Part Two: Your Project

Chapter Six is the halfway point in Nature Labs, where the final project is introduced and student lessons transition from knowledge acquisition to knowledge application. We’ve designed the final project with four ideas in mind:

1. Ask students to take what they’ve learned in this course and prove their comprehension by applying that knowledge.
2. Ask students to create their final project using the parameters of balancing people and nature (helping keep ideas focused while also allowing for unique, personal interpretations).
3. Ask students to create something, within the confines of this class, that reflects their passion or interests and helps address a contemporary problem or issue (helping answer the question of why this class and this project matters in the real-world).
4. Ask students to create something that reflects where they want to go in life (ensuring they are building skills towards their ideal future).

Note: This goes without saying, but like every lesson and each activity in Nature Labs, the final project is ultimately up to you. We’ve done our best to provide a rigorous structure that reflects what students and educators told us they wanted, hopefully helping lessen your classroom design burden. That being said, we’ve intentionally left many aspects of Nature Labs vague so that you can adapt it to your preferences and your situation. The Lesson Media for Chapter Six, as you will have noted, is extremely vague in explaining the final project for this very reason. We want you to be able to use as many elements of Nature Labs as possible without forcing you to adhere to a specific lesson or project outline.

Your Project:

This section outlines the final project for students.

Outline: Students will propose an idea that will help advance their career goals and their vision for balancing the needs of people and nature in their community or in our country.

Process: This project is about furthering student career goals, and demonstrating that what they do can be how they leave their mark on our world. Student ideas should be innovative – a new or improved product, service or campaign. Their approach can be entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial – design a start-up that answers their better question or demonstrate how an existing company or organization can solve the problem. And student focus must be on developing an idea that can be implemented by their career of choice. Their final project? This is students test driving their future profession. This is a living resume that showcases their ingenuity, skills and new-found experience. And, if they desire, this is also a chance to advance their career goals by building connections and creating a pathway to their dream job.

Skills: creative thinking, critical thinking, skill building, planning, research, organization, responsibility, leadership, time-management, independence, collaboration, critiquing, reviewing, communication, self-starting, self-regulation, citizenship, awesomeness

Final Product: Using an entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial approach, students will research, design and pitch an innovative idea that answers their better question and will benefit their chosen career.

1. Research: The better question students came up with in Chapter Four will drive their research. Students should be encouraged to search for inspiration and let loose their creativity in order to find ideas within the parameters of the career they’re pursuing.
2. Design: Students should design their idea and create a 10-12 slide presentation deck or a two-page proposal to showcase it.
3. Pitch: Inform your class of how you want them to present their idea. We recommend delivering a pitch-style presentation, a skill that will help if students intend to pursue their idea with a company, organization, funder or investor. And, of course, their slide deck or two-pager will form the basis for their presentation.

This project can be for this class only, but if students come up with an idea that they believe has real merit, they should be encouraged to pursue it, creating tangible connections and experiences that will benefit their future career.

Rubric: Again, you can use this rubric or provide your own for students to review.

Why Nature: We again cover why nature is used as the metaphor for this class, and highlight the many ways students can define or envision balancing people and nature. We strongly encourage you to allow students to define this question in the broadest possible terms.

Project: Part One

This activity uses the principles of design thinking to help students lock down their idea by creating a rapid prototype for testing.

Instructions:

1. Present or have students carefully review the activity’s preamble.
2. Remind students to use the work they have already completed in the previous chapters, as this will give them a significant head start on their final project.
3. Students can use the linked resources to help them better understand the purpose of the task.
4. Have students follow the prompts listed in the activity and encourage them to use the guiding questions to help them perfect their concept.

Project: Part Two

This activity uses the principles of design thinking to help students test their rapid prototype – their idea for their final project – in order to get critical feedback before they launch full-on into the creative process.

Instructions:

1. Present or have students carefully review the activity’s preamble.
2. Organize your class into prototype stations and have the students rotate through every prototype station, leaving feedback notes. Make sure students have Post-it notes and a pen, or some other tool or device that will allow them to leave ideas with each station.
3. Encourage students to use the prompts in the activity to help them focus their feedback.

Project: Part Three

This activity uses the principles of design thinking to help students re-adjust their ideas based on the feedback they’ve received, helping them create a more robust, worthwhile final project.

Instructions:

1. Present or have students carefully review the activity’s preamble. Encourage students to reflect on our advice regarding feedback (what to accept and what to reject).
2. Give students time at home or in class to work through the feedback they received, allowing them to refine their idea before they begin the creation process.
3. The infographic and the Curated Library are tools to help the students as they work through the refinement process.