Genius Hour
Another origin of genius hour projects came from the book Drive by best-selling author, Daniel Pink. In a blog post he writes about how the Google-time projects are also used in other corporations. Each week, employees can take a Genius Hour — 60 minutes to work on new ideas or master new skills. They’ve used that precious sliver of autonomy well, coming up with a range of innovations including training tools for other branches.
There are many educators leading the way with passion projects in their classes, but much of their inspiration came from the book The Passion-Driven Classroom: A Framework for Teaching & Learning by Angela Maiers and Amy Sandoval. A.J. Juliani also wrote a recent book about Genius Hour and 20% Time in education. Many teachers are raving about the autonomy that students are finding in their classes, including myself. I have been leading a group of 6th graders through the genius hour process this year and it has been very rewarding to watch them learn. A goal of every teach should be to create lifelong learners. Genius hour projects are a huge step towards that goal. |
Introduction to Genius HourEducational PhilosophyFrequently Asked Questions
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