Overview*

The senior project coordinator, a staff member of the high school, facilitated the semester-long senior project experience for participating students. Since this was the first time many students were completing an independent project, there were many benchmarks checks along the way and various structures to support their learning, including: creating an identity wheel to connect their chosen issue to themselves; group discussions with their learning community (other students completing senior projects); check-ins with a chosen mentor with relevant content expertise; researching their issue; writing a theory of change for their project; mid-term lunch talks, in which they share their research with fellow students and teachers and receive feedback; online discussion forums; workshops to add to students’ skills; an annotated bibliography; a portfolio that documented their process; and a public, end-of-semester presentation about what they accomplished. 

Context: Independent senior projects at an urban public school outside of Boston. Students apply to complete a senior project as a course elective. Senior projects can also meet the Massachusetts requirement for a high school civic action project.

Project Timeline: One semester, with a project proposal submitted and approved before the start of the semester.

The Ten Questions Framework was integrated into many facets of the senior project experience to emphasize civic agency, skill development, and strategic action. 

Stage 1: Examining Self and Civic Identity 

Question 1: Why does it matter to me?
Students connected to their own passions by completing an identity wheel at the start of the semester. As well, when they encountered obstacles or became discouraged, they would reflect on this question to support them in persevering. 

Question 2: How much should I share?
Students included their plan for how to share their own experiences and lives publicly, especially if using online platforms, when writing their projects proposals. They also discussed the possible and lived consequences, both positive and negative, of sharing their experiences within their learning community.

Stage 2: Identifying an Issue

Question 3: How do I make it about more than myself?
Before researching their individual issues in depth, students situated their topics in the broader context of democracy and participatory politics by studying studying “Repairing the Fabric of Democracy” lesson plan, Engagement in a Democracy Chapter  (Ch. 7 from Government Alive! textbook,), and Danielle Allen’s Our Declaration CSPAN talk with a transcript. For many students, this was important to framing their issue in terms of civics and not as an isolated problem.

Question 4: Where do we start?
Students discussed in their learning community their projects and plans and gave one another feedback on how to begin. The coordinator also set up workshops to learn different skills and tactics, such as data collection and surveys, interviewing skills, lobbying, organizing, and design. One of the challenges of these units was to help students achieve a solid theory of change in which they could articulate the connections between their objectives and the tactics that they choose. This kind of strategic thinking was new to them.

Stage 3: Research and Investigation

Question 5: How can we make it easy and engaging for others to join in?
Question 6: How do we get wisdom from crowds?
Question 7: How do we handle the downside of crowds?
Students used their research about their topic, which included ongoing efforts to address their issue, to identify starting points. Students drew on their learning community and the wider school community to get feedback , such as at their mid-term lunch talks they completed once their research was well developed. Students also used ongoing online discussion forums to discuss how to use feedback from crowds, and how to navigate the dangers of digital activism. Also central to this work was a focus on peer collaboration and feedback through the use of Thinking Routines and Discussion Protocols. These activities helped underscore that good research is also about mining the wisdom of crowds. 

Stage 4: Developing an Action Plan

Question 8: Are we pursuing voice or influence or both? 
Question 9: How do we get from voice to change?
Students used the Ten Questions Voice and Influence Flow Dynamics chart to learn about the different theories of change that connect to efforts to change public opinion and efforts to change laws. Students worked independently to research:  (a) their issue (root causes, multiple perspectives, impacts, etc)  and  (b)  past and current actions and strategies taken by other individuals, groups  and organizations in response to the same issue.  The goal was to help them evaluate other people’s theory of change so that they have criteria for developing their own well-grounded theory of change.

The teacher found that there was a developmental arc in voice projects as a necessary precursor to undertaking an individual influence project. For many students, finding their voice, and believing that their life experiences and ideas were worthy of expression and analysis were huge leaps. Students worked individually and collectively to create a plan of action in response to their chosen issue. They wrote their own Theory of Change essays and documented and reflected on their projects thus far. The teacher encouraged students to reflect on both process and content on a weekly basis, including their strategies and their evolving understanding of their issues. 

Stage 5: Taking Action

Question 1: Why does it matter to me?

In this step, time management within an independent learning framework was challenging for students. For many students, this was the first time they were working independently. Students could lose interest in a topic, or became overwhelmed by the depth of a problem. The teacher worked to make sure that the students always wove reflection into what they are doing, including in the implementation stage. Stage 6: Reflecting and Showcasing Question 8: Are we pursuing voice or influence or both? The teacher had each student create a portfolio of their work and reflect continuously. The teacher believed strongly that student success should be based on their ability to articulate and demonstrate their own learning; their understanding of the mechanisms of government and strategies for participating in ways that are effective, equitable and self-protection; and an assessment of their theory of change, including whether or not they reached their end goal.

Stage 6: Reflecting and Showcasing

Question 8: Are we pursuing voice or influence or both?

The teacher had each student create a portfolio of their work and reflect continuously. The teacher believed strongly that student success should be based on their ability to articulate and demonstrate their own learning; their understanding of the mechanisms of government and strategies for participating in ways that are effective, equitable and self-protection; and an assessment of their theory of change, including whether or not they reached their end goal.

* This case is included to Civics Project Guidebook (DESE, 2019, pp. 33-4). We reintroduce it on this site by courtesy of the DESE.