenewable energy sources and they know some of
what that implies.

There are real problems that need solving, and young people understand that no less than adults do. They
see these important issues taking the international stage and they know that school is not preparing them
to address challenges of this level. And one in three makes the choice to leave.

It is time to try a new approach. As the scope and potential causes of the nation’s dropout problem are
more fully realized, school reformers are attuned to innovative ways to help keep student engagement
high. Connecting class work to the real world is one obvious way to attain this goal.17

The educator by the very nature of his work is obliged to see his
present work in terms of what it accomplishes, or fails to accomplish,
for a future whose objects are linked to those of the present.
— Experience and Education

14 See Alspaugh (1998); Hernandez Jozefowicz-Simbeni (2008); Neild et al. (2008).

15 United States General Accounting Office (2002).
16 See Bridgeland, et al. (2006), in which 71% of respondents reported losing interest in their freshman or sophomore year; 47% reported that
they left school because the class work was uninteresting.
17 Varied opinions on what defines a problem-based learning project make it difficult to research its effectiveness beyond non-comparative,
anecdotal recommendations, of which there are many (Thomas, 2000). Several comparative studies, however, have generally validated
problem-based learning’s impact on student achievement. See Boaler (2002), Vanderbilt University (1992), and Ward and Lee (2004), for
example.

6 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

The same theme has appeared over and over in educational literature for many, many years, but has never
entered the mainstream. In 1938, John Dewey argued for teaching practice that brought students together
to work on real problems using real resources.18 Through the years, similar approaches including project-
based learning and contextual teaching and learning have been attempted, evaluated, and enjoyed by
teachers and students alike; student learning in problem-based courses has been documented; yet the
norm continues to be lecture-based instruction focused on what will be on the test.19

None of these approaches have taken hold in K-12 education, partly because they are bolted on to the
curriculum in addition to everything else that must be done. Other drawbacks are that it can be
difficult to identify appropriate candidates for projects, since not all topics lend themselves to being
framed as problems; and teachers must become project managers as well as guiders of learning.
Within a teaching environment that is heavily influenced by the demands of standardized testing,
it can be very difficult for problem-based learning approaches to take root and flourish.

Instead, what is needed is a new teaching model that incorporates the best aspects of problem-
based learning, project-based learning, and contextual teaching and learning while focusing on real
problems faced in the real world. This model must engage students’ curiosity and desire to learn. It
must make the solving of real problems the center of the curriculum, give students access to 21st
century tools, and require them to work collaboratively and manage their own time. It must
allow students to direct the course of their learning and engage teachers in a supportive, very
necessary role as guides.

Challenge-based learning is such a model. As the teachers and students found who participated
in this pilot project, challenge-based learning brings relevance to class work. By giving
students the opportunity to focus on a challenge of global significance, yet apply themselves
to developing local solutions, challenge-based learning creates a space where students can
direct their own research into real-world matters and think critically about how to apply what
they learn. The result, as this study shows, is increased engagement, extra time spent working on the
challenge, creative application of technology, and increased student satisfaction with schoolwork. Not
incidentally, students also mastered the subject-area content and developed many of the skills identified
as vital for 21st century learners.

Challenge-based learning builds on the successes of problem-based learning models where students
engage in self-directed work scenarios (or “problems”) based in real life. In challenge-based learning, as

18 Dewey (1938) held that it is the responsibility of the educator to present students with problems that have some bearing on their current
experience, and to make the problem sufficiently interesting to engage learners and arouse their curiosity and natural desire to learn.
19 See, for instance, Pearlman (2006); Saye and Brush (2004); Ward and Lee (2004); Maxwell et al. (2001); and Berns and Ericson (2001).

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 in problem-based learning, the teacher’s primary role shifts from dispensing information to guiding the
construction of knowledge by his or her students around an initially ill-defined problem. Students refine the
problem, develop research questions, investigate the topic using a wide variety of primary source material,
and work out a variety of possible solutions before identifying the most reasonable one. Documentation
of the process and a high-quality production of findings further serve to give the process relevance to the
world of actual work.

Challenge-Based Learning – Framework

Big Idea

Essential Question

The Challenge

Guiding Questions Guiding Activities Guiding Resources

Solution – Action

Assessment
Publishing – Student Samples Publishing – Student Reflection/Documentation

A unique feature of challenge-based learning is that problems are tied to an idea of global importance
(war, say, or the sustainability of water). Students are able to research the area of the challenge in terms of
events taking place in the world around them, strengthening the connection between what they learn in
school and what they perceive outside it. They then work in teams of co-learners, further increasing their
interest in the process and giving them valuable experience in team dynamics and collaborative work.
Teachers act as coaches to the student-centered communities of practice, addressing individual questions
and concerns and stepping in to help the students retain their focus if the problem seems too large.

8 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

Because challenge-based learning takes its ideas from real-world issues that students then must translate
into solutions of local applicability, a very wide range of curricular areas can be addressed. When integrated
as a regular part of the curriculum, challenge-based learning practices naturally lead to discovery of
relevant subject matter in many areas. Because problems
do not need to be invented — the challenges are real — I am looking forward to taking a break from the traditional learning
students connect what they are learning with their own and being able to try something new. I want to help to try to prove
experiences.
the idea of traditional learning being the only way wrong.
Access to technology, an integral part of challenge-based — 9th grader, O’Neill Junior Senior High School
learning, can help teachers overcome some of the other
constraints of problem-based learning. Ubiquitous Internet access in a one-to-one setting opens the door
for students to use online tools for collaboration and communication, often the same tools that are used
in the modern workplace. Students have access to a wider range of resources, including current news
articles, research, and even experts around the world.

A key feature of challenge-based learning is that it appropriates the networking tools and media
production techniques already being used in daily life by many 21st century learners. In preparing the final
products of their research — presentations of their chosen solutions — students draw upon photography,
videography, audio recording, and writing skills that they may already be using as web content producers.
If they are not already doing those things, challenge-based learning provides an engaging opportunity for
them to hone these kinds of high-level communication skills.

As will be seen from the research findings, challenge-based learning motivates students to come to class
and do well. It leverages technology tools to put the daily experiences of students in the service of their
education. It focuses learning on real-world issues, gives students a chance to work on important problems,
gets their voices heard, and empowers them to influence their community for the better. Challenge-based
learning has real potential to reverse the slipping trend of poor retention, low scores, and disengagement,
turning learning into an exciting, meaningful experience — as it is meant to be.

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 Challenge-Based Learning in Practice
Challenge-based learning builds on the practice of problem-based learning, in which students work on
real-world problems in collaborative teams, but with key distinctions that add a great deal of relevancy for
students. At the center of challenge-based learning is a call to action that inherently requires students to
make something happen. They are compelled to research their topic, brainstorm strategies and solutions
that are both credible and realistic in light of time and resources, and then develop and execute one
of those solutions that addresses the challenge in ways both they themselves and others can see and
measure. The concept is detailed in a white paper produced by Apple, Inc.:

Challenge-based learning is a collaborative learning experience in which teachers and students

work together to learn about compelling issues, propose solutions to real problems, and take
action. The approach asks students to reflect on their learning and the impact of their actions,
and publish their solutions to a worldwide audience.20

While the potential benefits of challenge-based learning present a persuasive case for its use, the details of
implementation and the actual effects on student learning, teacher planning, and curriculum integration
had not been tested and thus were largely unknown. In the fall of 2008, Apple, Inc. decided to put challenge-
base learning to the test, in a pilot study that could not only inform practice, but also be replicable across
a wide variety of school settings. Six schools from across the country, all schools with one-to-one laptop
initiatives in place, were chosen to participate.

20 http://images.apple.com/education/docs/teachers/Apple-ChallengedBasedLearning.pdf

10 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

School Snaphots
Manor New Technology High O’Neill Junior-Senior High School
Located in Manor, Texas, Manor New Technology High is a public high school O’Neill Junior-Senior High School in rural O’Neill, Nebraska enrolls 400 students
that opened in fall 2007 with 160 ninth- and tenth-graders, expanding to 250 in grades 7-12. The school serves a community of about 4,000 people, and
students in grades 9-12 in the 2008-09 school year. is essentially homogenous in makeup, with 94% of students identifying
themselves as white, Non-Hispanic.
Manor is considered part of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. The
http://www.oneillschools.org/
small community school focuses on collaborative, problem-based learning.
The student body is primarily multi-ethic, with 44% considered low socio- Big Idea Apathy
economic.  http://www.manorisd.net/newtech/ Question What is apathy and how does it affect our school
community?
Big Idea Sustainability of Food Challenge Transform apathy into engagement in our school
Question What are the effects of your food consumption? community
Challenge Inspire positive change in food consumption choices
Students worked in small groups to identify issues in the school
The 37 students and five teachers involved spent one week researching community that students, staff, or others were apathetic towards;
how food is produced, the impact of production and distribution on developed a plan for increasing engagement in their chosen issue; and
the environment, how different foods contribute to or detract from a created a video to explain the issue and propose their plan. For example,
person’s health, and how to make appropriate food choices. They created one group chose to focus on student apathy towards grades. Other
a Mythbusters-like video to explain what they learned and to encourage groups identified apathetic attitudes towards animal abuse, caring for
healthy choices. school-issued laptops, doing homework, school spirit, and other issues
and created proposals to address those. The project website is at http://
oneillcbl.ning.com/
Mooresville Graded Schools
Mooresville High School, located in Mooresville, North Carolina, enrolls 1,400 Pratt High School
students in grades 9-12. The student body is fairly homogeneous, with about
Pratt High School, located in rural Pratt, Kansas (Pratt USD 382) serves 450
78% identifying themselves as white, non-Hispanic.
students in grades 9-12. The school serves a community of about 7,000
Located about 25 miles north of Charlotte, Mooresville has a population of people, and is essentially homogenous in makeup, with 86% of students
about 20,000, and is the home to the corporate headquarters of Lowe’s Home identifying themselves as white, Non-Hispanic.
Improvement Warehouse. It is perhaps best known as the home of many http://www.usd382.com/vnews/display.v
NASCAR racing teams, which have earned the city the nickname “Race City
Big Idea Sustainability of Energy / Group Identity
USA.”  http://www.mcsc.k12.in.us/mhs/ Question How would the use of alternative energy sources impact
Big Idea War my life? / Who am I and what do I want to be?
Question What is war and how does it affect society? Challenge Make Pratt High School more energy efficient / Design
Challenge Using WWI as a reference point, tell the story of war and your Dream Team for success
its impact on society. Two teachers and 96 students participated in the pilot, with each teacher’s
students choosing a different big idea, essential question and challenge.
The 49 students who participated in this project researched World War I
Students in the English class created an introductory video describing the
and created a multimedia website, including movies and podcasts, to tell
big idea and the challenge they took on; working in small groups, they
the story of war. The site includes a Webquest to help visitors learn more
researched the essential questions and proposed solutions.
on their own as they complete activities designed by the students. The
students also created a video to promote the website. The site can be
found at http://www5.mgsd.k12.nc.us/staffsites/worldwarone Punahou School
Punahou School, located in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a private coeducational
Moreau Catholic college preparatory day school serving 3,750 students in grades kindergarten
through 12, divided into the Junior School (kindergarten through grade
Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, California is a Holy Cross college 8) and the Academy (grades 9 through 12). Known as the high school
preparatory high school serving 1,030 students in grades 9-12. attended by President Obama, Punahou enjoys an excellent reputation. 
Located in Alameda County, the school is primarily multi-ethnic, with 52% http://www.punahou.edu
of the student body identifying themselves as Asian or Pacific islander.  Big Idea Cultural Identity
http://www.moreaucatholic.org Question What is cultural identity and how does it define me?
Challenge Create a way to increase cross-cultural connections at
Big Idea Sustainability of Resources
Punahou.
Question What is Moreau’s paper footprint?
Challenge Reduce Moreau’s paper footprint, reduce waste, and save Five teachers and 52 students participated, and the students explored
paper the ways that cultural is understood and projected. One group chose
to share favorite ethnic foods in a video, describing why the food was
Each of the three participating classes (64 students total) researched important in the cultural tradition and even showing how to prepare
the question and prepared presentations for administration and staff to it; another group’s video included a cultural map of the school campus
propose ways to reduce the school’s paper footprint. One group created a indicating where different groups of students spend their time. A third
recycling awareness video, and another created a rap video to encourage group examined the kinds of activities and behaviors that show cultural
the school community to use less paper. ties between people.

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 Twenty-nine teachers and seven professional staff, and 321 students
Numbers of Students, Teachers, and Professional Staff
in Project, by School agreed to help conduct the first major test of challenge-based learning
School Students Teachers Professional Staff
and for their experiences to be exhaustively chronicled and researched.
Manor New Tech High 37 4 1
Mooresville Graded Schools 48 1 2 The students, primarily 9th and 10th graders, were chosen based on
Moreau Catholic 51 4 1
O’Neill Public Schools 40 3 1 the desire to represent not only a variety of urban, suburban, and rural
Pratt USD 382 93 2 1
settings, but also private, public, and magnet schools, richly diverse
Punahou High School 52 5 1
321 29 7 schools and relatively homogeneous schools, and both affluent and
low socio-economic status schools.

Seventeen disciplines were represented among the teachers, Grade Breakdown of

11th Grade
who universally expressed excitement about the opportunity Participating Students 14 Students

to put these new ideas into practice. Students were excited, as

12th Grade
well, both for the chance to do something related to a genuine 1 Student
10th Grade
issue, but also to be part of educational innovation at work. 56 Students

To prepare for the pilot, the teachers and staff attended a two-
day workshop at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, where
9th Grade
working in school-based teams, they selected one or more “big 250 Students
ideas” as the focus of the projects that would take place on their
campuses,21 identified a local challenge related to those “big ideas,”
and planned how the projects would play out at their schools.

Comparative Race/Ethnicity Each teacher was interviewed individually at the meeting to record his or her
Category All US Project Schools initial feelings about the project. Teachers expressed apprehension, excitement,
White 63.5% 54.8%
Black 15.7% 5.2%
and enthusiasm at the thought of working with their students on a project as
Hispanic 14.9% 8% open-ended as a challenge-based learning project is. They recognized that the
Asian/Pacific Islander 4.7% 17.9%
American Indian/Alaska Native 1.2% 1% projects would be challenging to lead, but felt that they would be effective and
Multi-Ethnic 11.4%
Unreported 1.7%
that the students would find both the challenges and the process engaging.
100% 100%
US categories and local and national data from National Center for Edu- Once the working groups returned to campus, the project moved very quickly.
cation Statistics (NCES) http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/
dt07_097.asp Two schools, Manor New Technology High and Punahou High School, elected to
implement their challenges in just five days. Moreau Catholic spread their work over two weeks, allocating
every other day to the effort. The remaining three schools chose a three-week window.

21 The big idea was meant to be a concept with far-reaching significance that impacts humanity. The essential questions created a more specific
focus for the big idea and guided the students toward one aspect of the larger concept. The challenge brought the big idea and essential
question home with a local call to action. The big ideas, essential questions, and challenges tackled in the pilot projects were all identified by
the teachers during the December planning meeting

12 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

 I think this project will require a different kind of thinking than we normally do in school. It will
require everyone collaborating and coming up with ideas as a group, rather than individually…
No matter what, I will be able to make a difference and have an impact on the outcome.
—10th grade student, Punahou School

The first task was for the teachers to explain the process to their students and present the big idea, the
essential question, and the challenge. The students’ task was to define guiding questions — smaller pieces
of the essential question that could be researched to increase their understanding of the big idea — and
brainstorm solutions to the challenge, finally choosing one to plan and implement locally. Each group was
to create a video or a website describing the results of their research and promoting their solution to the
challenge. While not every group produced the same level of quality, it was clear that across the board, the
students gave much of themselves to the work, and some of the materials are extraordinary.22

The journals — in both written and video form — describe the experience from the
Subject Disciplines Represented
point of view of the teachers, students, administrators, and staff at points throughout Asian History History
Biology Mathematics
the process as they were immersed in the project. All in all, students submitted more Chemistry Multimedia
than 1200 written journal entries. Dozens of hours of teacher interviews were captured, Computer Animation Physical Science
Graphic Design Social Studies
along with pre- and post-data on the impressions of all participants in the project, and Earth Science Study Skills
Engineering Theatre
of course all the effort produced a rich treasure trove of student-produced content
English World Studies
related to their projects. Health & Physical Ed

Collectively, these materials richly describe the six unique approaches taken at each of the pilot schools,
with frank clarity about using challenge-based learning, which participants found at times daunting, at
times puzzling, but always challenging and engaging.

These interviews, journal entries and other materials produced as part of the six implementations, comprised
the primary research materials used in this study.23 Data was captured on virtually every aspect of the
process, with perspectives representing
I think it’s going to be scary, and I think it’s going to take people out of their
faculty, support staff, administration, and of
course, students. comfort zone. I think that’s going to be important, because too often we get stuck
in that rut. My brain keeps racing about all the different ways that I could use it in
different classes. I’m ready to go back and do this in every one of my classes.
— Teacher, Pratt High School

22 To see the student-produced materials, see the Challenge-Based Learning website, at http://www.challengebasedlearning.org
23 The primary qualitative analysis techniques employed were cross-case analysis and clustering. For an excellent discussion of these and other
qualitative analysis techniques, see Miles and Huberman (1994).

The New Media Consortium 13

 Overall Outcomes
By any measure, the data are clear. Both teachers and students found challenge-based learning effective
and engaging. Fully 97% of the 321 students involved found the experience worthwhile. More so, when
the data are disaggregated by teacher, 73% of the faculty were able to engage every single student in their
classes; the data for those classes shows student satisfaction rates of a remarkable 100%.

Major Outcomes of the Pilot

Teachers unequivocally also rated the experience as positive,
✓ Both teachers and students overwhelmingly found challenge- with every one of the 29 pilot faculty reporting that work of
based learning effective and engaging the students exceeded their expectations. All but one faculty
✓ 100% of teachers reported that student work exceeded their
expectations member reported that the kids embraced the topic eagerly and
✓ 97% of teachers felt students learned more than expected, and worked well together and almost three-quarters noted positive
in some cases much more
changes in student attitude and behaviors.
✓ Students self reported learning skills that aligned remarkably
with the 21st Century Skills
✓ 80% of students reported that they felt they and their project Students self-reported that they were learning and refining skills
had made a difference that closely matched those identified by the Partnership for 21st
✓ There was no apparent relationship between the total time al-
lotted to the project and the quality of or presence of final prod- Century Skills,24 even though they were never shown that listing.
ucts. All but three of the critical skills identified by that group were
✓ The number of students reporting the experience as poor
dropped by more than half from the first week of the pilot to reported as part of their own learning by the students.
the end. Most of the poor ratings were isolated to just a handful
of teachers, with half of the final 3.4% rating attributable to just
two teachers.
✓ Projects which the students felt were highly relevant were most
likely to have high quality final products. The two least relevant
challenges were not completed by the students.

24 For the complete list of these skills, see http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

14 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

Initially unsure their efforts would matter, by the end of
Student-reported skill development mapped to 21st Century Skills
their respective projects 80% of participating students Skill development reported by CBL
21st Century Skills students in three or more projects
reported that they had made a difference in their schools Core Subjects Yes
21st Century Content
or communities by addressing their challenge. Students
Global awareness Yes
strongly endorsed challenge-based learning, with four out of Financial, economic, and entrepreneurial literacy —
Civic literacy Yes
five saying they would definitely recommend the approach Health and wellness awareness Yes, in one project
to other students. Learning and Thinking Skills
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Yes
Communication Skills Yes
One of the key concerns of teachers in the pre-project Creativity and Innovation Skills Yes
Collaboration Skills Yes
interviews was how they would ensure that students
Information and Media Literacy Skills Yes
mastered the required material for their classes. By the end Contextual Learning Skills Yes
Life Skills
of the projects, teachers (with just one exception) felt that Leadership Yes
by and large, students learned more than they expected Ethics —
Accountability —
— in some cases much more. Several commented that Adaptability Yes
Personal Productivity Yes
students really engaged with the content and worked very Personal Responsibility Yes
hard — harder, in fact, than expected, and showed good People Skills Yes
Self Direction Yes
critical thinking and collaboration skills. Both teachers and Social Responsibility Yes

students reported that the kids learned things that mattered Source: Partnership for 21st Century Skills http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

to them. Global and community engagement was also

broadly perceived to be an outcome, even when its presence was ostensibly unrelated to the content of
the class.

The end results of the seven challenge-based projects exhibited a range of quality and depth, and the
researchers spent some time analyzing why some projects went so much farther than others. Given
the concerns expressed by teachers about time and scheduling, the expectation was that schools who
devoted less class time to the effort would see end products of lesser depth or quality, but that was not the
case. Schools used a variety of time frames in structuring their projects. Two chose a five-day model, one
an every-other-day model that ran two weeks, and three devoted an entire
three-week period to the projects. Personally, I got quite a bit out of this project.
I feel like our team’s work really helped to get
None of the difference in outcomes or quality of student work, however, could
be attributed to time allotted or scheduling. One of the one-week schools kids thinking about their grades, and when
had several of the most creative projects; one of the three-week schools was our solution is implemented, I believe it will
not able to complete their final projects. be very successful!
—9th grade student, O’Neill Junior-Senior High School

The New Media Consortium 15

 Furthermore, no relationship could be found between concerns about time and the length of time allowed
for the project. Whatever the time allotted, it appears that challenge-based learning creates a wish that
more time could be spent on it. While time concerns were common among teachers, they were more
strongly expressed by students in classes where some students reported a poor experience. Generally,
as would be expected, time concerns loomed larger in the earlier phases of the project and faded as the
project neared completion.

What appeared to be the most critical factors related to quality and depth of the final outcomes were first
the degree to which the students felt the work was meaningful and could actually make an impact on
the challenge. This dynamic appeared to energize the students to devote considerable extra effort to the
outcome. The second factor that emerged from the analysis was how the available time was used. Students
seemed to flounder when too much of the allotted time was devoted to “big picture” brainstorming, and
they then found themselves running out of whatever time they had, with the result either being a simply
“doable” solution that was not perceived as terribly worthwhile or impactful, or one so large it could not
be completed.

Because of the hope that challenge-based learning

could reliably engage highly at-risk students in
learning during the critical 9th grade transition
into high school, a good amount of time
was spent in understanding why
challenge-based learning did not
engage the 23 students who
initially rated the experience
as less than positive, and
the 11 that rated it poorly
upon completion. Upon
close inspection, it was clear that all of
the poor ratings were isolated to just one quarter of the teachers, with half
of the ratings attributable to just two teachers. A notable finding, attributed to the engaging

16 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

nature of the approach, was that the group of disaffected
students was reduced by half over the course of the pilot
to just 3.4%.

When the specifics related to the two classes that accounted

for most of the poor ratings were examined, it was found that
one of the teachers had had a bumpy start with her class,
but that by the middle of the second week, the class was
back on track. By the end of the project, all of that teacher’s
students had ranked the overall experience as positive. In
the other case, the students’ satisfaction ratings worsened
slightly over the course of the work, before improving
significantly by the end of the project.

In both cases, the conclusion drawn was that a greater degree

of prior understanding of the challenges and the process on
the part of prospective teachers would likely increase the
likelihood of things running more smoothly. There were no
obvious patterns among the other poor ratings, and over
all, just 11 students in seven classes ultimately ranked the
experience as less than positive.25

25 That figure is equivalent to 3.4% of students. More than 75% of the teachers saw positive ratings of 100%.

The New Media Consortium 17

 The Student Experience
To capture the student experience, the students themselves were asked to submit journal entries in
response to specific questions at five points in the project, and more than 1200 entries were collected and
analyzed. Additionally, most schools also interviewed students about their projects. A video team was sent
to four schools to capture on-the-ground video as the project unfolded, and of course, the final projects
detail quite a bit of the student experience as well.

From the very start, students were excited about being involved in a national pilot of this scope. Because
they knew they were being studied, the Hawthorne Effect26 cannot be discounted. The allure of being
videotaped, with their activities regularly chronicled and knowing that there was an audience beyond the
classroom and even their community cannot be discounted as a motivator. Many spoke explicitly about
their hopes that the pilot project itself would lead to changes in schools.

I think that schools today need to change … if teachers would focus on more than one teaching
styles then less people would drop out and everyone would get better grades. And I think that it
will help us prepare for the real world. In school things are different, they give us papers and we
fill in the blanks. We never problem solve. I also hope that we can maybe change the way the
rooms set up, because as small of a thing as it is, it affects us. A lot of people give up just walking
in the door and seeing the rows of desks.
9th grade student, Pratt High School

26 The Hawthorne Effect is a term coined by Henry Landsberger in his 1958 book that looked at the results of several landmark studies of
industrial management at the Hawthorne Works factory between 1928-34. The term refers to a measureable effect caused by the act of
observation that in and of itself has been shown to cause statistically significant improvements in outcomes. See Landsberger, H. (1958).
Hawthorne Revisited, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.

18 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

Whenever possible, both teachers and researchers
The Student Experience: Pre and post impressions
worked to minimize the impact of observation
Looking forward to doing …
and to keep students focused on their own Other
positives
outcomes. Not looking
forward to it

When asked to speak specifically about their

Key things accomplished …
own parts of the effort, students mentioned the
Nothing
New kinds of
prospect of doing something new, including Learning work/learning
about
working in teams, collaborating with other the topic
Making a
students, working with their computers, and difference Learning
Tackling big about
learning on their own. Similar number of students ideas/goals the topic

felt that the idea of working on a challenge-

Completing
based project, learning about their topic, doing Worries/
the project
negatives Learning
research, and coming up with a solution was stimulating. new skills

A significant number anticipated enjoying the real- Figures sum to more than 100 due to multiple responses. Stu-
dents were very positive both going into the effort and after,
world aspects of problem solving, making a difference, with only 3.7% reporting a less than positive experience.
Personal
thinking creatively, and teaching their peers. growth

Student Outcomes.  One of the key attributes of a successful challenge-based learning project is the
sense that the work is real, that it will make a difference. As the pilot projects got underway, nearly 86%
of students felt they would be able to or possibly could make a difference in their community as a result
of working on this project; by the end of the effort, 80% were certain it did, and
The Student Experience:
another 10% thought it could. In the analysis, a clear relationship was found between
Do you think you can/did
those classes in which students felt that their ideas could make an impact and the make a difference?

successful completion of their final deliverables. Pre-Project Post-Project

Maybe/ Maybe/
Possibly Possibly
As noted in the overall outcomes, a two-thirds majority looked forward to learning
No
new skills or information, citing technical, critical thinking, communication, research, No

leadership, and presentation skills among those they expected to improve, all skills
noted as critical by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.27 Nearly a third anticipated
personal growth in areas like confidence, personal fulfillment from making a
difference, learning about themselves, and cultivating a sense of accomplishment.
Yes
Yes

Students were strongly optimistic that they could make a

difference through their projects, and that feeling increased
somewhat after the projects were completed.
27 Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009) http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

The New Media Consortium 19

 I am looking forward to doing research on this subject. I am really
The Student Experience: What you think you
would/did you get out of the project? interested in how much paper is used per year and how many trees

Other
are being used up. I also am really interested in learning what else
Pre-Project outcomes*
we can do to help conserve trees. I am also looking forward to being
documented along the way because then we will be able to see the
progress we are making.
Personal 9th grade student, Moreau Catholic High School
growth
Post-Project
Learning
new skills and
As the projects unfolded, the students’ first task was to
information
identify the guiding questions that would direct
Other
outcomes* their research, brainstorming ideas, and planning
their teamwork. Asked what they felt they had
Learning accomplished, a majority noted that their teams had
Personal new skills and
*eg life lessons, new friends, satisfaction, chance to growth information
play a leadership role
made progress narrowing down and researching
Overall, student reported outcomes aligned very their topics; most of these reported learning
closely with 21st Century Skills.
something new. Well over a third named specific
actions related to the process of challenge-based learning,
such as framing their guiding questions, brainstorming ideas, planning, or completing a project task. Nearly
one-fifth felt they had improved corollary skills such as teamwork and facility with technology.

At the mid-point of each project, students were clearly engaged and excited. Journal entries and videos
both document that kids were busily researching topics, refining solutions, and beginning to prepare
media projects and final presentations.

I love this project. I am learning more than I could have ever expected. Gathering information
is going very well. I never knew how big of an event World War I was, and I have never heard
about it.
9th grade student, Mooresville Graded Schools

This week we made a survey and had people answer some of our questions about grade apathy.
We also did many interviews of teachers and students, to see if [what] we thought really was
apathy actually was. Right now we are tying our information together and trying to figure out
a solution. I think we are going to interview a principal from another Nebraska school where
they have teams and get “points” for getting good grades and going out for activities. We think
this could be a good idea in our school.
9th grade student, O’Neill Junior-Senior-High School

20 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

Students found group dynamics to be a hurdle; almost a quarter cited group issues as among the
problems they encountered. The self-directed nature of the project was problematic for some, and about
a fifth encountered difficulties with researching or preparing the final product. Lack of time and technical
problems accounted for a few more issues.

When asked how they managed these challenges, it was clear that students were solution-oriented, and
overcame challenges by applying extra effort or time, working through things in their groups, being
persistent, and maintaining a positive attitude.

It was very hard at first because this project was self-directed. My group and I had never
experienced a self-learning project so it was difficult to know how and where to begin. I didn’t
like how you weren’t able to ask the teacher for an answer, or how you weren’t able to answer
the teacher. Instead you had to do both the asking and the answering which was very difficult
… [but] as we worked through it, it became easier and started to come more naturally. We
divided up the work so that we could compile everyone’s ideas into one. We also documented
our work, which helped us to understand what to do next …
10th grade student, Punahou School

By the final third of their projects, students were deeply involved in the multimedia presentations describing
their solutions.

When their projects were completed, students were asked to complete post-project surveys. The vast
majority of students (96.7%) felt the project turned out positively overall; only eleven students (3.3%) felt it
went fairly poorly or poorly. Students took away improved skills in teamwork, technology, critical thinking,
research, communication, and presentation (a third cited these) as well as personal growth and impact on
their peers and community (a quarter noted gains in these areas). Topic area learning was noted by one in
five as a positive gain.

The main accomplishment in the eyes of many students was the presentation they created. A similar
number noted the learning that occurred as they researched their topics. Improved skills were cited here
again; a quarter felt a sense of accomplishment in technology, teamwork, communication, and other
skills that correlated highly with the listing compiled by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Significant
numbers commented that they felt that they had an impact on their peers, school or community.

A key global indicator about the quality of the student experience is the degree to which students would
recommend the approach to their peers who might be considering such a class. Significantly, four of five
students said they would definitely recommend a challenge-based learning project to their peers; another
almost 10% reported that they might, depending on circumstances.28

28 For more on the student experience, and to hear students talking about their projects in their own voices,
see http://www.challengebasedlearning.org

The New Media Consortium 21

 The Teacher Experience
Capturing the experience for teachers was an explicit outcome of the pilot, as it was felt that precisely
understanding the realities of how challenge-based learning might work in actual schools would be
critical in helping others decide if the approach was right for them.

In terms of background, the teachers involved in the project were very typical of the field. The group
included first year teachers and some with a great depth of experience; the average was 10.1 years in
the classroom, and seventeen subject areas were represented. While a technically savvy group overall,
with over two years experience working in a one-to-one laptop environment, there was also a range of
capability in technical background among the teachers involved.

The teachers were formally interviewed on video at five points during the project, but informal interactions
also were captured, and researchers spent a good deal of time simply listening as teachers worked through
the initial planning and throughout the project. All of the teachers were interviewed during the kickoff
meeting; as the project was underway, each teacher was interviewed at least once. Teachers were asked
what students were learning and how they were doing; how the project was unfolding; what surprises
they had encountered so far; and what was working well, and what was not.

One of the things that really struck me … was the challenge-based approach of having a topic,
asking a question, then asking further questions, refining… the whole process [is reflective of ]
the scientific method, exactly how you would go about doing the research and writing for a
paper traditionally … this is a great way to go about doing that. I think it’s going to really affect
who I am as a teacher.
Teacher, Punahou School

22 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

Early Impressions.  At the project kickoff
The Teacher Experience: Pre and post impressions
meeting, every one of the teachers reported
How do you think this project will turn out?
a palpable excitement about embarking Challenging/hard
15.4%
into challenge-based learning, expressing
feelings such as hope, a feeling that it would
Fun, exciting, new
be interesting, rewarding, and engaging, and 100% Reservations/
concerns
a sense that the project could very well make 30.8%

a difference. The teachers also acknowledged How did the project turn out?
that it would be a new experience for them
Kids worked Positive changes
and for the students. Some indicated that they Exceeded expectations well together in students
100% Time or
99.3% 72.8%
were feeling scared, uneasy, or skeptical about technical issues
17%
how the project would work. A few expressed
While teachers expressed strong reservations about whether the students were up to CBL, citing con-
reservations about whether the students would cerns about process, group dynamics, technical skills, and mastering the content, every single teacher
reported that the results exceeded their expectations. In the end, only time and technical issues re-
be comfortable with the open-ended method mained significant concerns. Figures sum to more than 100 due to multiple responses.

and the lack of directed activity.

In terms of student reward, I think the project is going to be fantastic. If student engagement is
the problem … then getting them projects where they get to be active in class is definitely the
key to the solution. I mean, think about how many hours students spend in a classroom in a
week, and how many of those hours are spent sitting, physically sitting, just listening? I couldn’t
sit still and listen for that long. … I think [it’s] going to be great.
Teacher, Punahou School

The teachers anticipated a variety of obstacles to overcome and the need to work around important
constraints in order for the project to be successful. Chief among these were a variety of concerns
about the process of challenge-based learning, which
The Teacher Experience: Perceived hurdles, pre vs post project
was understood post-project to be part of their own
Biggest hurdles would be …
learning and preparations. The most often mentioned
constraint was the tight time schedule (noted in 34.6%
Time/school
Various process concerns
of the responses). Motivating students and getting them schedules
75% Getting thru the
34.6%
required material
interested in the project was seen as another potential 23.1%

challenge, as was the need to align the project with the Motivating
the kids
Biggest hurdles were … 26.9%
required curriculum so that they could ensure that the
required material was covered.
Time
27.6% Technology issues
6.7%

Figures sum to more than 100 due to multiple responses.

Various Group Process concerns related to completing components of
process issues the study (journals, video interviews, etc), reporting re-
concerns 6.7%
quirements, and understanding the key components of
13.8% the CBL process.

The New Media Consortium 23

 You want that creativity… but at the same time, you’re held to the content requirements…
that’s going to be on your statewide test, by which your school is going to be measured. …
Teacher, Mooresville Graded Schools

Interim Observations.  Fourteen teachers completed interviews during the first phase of their projects,
another dozen at the midpoints, and the remainder as their projects wound down. Their comments and
observations reflect the actual experiences they were having in real time as the projects unfolded.

From the moment the projects began, the teacher comments reflected surprise on a number of levels.
Teachers noted that students that typically did not engage were diving into project work; students were
eagerly researching and collecting data, working on their guiding questions, sorting out their teams, and
getting their arms around the challenge. Most of the teachers
The Teacher Experience: Typical surprises expressed
observed new forms of thinking in their students, including
Students who typically did not participate were engaged and involved
learning about themselves, learning to ask good questions,
Attendance was higher than usual during the project
becoming more aware of their environment, and struggling not
Students and teachers alike learned a lot of new technology
Students showed noticeably positive changes in attitude and skills to jump directly to solutions. While some occasionally referred
Student changes occurred on dimensions such as taking on leadership roles, pride in work, and to the process as chaotic at times, they also all observed that
showing positive feedback and support for other students.
something new was happening.

It is the questions that they ask. When they ask a question that I didn’t even think of myself. Or
when they find a resource or figure out to use a resource that I didn’t even think of. I am having
these moments where I am like, “man, what a good idea!”
Teacher, Mooresville Graded Schools

I have been amazed at how engaged they are in what they are doing. You don’t very often walk
into a classroom and see the whole class totally engaged in what they are dong and these kids
are. Everyone is working on their computer and doing what they are supposed to.
Teacher, Pratt High School

24 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

 Once we started talking about the activities aspect of it… once I said, “Looking at the questions
you came up with, what are some activities you could do that could address some of those
questions?” that’s when they started really getting into it, and the energy in the room went
from just like “blllleh” [deflates] to like “wooooo” [sits up very straight and excited] because they
started thinking about “Okay, what could we do [snaps fingers] to get people out of their cliques
on the campus? How can we get them interacting in a more direct way outside of their normal
social, cultural boxes?” And their ideas are really things I never would have thought of, and I’m
really curious to see if they can pull it off [laughs]!
Teacher, Punahou School

Asked to comment on what was not working early on, one-fifth said everything was working
well. Another fifth encountered process issues, such as students trying to jump right to
the solution or failing to understand the challenge, and the difficulty of guiding
students without giving out answers. Time constraints were causing some
strain to others, while a few cited the formation of teams as a trouble
spot. Other issues were more local, such as a difficult trip to the library
or student absences, but with very few exceptions, all more at the
group than the class level, these sorts of concerns disappeared as the
projects unfolded.

By the end of the second class, I’m feeling pretty optimistic.

Teacher, Punahou School

In the middle of the program, twelve more interviews were collected.

Teachers reported that as students continued to work on their projects,
they were focusing on refining their guiding questions, conducting
research and collecting data, designing solutions, and developing their
multimedia pieces.

When a student came back from Thanksgiving, and I had said, “See who
you can contact,” and [this] kid comes back with contact information from a
professor who teaches in London…Talk about taking this to an international level,
this girl. I can’t believe she had the guts to do that as a 14-year-old kid. She just
wanted a good resource, even if it was across the ocean.
Teacher, Mooresville Graded Schools

The New Media Consortium 25

 Asked about how the program itself was unfolding, the majority (74.9%) were very positive, noting that the
project was going “extremely well,” student engagement was high, and things were “taking off.”

The level of engagement is so much higher. Think of it as an s-curve and there was a lull and
everyone was confused and not sure what was going on. The it just spiked in terms of what was
going on, activity levels. Now we are still at the top of that curve and everyone is working hard.
Teacher, Mooresville Graded Schools

Many teachers (83.3%) expressed surprise at the high levels of student enthusiasm they were seeing; one
teacher noted that a student who was out sick connected through video chat to take part in class from
home.

One of the biggest surprises for me was the enthusiasm from one of the particular classes of
students. They are the ones that have the most trouble academically. They are a class specifically
for learning study skills. But this particular research, and topic, and brainstorming they seem to
really be enjoying. So it is bringing out a creative side of them that they might not have been
aware of.
Teacher, Moreau Catholic

…[the] kids have made connections with resources in the community, human resources, experts,
local people that know more about the subject area than us … People in our community are
seeing what kids care about and what they are doing in the school. I think that is going to be a
huge byproduct of challenge-based learning.
Teacher, O’Neill High School

The amount and quality of work being done, and the skills students were developing also came as a
surprise; many teachers commented on this. In particular, teachers noted that students were mastering
the technology quickly and rapidly becoming creative with it. By mid-project, over ninety percent of
the teachers felt that one of the aspects of the project that was going especially well was the students’
attitudes and their involvement in the work. The use of technology and community resources was cited
as a positive factor by a third.

Eleven teachers recorded interviews toward the end of the projects, when students were primarily
working on their media presentations. Teachers observed that students were still very enthusiastic and
their solutions looked promising. Students were developing practical skills such as teamwork and time
management. By this point, the great majority of the teachers (81.9%) felt the projects were unfolding well,
but time remained an issue throughout the program.

26 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

 By the last class, when I was looking around the room, I
The Teacher Experience:
was thrilled, actually, because the students were really Common meaningful outcomes mentioned

engrossed, engaged. They were doing the project for the Having the chance to work with other teachers
Allowing and encouraging cross-grade-level interactions
sake of doing the project, not because of all of the different
Seeing the kids get so excited
external motivators that we have in the school. I saw the
Giving students the freedom to come up with their own ideas
potential of this curriculum model and I saw the potential Seeing students naturally use math skills from the normal parts of the class
of technology in the classroom. I felt like this was the best Emulating real world problem solving
use of technology I had seen in my classroom. Seeing kids learn things they can then teach adults
Seeing kids create a meaningful product about people in their community
Teacher, Punahou School
Having the chance to be creative
Forming new bonds with kids and other faculty
Teacher Outcomes.  Clearly the teachers felt that challenged-
based learning was an effective strategy. Fully 100% of the
teachers said that their students exceeded their expectations in terms of quality and quantity of work.
Nearly all (99.3%) of the teachers noted that the student teams worked well and that students were
collaborating and learning from each other. A majority (72.8%) also observed positive attitudes and growth
in the students over the course of the project.

After the projects were completed, respondents felt the project turned out well and was a valuable
experience that students will remember; they were pleased with the content that was created and
excited to see what the students came up with. Teachers were stuck as much as the students were with
the engaging nature of the challenge-based learning process; fully half of the teachers expressed a wish
for more time to implement the ideas that their students developed. Many singled out the benefits for
students, including increased motivation, taking ownership of their learning, and directing their own
activities.

… there was a day when the kids had been out and about in the campus and had interviewed
some students. They came back and they were all excited and interested, and clearly their
interest in the project had increased. Then I read some of the journals they had done, and it was
clear to me that there was some thinking going on in the students that I hadn’t realized.
Teacher, Punahou School

Serendipitous opportunities were plentiful, although they varied from teacher to teacher, as might be
expected. One teacher found that the work merged well with her curriculum standards; another picked
up ideas for future practice from the work her students did. Another appreciated the opportunity to see
students working in a new environment.

Challenges, too, varied; while two teachers reported the time crunch as a significant challenge, others
struggled with managing groups of students working in different directions, or with accepting student
solutions that took a different tack than expected.

The New Media Consortium 27

 … A lot of students struggled to define the challenge… students also, at times, wanted more
guidance from me… so seeing their frustration, seeing them trying to figure out what they
ought to be doing at any given point, and then knowing myself that I really had to let them
work their way through that frustration… it was not easy.
Teacher, Punahou School

Ultimately for teachers, however, the true measure of success

The Teacher Experience: Top comments related to student
mastery of content cannot be assessed without considering if the learning that
Students learned more than was expected; most mastered the content occurred met the requirements of the required curriculum.
Students really engaged with the content and worked very hard
When asked about students’ mastery of the content, all the
Students learned things that mattered to them
teachers (100%) felt that students had either mastered the
Students showed good critical thinking and collaboration skills
Global and community engagement was a focus, even when not
content or gained other valuable skills, such as critical thinking,
content-specific collaboration, or global and community engagement. In general,
Two teachers commented on the need for formal assessment, but generally teachers could see
the learning taking place.
students learned more than was expected, and most students
mastered the content.

The biggest hurdle we ran into was the actual tech skills of our kids. Their skills I thought were
a little stronger than they were. They use it for a lot of different things but all of the sudden,
they fell back into their comfort zones [of ] writing a paper or doing a PowerPoint or keynote
presentation… It was a challenge to push them past their comfort zone.
Teacher, Pratt High School

Some teachers had difficulty adjusting their teaching practice to the challenge-based learning model;
50% felt that planning and structuring class time, remaining hands-off, and not pushing the students one
way or another were very challenging.

The teachers were united in feeling that the most meaningful outcomes related to the student experience.
All of the respondents noted benefits such as cross-grade interactions, real world problem solving, student
freedom and excitement, creativity, community involvement, and students teaching their peers and
adults what they had learned. Additionally, many teachers identified benefits to themselves, in the form of
opportunities to work with their colleagues and to form new bonds with both students and faculty.

28 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

 The most meaningful outcome was a group of students put together a podcast of the people
that they looked up to. They used key figures in history, or from a particular sport and then they
used people who were actually in their everyday lives. And it was really neat to see them speak
highly of people that you sometimes don’t hear them speaking highly of or that you didn’t even
know that they thought that way about someone and that they actually look up to this person
as a role model was just awesome.
Teacher, Pratt High School

In the final analysis, most teachers had similar responses to the approach as their students. They found it
fresh, exciting, and new. The learning felt real, meaningful, and authentic to everyone involved. The open-
ended process was challenging at times, because it required critical thinking and action to move forward,
and there were moments when both teachers and students felt the stress of evaporating time.

The aspects of the approach that offer the most promise also require careful planning. Teachers found
that engaging students in learning and asking them to set their own directions within a larger framework
meant shifting the locus of control, placing everyone in a new context. Understanding and planning for
that was thought to be key.

As the pilot was finished, the projects put away, and the analysis of the data completed, the overarching
feeling of everyone involved was that this was by any measure a most successful pilot. Not only was
challenge-based learning shown to work, and work effectively in populations of some of the most at-risk
kids in American schools, it was also clear that it can be done more effectively. That is the point upon
which this report will end — with a look to next steps and continuing efforts.

The New Media Consortium 29

 Recommendations for Practice
The project team believes very strongly in the efficacy of challenge-based learning and anticipates that other
schools will want to include it in their curriculum planning. To that end, the following recommendations
have been drawn from our experiences — and those of the teachers and students who participated in the
pilot — and are presented here to assist in the planning process.

Prepare teachers by introducing them to challenge-based learning in a retreat or workshop

setting.  Use this time to answer questions about the process, share examples from this pilot and similar
projects, and help teachers understand their role, which may be very different from what they are used
to doing. Set expectations about what teachers will do and what students will be asked to do so that
students hear a clear, consistent message throughout the
It’s going to be exciting to be able to work with other teachers project from everyone involved. A full-scale offsite retreat
on a project that we haven’t really taken the time or effort to is not necessary; the key components are a dedicated time
do before. We should have been doing this all along. This is just and place, someone to explain the process and answer

sort of the added boost that we need to do it, to get started. questions, a chance for teachers to express their concerns
and be heard, and an opportunity for them to collaborate
— Teacher, O’Neill Junior-Senior High School
on designing the challenges.

Bring teachers together in multidisciplinary teams to plan and carry out the project. Participating
teachers were enthusiastic about the opportunity to work directly with their peers at their own schools,
not only in conceiving the challenge, but also all throughout the project. They found the connection
with other teaching professionals to be very valuable in terms of sharing ideas and resources, helping
one another through tricky or uncomfortable spots, and helping students make connections between

30 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

different subject areas.29 Extending the challenge across disciplines opens the door for students to look for
solutions that touch on more than one area, and both teachers and students commented on how much
they appreciated working in teams.

Select the challenge carefully, and make it a real one.  It is crucial for the challenge to actually
relate to the real world and for it to have an impact on the students’ families, local communities or school.
Student comments indicate excitement and engagement around the idea of being able to personally
have an impact, and a majority of students both anticipated that they would be able to make a difference
and felt that they had afterward.30 It is also important that the size of the challenge be in line with the time
and resources available for the project; if the challenge is too big, kids do not know where to start and
will feel stressed and pressured for time at the outset. The teacher’s guidance is extremely important both
in selecting appropriate challenges and in framing them in such a way that students can get their arms
around what is being asked of them.

Build 21st century skills into the project right from the start.  While nearly every skill identified by
the Partnership for 21st Century Skills emerged naturally from the types of activities students engaged
in as they worked on the challenges, it would be very easy to hit them all. Teachers who are aware of the
list of skills can incorporate specific project components to build on them, such as the health awareness
component of the project on food sustainability at Manor New Technology High. Skills like financial and
economic literacy are a natural fit for challenges related to the economy, but almost any topic could have
a financial component. Teachers can plan final project requirements that incorporate subsets of the 21st
century skills, or encourage exploration and research that helps students develop certain skills.

Whatever the timeframe, teachers need to budget project time wisely.  The pilot demonstrates
that outcomes are independent of the length of the project; challenge-based learning projects can be
designed to take place in a single day or last an entire school year. The critical issues around time are to
allocate it in proportion to the scope of the challenge, and to help students break down the overall project
length into reasonable segments. Enough time must be allowed for students to work through the big idea
and brainstorm research questions, but there is a point of diminishing returns when brainstorming must
end and research must begin. Likewise, students need plenty of time to do the research and brainstorm
solutions, but then they must stop brainstorming and select one solution to develop. These points in the
project are difficult for students to recognize, particularly if they are new to challenge-based learning.
Teachers must design the experience to create a feeling of pressure such that students understand how
to move on at the right points.

29 With regard to outcomes of the project, 38.4% of the teacher comments in the pre-project survey indicated an expectation that challenge-
based learning would have a positive impact their teaching practice; of those, a third mentioned the beneficial effects of working with
other teachers. In the post-project teacher survey, 37.5% of the comments about outcomes dealt with professional development and new
connections with other teachers and students.
30 See page 22, The Student Experience: Do you think you can make a difference?

The New Media Consortium 31

 Schedule the project at a time when it does not conflict with other demands on student time.
If the challenge-based learning project is shoehorned in among other activities like mid-term exams,
students will not be able to give it the focus that is required for deep learning. Instead, plan a time when
the challenge can take center stage, which also reinforces the idea of its importance. Students in the pilot
found that sources outside school provided opportunities for research, including news stories, community
members, and experts around the world.31 Scheduling the project to allow time to explore resources like
these gives students a chance to look for solutions and research material in unexpected places.

Allow dedicated work time during the school day.  Teachers reported that once the project got
going, students were very engaged in their work. Some teachers reported increased attendance during
the project; one teacher even remarked that a student who was home sick arranged to be present via
videoconference so as not to miss out. Students worked on their projects outside school hours, as well.
Clearly, the challenges were important and engaging to the students. Emphasize their significance by
scheduling daily time for project work.

I think that this project is going really well. I like having Give students access to technology, and provide adequate
technology support.  Each of the schools in the pilot is a one-to-
the option to use the Internet to gather information
one school (every student has his or her own laptop with Internet
as well as using books. This allows me to be able to get
capability). Students and teachers alike noted that having access to
a lot more information pertaining to my specific topic the computers and to the Internet 24/7 was a critical component of
as opposed to having to scour a lot of books to get the the project.32 Students preferred to be able to do research wherever
same information. Also, I like being able to make the and whenever they needed to, and easily accessed information on

multimedia presentations a lot because they are so the fly as a normal part of their working strategies. Media literacy
and presentation skills are important parts of the 21st Century
much better than making a project with the traditional
Skills set, and fit naturally within the challenge-based learning
materials. I can convey the same information in a more
framework. Students clearly felt that preparing the multimedia
timely and interesting manner. I can’t really think of presentations of their proposed solutions was a source of great
anything that isn’t going well with this project. satisfaction. Naturally, problems occasionally arose, particularly
— 9th grade student, Mooresville Graded Schools with video formats, and it is critical to have someone on hand who
can troubleshoot, give guidance, and make any needed repairs or
updates to the technology so that students can continue working. In the planning stages, spend some
time discussing the media needs of the project. Consider setting out clear recommendations for media
size and format, perhaps including software settings for rendering or exporting video, so that students
clearly understand how to prepare their final work.

31 In open-ended responses, research was consistently cited by students as one of the aspects of the project that was going well throughout.
32 In pre-project surveys, 12.1% of students mentioned technology skills as something they expected to acquire during the project. In weekly
surveys, technology skills were reported as a key learning each week.

32 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time

Give students the opportunity to act on their solutions.  The
kind of learning that takes place in challenge-based projects The project is going well, but it is unusual to have this
is reinforced by action, and students will learn much from the many options. There are almost no limitations. Since
implementation of their own ideas. Part of the attraction of the
we are just trying this out there is not enough time to
projects to the students was the opportunity to persuade their peers
really follow through with this project. But if this style
and the adults in their life to take part in activities they designed. In
of learning does start being used all over I think that it
order for students to see that they can make a difference, they must
be allowed to carry their solutions through to action. Implementation is important that we implement our ideas and not just
is accompanied by major outcomes in terms of acquisition of 21st write them down.
century skills such as communication, leadership, civic literacy, and —10th grade student, Manor New Technology High
social responsibility, among many others.

Practice, iterate, and improve the process.  At the outset, teachers were very concerned with how the
process would unfold. They were apprehensive about giving up control and worried that students would
not pick up the reins and do the work. By the end of the project, however, those concerns had virtually
evaporated.33 Students, too, were nervous at the start; they
Yes, I would [recommend this kind of project to other students].
were not sure how to act in a situation where they directed
Not only that, I think that the work that people accomplish
their own learning. When it was all over, the majority of
students said they would recommend a similar project to should, some way, be published, so people would know about
other students, and overall they felt the project went fairly the changes that need to be made, and soon.
well or very well.34 —10th grade student, Manor New Technology High

W
e began this report with the observation that the children in our schools today will inherit
unprecedented problems that will need to be addressed in their lifetimes. We know that
decades of reform have not given us hope that the erosion of skills in our youth will subside.

We know new ideas are needed.

Challenge-based learning is one of those ideas. Fresh, new, relevant to today’s issues, it is an approach
uniquely suited to our time. The findings of the Challenge-Based Learning pilot are encouraging, and clear.
They solidly support further experimentation, further research, and further work in the field.

More than that, they show it works. We know we need to make learning relevant to the challenges youth
will face in their lifetimes—and we can.

The time to begin is now.

33 See page 25, The Teacher Experience: Perceived Hurdles, Pre vs Post Project.
34 Of the students who responded to the post-project survey question, Would you recommend a project like this to other students?, 88.1% said they
would or they might, while only 11.9% said they would not. Also see page 19, The Student Experience: Pre and Post Impressions.

The New Media Consortium 33

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 The New Media Consortium 37
 38 Challenge-Based Learning  |  An Approach for Our Time
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