Passion-Based Learning: Genius Hour

A concept that we have discussed in lecture recently has really intrigued me. I am referring to a strategy employed in passion-based learning called the ‘Genius Hour’. This is a 60 minute session in which students are permitted to work freely on new ideas or skills that are self-selected based on personal interest. This idea has been commonly discussed in relation to Google because they have used this method with their employees and have  found that it has had a tremendously positive impact on the productivity of their employees and the success of the business overall. From this concept they have generated several big, successful ideas for expansion and improvements in software. This concept is now being applied to classrooms and it appears to have a similarly positive impact on students and their own learning. I have attached a video below that explains Genius hour and its origins with Google. 

As the video described, one of the first rules of the Genius Hour is that there must be a driving question. In this way connections can be made to inquiry-based learning. I think what makes this method of learning so positive is that it makes student’s learning not only relevant to their interests, but also to their current context in terms of environment and the world they are currently living in. This is an important component of 21^st century learning that we find ourselves continuously coming back to when discussing the important requirements of learning. Furthermore, I really like the idea of sharing their finished project to their classmates and the world! The fact that they share their projects with their classmates allows the class to learn deeply about a variety of topics but the fact that they will share their projects to the world as well really allows students to feel as though their work is significant, meaningful, and can make a difference. This will have a positive impact on a student’s motivation to learn because their knowledge will have meaning beyond the confines of the classroom. This classroom limitation is often a factor that contributes to students’ disengagement in learning.

Source: http://wendeehughes.weebly.com/genius-hour.html

Another rule for the Genius Hour is that the project that a student chooses to engage in must involve research. This rule made me reflect on a grade 2 class that I observed in a placement this year. This was a small but challenging group of students in terms of behavioral challenges. Many of these students had diagnosed behavioral issues and IEPs. Despite these challenges, all of the students were very interested in doing ‘research’. So much so, that the teacher created a discovery corner that houses books on a wide variety of subjects for the students to browse through. Also, on the walls in this corner of the room were many different sticky note papers with questions written on them that the children were interested in learning the answers to. The students were so interested in researching a topic that interested them that when they were done assignments and permitted free time to do something, many of them would regularly decide to ‘research’ and write down facts and information they found in their books. Since learning about Genius Hour, I recognized how this teacher could have taken this interest in research further by implementing this concept into her classroom because they already displayed such a high interest in pursuing information about what they were interested in learning about. This really goes to show that this can be achieved with students of any grade level and of varying abilities and strengths in the classroom.

The idea of the Genius Hour is very exciting, progressive, and really highlights all the most important aspects of 21^st century learning! I hope to see this used more frequently in classrooms and plan to utilize this concept in my own teaching when I have my own classroom.