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Running Head: Lifeworthy Learning Stephanie Stuefer
A Lifeworthy Education:
What is lifeworthy from a student perspective?
Stephanie Stuefer
University of Pennsylvania
Lifeworthy Learning Stephanie Stuefer
Introduction
Like many before me, I begin with John Dewey. What would a research paper
on education be without a quote from Dewey? It is interesting that quotes from his
writings about educational reform seem to surface in so many areas of educational
research, yet, in educational practice, these ideas have been virtually ignored over the
last century. Until in recent decades. A resurgence of the Dewey perspective has been
gradually emerging and growing in the last 20-30 years, with a spike in the last 10
years. References to his writings about interdisciplinary studies and the need for
education to relate more to real life experiences have been popping up with a sense of
urgency and frequency. Current day writers and practitioners are rephrasing,
paraphrasing, and expanding upon his work, as always, but this time, changes in
pedagogy and practice are actually underway. People are doing what Dewey originally
said they should do. Schools around the country are finding many more ways to infuse
lifeworthy learning into the curriculum.
Deweys book Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of
Education has been cited 24,812 times. Now 24,813. It was written in 1916, so it
would seem that educational innovators are serving him a centennial tribute: Only in
education, never in the life of farmer, sailor, merchant, physician, or laboratory
experimenter, does knowledge mean primarily a store of information aloof from doing
(Dewey, p. 178). In the book Future Wise: Educating our Children for a Changing
World, published in 2014, David Perkins uses this same Dewey quote to help explain
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what lifeworthy learning means. In Perkins words, he simplifies to define lifeworthy as
likely to matter in the lives learners are likely to live (Perkins, p. 8). He recognizes that
determining what is likely to matter is a:
broad qualitative judgement, and its one that young students in particular are
not in a very good position to make. The complaining students might be right or
wrong for that moment. But certainly the question of lifeworthiness is right for
education broadly. How often is a particular fact, understanding, or skill likely to
come up? With what importance? Would it grow in breadth and depth and
significance over time-or do we simply forget it? (Perkins, p. 8)
Though I agree with his questions, his assumptions that students are not in a position to
judge the lifeworthiness of their own educations seems presumptuous and certainly
under-researched.
Research Question
This study asked: what are student perspectives and experiences with
"lifeworthy" learning in 12th grade (reflecting on their 9-12th grade experiences) at
Princeton Day School.
PDS as a Case Study and the Significance to the Field of Education
Princeton Day School is an affluent pre-K through 12th grade college preparatory
school in Princeton, NJ. Originally formed in 1965 from the joining of an all girls school
and an all boys school, like many other esteemed prep schools, Princeton Day School
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prides itself on successful alumni and impressive matriculation lists, with excellent
academic, artistic, extracurricular, and athletic programs.
In 2014, the Miss Fines Center was created at PDS with an alumni endowment
to support research and collaborations related to interdisciplinary and inquiry based
teaching and learning, which are some of the pathways to lifeworthy learning. Some
teachers at the school have begun major changes in their teaching pedagogy and are
focused on the lifeworthiness of their curriculums. However, many teachers continue to
adhere to a primarily traditional educational philosophy. While academics are strong at
PDS, the primary pedagogy has remained lecture based and disciplined-based. The
Upper School is still in the beginning stages of evolving in ways that the administration
deems appropriate for a school desiring a more future-minded and lifeworthy approach
to educating students. This approach specifically includes practices such as
project-based learning, design thinking, and interdisciplinary learning, all commonly
found buzzwords and initiatives at similar independent institutions.
The Director of the PDS Miss Fines Center, has worked toward educating the
school community on issues regarding educational reform as it relates to lifeworthy
learning. In January of 2016, Miss Fines Center sponsored a viewing of the
documentary Most Likely to Succeed for the entire faculty (a film that has been
spreading like wildfire across the country and abroad in the educational sphere).
Following the publication of the book by the same name, the film directly addresses how
our traditional educational system is failing to prepare students for the 21st century.
The film highlights one of the now 13 High Tech High schools, which all function as
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perhaps the most progressive and 21st century focused schools in America. The
schools have thrown out the discipline-based model and have adopted a focused
emphasis on project-based and interdisciplinary learning. The films discussion guide
includes startling statistics that have surfaced in recent years concerning the lack of
readiness that college graduates exhibit in the workplace as they pursue lives outside of
academia. Gallup studies have found that while 96% of college administrators believe
that their programs are preparing students for the workplace, only 22% of business
leaders agree, and a mere 11% of business leaders strongly agree (Calderon, 2014).
Another startling study illuminating the inefficacy of traditional assessments
(cornerstones of the traditional discipline-based model of education), was performed at
the Lawrenceville School, one of the countrys elite boarding schools, and consequently
down the road from PDS. A little over ten years ago, Lawrenceville re-tested students
in the fall who had successfully completed the final exam in core science courses the
previous spring. When the students were re-tested in the fall, the exam was also
altered to be easier than the original; it was a simplified version of the final, as the
faculty eliminated any detailed questions that students shouldnt be expected to
remember a few months later (Dintersmith, T., Wagner, T., 2015, p. 41). The grade
average on the spring exams was 87%, while the grade average on the fall exams was
58%. These results caused the school to completely reform their core science
curriculum and focus much less on content and much more on deeper learning
(Dintersmith, T., Wagner, T., 2015, p. 41). The school developed an interdisciplinary
and project-based curriculum.
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Schools around the country have been questioning what and how students are
learning and why they are learning it in regards to whether it is truly preparing them for
life outside of school. Some schools have taken a slow and gradual approach to
curriculum reform, while others have been quick to adopt entirely new approaches to
education. This need for change has been forming a tidal shift in education that began
with the dawn of the internet. Most Likely to Succeed may be signaling the final wave
of proof hitting the shore, shouting that change is not an eventual need, but an
immediate one. With a fifty state tour of the film, and an ever increasing number of
screenings here and abroad, many schools have been re-examining what happens in
the classroom with a greater sense of urgency. Our access to any and all knowledge
via the internet has deemed the traditional classroom lecture, note-taking, and
test-taking practices obsolete, yet many students continue to be taught and assessed in
these ways. Educators have been evolving. But the changes in teaching practices
have been happening at a snails pace in comparison to the evolutions in the fields of
technology, which will continue to alter our careers, our lives, and how we live them in
dramatic ways for years to come.
The overarching question at PDS and many schools around the country persists:
If students can learn anything they wish at the touch of a button, what should we be
teaching them in schools? Miss Fines Center is leading this re-examination, and
pushing for change at PDS, while developing a deeper understanding of the academic
needs- the lifeworthy learning needs - of our students.
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While standardized tests, APs, traditional classroom stand and deliver lectures,
and traditional assessments are still prevalent at PDS, students have also experienced
lifeworthy learning. Gaining an understanding of student experiences with lifeworthy
learning during their Upper School years has been a crucial step toward the reforming
of the curriculum to better prepare students for their futures. The data has provided
insightful information concerning where students experienced lifeworthy learning in the
Upper School, and where their learning is falling short. The next step is to address
areas of need in the curriculum while better understanding where lifeworthy learning is
taking place and using these examples as effective curricular models.
My research, focused on the student perspective and student voice, will help to
illuminate what students in an independent school system deem is important for
lifeworthy learning, and when and where they have experienced it. While some aspects
of the research will reflect the curriculum and pedagogy specific to PDS, the
over-arching similarities between PDS and other like-minded independent schools will
be clear. Educators and school leaders from any school will be able to relate to this
research as a valuable case study because the questions surrounding what is lifeworthy
in education is a universally relevant topic in every educational system today. It is my
hope that this research will add to the conversation about lifeworthiness, and its
significance to the lives of students. I also hope that this research will inspire
institutions to take action in regards to curriculum reform that more considerately and
intentionally takes into account the student voice and the student perspective.
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A plethora of curriculum changes and initiatives have swept the country as
educators search for new and better ways to prepare students for successful lives
outside of academia. STEM, STEAM, and Makerspace Programs are a few of the
trends that attempt to infuse project based, integrated, and inquiry based learning into
the educational framework. While there have certainly been instances of success with
these programs, many of them have also been rushed or ineffectively implemented.
Without proper professional development, and without a full understanding of the needs
of the students, their abilities, and their perspectives within the given contexts of their
communities, initiatives fall flat. In order to have a worthwhile vision and action plan for
where a students education needs to go, one must first understand where their
educational experiences stand. The initial question should be: Which classrooms and
studios are already demonstrating a successful integration of curriculum, project-based
learning, and inquiry based learning while preparing students with lifeworthy
experiences? The only definitive way to answer these questions is to ask the students.
This research will help to bring the student voice and student perspective to the
forefront as these changes in curriculum reform take shape at PDS, and hopefully
inspire other educators and educational leaders to include students in the decision
making processes that will be impacting them more than anyone else in the system.
Especially now, when educators are finding that the internet age has informed and
educated our students well beyond our expectations, is it imperative that we listen to,
and collaborate with, the students we are teaching.
Literature Review
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This literature review focuses on the major components that are widely agreed to
be lifeworthy models of education: interdisciplinary learning, project-based learning,
and design thinking. It also highlights the significance of collaborating with students and
valuing the student voice in regards to curriculum reform and lifeworthy learning.
Integrated/Interdisciplinary Learning
Since Herbert Spencer in the 1800s and Dewey and Kilpatrick in the early 1900s,
scholars have heralded integrated studies as more closely resembling real life (Vars
1991). Because knowledge is interrelated (Kelly, 2012), seeing and creating
connections between subject disciplines is an essential skill for students to develop as
learners. Making these connections will continue to be required of them as they enter
any field of research or career in the outside world.
Over time, evolving definitions of integrated/interdisciplinary learning have
surfaced. One summarizing definition is that integrated learning utilizes more than one
subject/discipline in an educational curriculum/lesson/project. With this definition, four
sub-categories of integrated learning models have been developed. The correlation
model is one in which different disciplines focus on one common theme. The fusion
model essentially melts two subjects into a new class. The core curriculum model is a
distinct form of core curriculum, which focuses directly on the problems, issues, and
concerns of students (Vars, 1991, p. 14). Within this core curriculum model, Vars
creates four subsets. The first of which is the common theme model, in which all or
most of the teachers center their curriculum on a common theme for a period of time.
This is essentially the correlation model previously described, but it is focused on
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current student issues. The interdisciplinary team model is one in which teachers of
different disciplines collaborate with one group of students. Again, this model reflects
both the correlation and the fusion model, but emphasizes collaboration with students to
develop the curriculum. The third sub-model of the core curriculum model, the
extended time model, simply allows more time during a teaching block for one teacher
to integrate multiple disciplines into a lesson or project, while maintaining that student
centered issues are central to the content covered. The unstructured core model is
the most student centered of all. Within this model, students drive the development of
the focus of study (Parish and Waskin 1967). The teacher and students jointly decide
on specific questions for study, how the unit will be carried out, and how student
progress will be evaluated (Vars, 1991, p. 14.)
Arguably the most lifeworthy focused model, the core curriculum model, uses
more than one discipline/subject to solve a problem; to answer an essential question.
This curriculum is created based on relevance to students: Needs, problems, and
concerns of a particular group of students are identified, and skills and subject matter
from any pertinent subject are brought in to help students deal with those matters
(Vars, 1991, p. 14).
In addition to the teams of scholars that have, for centuries, advocated for
integrative learning that more closely relates to the lives of the students, the Eight-Year
Study of the Progressive Education Association and around 80 studies since have
collectively proven that integrative programs improve standardized test scores. Though
the value of standardized test scores is being increasingly questioned, integrative
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curriculums have proven to be better - using both quantitative and qualitative data
points (Aiken 1942). In fact, students from the most experimental, nonstandard schools
earned markedly higher academic achievement rates than their traditional school
counterparts and other Progressive-prepared students (Eight-Year, 2016)
What seems to remain most challenging for schools is applying the research and
creating and implementing an interdisciplinary curriculum, in place of, or in addition to,
the traditional educational model of separated disciplines. In spite of Dewey, in spite of
the Eight Year Study, and all of the evidence, what remains most difficult for schools is
change. Perhaps this resistance is also largely due to the fact that generally speaking,
education has been more teacher centered than student centered. Now, however, the
evidence that students are being underserved in their education is too overwhelming to
overlook. With the dramatic, accelerated changes in our society and culture, the needs
of our students have changed in an equally dramatic way: The continuing challenge is
to design curriculums that simultaneously take into account solid subject matter, the
needs of the learner and societys problems (Vars, 1991, p.14).
Project-Based Learning and Design Thinking
To facilitate lifeworthy learning, students need opportunities to apply the content
knowledge they are learning using authentic skills. While students can be seen
applying knowledge in science labs and studio art courses, the regular practice of
engaging students in projects that require them to use new knowledge is undervalued
and under-practiced. Project-based learning, as a practice in all disciplines, has a much
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shorter history than interdisciplinary learning, however in the past four decades, it has
increasingly gained momentum as a lifeworthy educational model:
Project-based learning (PBL) is a model that organizes learning around projects.
According to the definitions found in PBL handbooks for teachers, projects are
complex tasks, based on challenging questions or problems, that involve
students in design, problem-solving, decision making, or investigative activities;
give students the opportunity to work relatively autonomously over extended
periods of time; and culminate in realistic products or presentations.
(Thomas, 2000, p.1)
Finlands educational system is perhaps the best case study on the success of
educational reform and project-based learning. Beginning in the 1970s the educational
practices in Finland have evolved into purely project-based systems of teaching and
learning, with great success. Unlike the United States, Finland has abolished high
stakes testing and standardized assessments: Finlands use of school-based,
student-centered, open-ended tasks embedded in the curriculum is often touted as an
important reason for the nations success on the international exams
(Darling-Hammond). What I find perplexing is that independent schools, by their nature,
have the autonomy and freedom to replicate many of the successful educational
practices that have been proven to work so well, yet, they seem to be even slower than
some public schools in this country to adopt any of them. The deeper and more
complex differences between Finland and the United States relate to governmental
funding on many fronts, most especially in regards to teacher training and the broad
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emphasis on project-based learning. This speaks to the professional development
needed for our teachers, which I address later in this paper.
A significant distinction to be made in regards to project-based learning, which
has also found a foothold in interdisciplinary learning (specifically in the unstructured
core model), is the role that teachers play: teaching staff are involved in an advisory,
rather than authoritarian, role at any or all of the stages - initiation, conduct and
conclusion (Helle, L., Tynjala, P., & Olkinuora, E., 2006, p. 288). Broken down into
three models, project based learning includes the project exercise model, the project
component model, and the project orientation model. The project exercise model
represents the most traditional model. It simply refers to applying knowledge and
experience already acquired to solving a problem in a field familiar to the student. The
project component model requires the student to independently problem solve a real
world issue, usually requiring an interdisciplinary approach. In this model, the project
component of the curriculum is integrated into more traditional subject-based learning.
The project orientation model is perhaps the most undiluted project-based model.
With this model, the project drives the entire curriculum. Students learn what is
necessary to solve the problems presented by the project. The teacher instruction is
provided as a supplement to assist the completion of the project (Helle, L., Tynjala, P.,
& Olkinuora, E., 2006). Project-based learning requires active learning instead of
passive learning, as students actively participate in what they are learning and how they
are learning it.
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Interestingly, Hell, Tynjala, and Olkinuoras research on project-based learning
also uncovered a discrepancy between what students need to prepare them for
professions versus what traditional educational psychologists deem is important. They
explain that the current job market requires a much broader skill set coupled with the
right motivational skills while traditional educational psychologists seem to be
interested in the fostering of subject matter understanding and inquiry skills (Helle, L.,
Tynjala, P., & Olkinuora, E., 2006, p. 290).
Coupled with a project-based curriculum, one can typically find the design
thinking process being utilized to help frame and define the stages of the process.
Design thinking refers to a series of processes or steps used to create something for a
specific purpose. Historically, the term was used to loosely describe the creative
process used by designers to successfully create products or designs for clients. It has
become adopted in recent years by the field of education as a pedagogical approach
and design thinking has been applied to multiple disciplines. There are hundreds of
models and interpretations of the stages of design thinking, but to simplify, the stages
are: observing a problem or a challenge, brainstorming ways to resolve or approach the
challenge, experiment with the best ideas, and determine a final solution. The
similarities between design thinking and the traditional steps of the scientific method
(hypothesis, data, experiment, conclusion) are not by coincidence. During the
Modernist era of design in the 1920s, there was a resolute perspective that form should
follow function, essentially meaning that personal expression and imagination had no
place in Modernist designs. The Modernists wanted a scientific formula for creating
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functional designs and so they borrowed from the scientific method (Plowright, 2015).
Since then, design thinking has had a life of its own and has had numerous
reincarnations.
Why design thinking became a hot topic in educational pedagogy is linked to why
it became a hot topic in the business world:
CEOs in particular, took to the process side of Design Thinking, implementing it
like Six Sigma and other efficiency-based processes. I had a conversation with
IDEO's Tim Brown at Parsons recently and his analysis is spot on:
Design consultancies that promoted Design Thinking were, in effect, hoping that
a process trick would produce significant cultural and organizational change.
From the beginning, the process of Design Thinking was a scaffolding for the real
deliverable: creativity. But in order to appeal to the business culture of process, it
was denuded of the mess, the conflict, failure, emotions, and looping circularity
that is part and parcel of the creative process. In a few companies, CEOs and
managers accepted that mess along with the process and real innovation took
place. In most others, it did not. As practitioners of design thinking in
consultancies now acknowledge, the success rate for the process was low, very
low. (Nussbaum, 2011)
Bruce Nussbaum was design thinkings biggest advocate until he witnessed how
businesses failed to grasp the essential component of creative thinking when seeking
innovation, so he wrote a book titled Creative Intelligence, which was meant to
overthrow Design Thinking from its pedestal. In reality it seems clear that design
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thinking in conjunction with creativity and the messiness that can entail (i.e. freedom)
is the ideal approach. Its implementation in the business world failed because of how
they interpreted design thinking; the roll-out lacked consideration for the creative
process. The business world was too rigid to embrace a little chaos. Luckily, the field
of education has been able to utilize design thinking more effectively. In places such as
the Stanford d.school, for example:
Design Thinking is conceptualised as a specific way that non-designers evaluate
and use design methods. In other words, the shift in Design Thinking through
theory and practice has been from design as a science to design as a mindset.
(Wrigley, C., & Straker, K. 2015, p. 2)
Review of personal Practitioner Experience
I experienced a 2 day workshop at the d.school at Stanford in May of 2016.
Both days were spent understanding and digesting the design thinking process using
specific short exercises, field work in the town of Palo Alto, hands-on activities,
presentations, and collaborative projects. My biggest take-away from an artists
perspective is that it broke down the creative process and creative problem solving in
such accessible ways to non-artists...and even to artists. The workshop really
answered the question, How do you teach creative thinking? It provided a great
introduction and explanation of where and how to begin. I realized that kids and
adults, most especially those lacking confidence or experience with creative
endeavors (as so many do), could be transformed by the methods that the workshop
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presented. At the core of it was collaboration and facing failure with some really
effective methods for mindset changing. For so long I have internalized the design
thinking process and I have used some mediocre methods for translating these steps
to my students. Now I feel that I have a much better understanding of how to truly
teach creative thinking to students and teachers using very effective strategies and
creating specific environments and collaborations.
Essentially, using design thinking as a helpful framework and not a strict formula
has the most potential for innovation in any field, which makes it such a compelling
model to use in the field of education. The spirit of design thinking, which includes
collaboration and an openness to unorthodox ideas, is difficult for most people to grasp
if they havent practiced it. It takes time to adopt as an effective teaching method. The
creative mindset, accessing creative intelligence, is the lense through which the design
thinking stages need to be viewed. The ability to see multiple perspectives, multiple
ways of examining a problem, thinking beyond the conventional or obvious
solutions...this is what creative problem solving entails, and these are certainly
lifeworthy skills.
Student Voice and Curriculum Reform
My analogy, related to design thinking, is that students are to teachers as clients
are to designers. If one considers the deep similarities in this comparison, it would
seem ludicrous to imagine that that teachers and school leaders would not rely heavily
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on student feedback when making curricular decisions. A designer would never create
something for a client without knowing what he or she wants and needs. And yet, this is
exactly how most schools function.
Teachers and school leaders form committees to make decisions that dictate
students educations. The vast majority of the time, students are completely left out of
the equation. The often unspoken assumption is that students are too young, too
inexperienced, and lacking in the knowledge necessary to actively participate in
decisions that affect their learning. Research has shown that this assumption could not
be further from the truth. Integrated curriculums and project-based curriculums are
proving to be effective curriculum models for the 21st century because they rely heavily
on student voice. Harwood and Rudnistsky (2005) indicated that such teaching and
learning methods increase students' involvement and engagement, and "can stimulate
students as well as enable them to recognize links between their lessons and tasks
performed by engineers in the real world" (p. 54). Without clear connections between
what students are learning and why they are learning it, authentic motivation and
engagement dwindles. The inauthentic motivation that becomes pervasive, most
especially in 9-12th grade, stems from the desire for high standardized test scores and
high grades for college admittance. As research has shown from the Gallop studies
mentioned previously and the Lawrenceville experiment, these endeavors are not
preparing students for life outside of school, nor are students retaining much of the
information on which they are being tested. The arguments for these traditional
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motivators have been virtually diminished from every angle, and yet, change remains
slow.
The data collected concerning the importance of valuing student voice and
seeking out collaborative opportunities with students is overwhelmingly convincing.
One study examining feedback from students who experienced an interdisciplinary
curriculum concluded that students felt that subject matter should be connected to their
own world to understand human experiences in a real way and to make learning
meaningful and memorable (Cozza, 2011, p. 182). Another study that unearthed the
significance of student voice as an agent for improving the quality of education involved
over 600 students ranging in age from 6-17 years. The researchers discovered
how capable students are of providing rich, nuanced accounts of their
experience that could potentially inform school improvement. While varying
somewhat across the age range involved, students identified creative ways that
pedagogy, the school environment and relationships could be improved, changed
or maintained to assist their wellbeing. They placed particular emphasis on the
importance of opportunities to have a say in relation to these matters.
(Simmons, Graham, Thomas, 2014, p. 129)
Though many schools utilize course surveys to gain feedback from students, these
surveys are isolated and have contextually specific responses. They do not come close
to properly valuing a deep and meaningful understanding of the broader perspectives of
a students educational experience. Only when students see the purpose of engaging
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in schools, as students and agents of change, will engagement and students
academics and lives improve (Yonezawa, Jones, Joselowsky, 2009, p.191).
Research Methods
The bulk of my research focused on the perspectives of 12th graders looking
back on their 9-12th grade educational experiences. I also interviewed our Head of
Upper School and an alumni concerning the lifeworthiness of education at PDS, and
conducted several focus group discussions with faculty. This study included:
1 student survey of 12th graders (44 responses)
1 focus group interview of 12 graders (2 hours, 6 students)
4 focus group discussions with faculty (8 hours, 4-6 faculty)
2 interviews with our Head of Upper School (3 hours)
1 interview and 1 survey with an alumni (2 hours)
Data Collection Strategies
The process for developing and editing the interview questions and the survey
questions was lengthy and fruitful, involving several faculty members of the PDS Miss
Fines Committee (tasked with professional development and interdisciplinary studies).
After I shared my list of questions, we discussed the implications of each question
carefully and thought critically about whether we were leading the witness. We were
careful to ask specific, but open questions as the committee helped me edit and
rephrase the questions. Members of the committee included seasoned teachers and
new teachers. One English teacher with extensive experience implementing student
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surveys and one History teacher whose former life was that of a lawyer, were
particularly helpful in crafting the final draft of these questions. It was an ideal
collaborative, professional learning experience.
Surveys
These surveys were created and administered via Google Forms to the entire senior
class in April of their senior year. The link to the Google Form survey was sent via a
mass email and participants understood that their responses were anonymous. I was
only able to acquire survey responses from 44 out of 100 students due to the timing of
my survey, which occurred during their senior projects, when students were no longer
attending classes, and feeling the full effects of senioritis. I decided this was a
worthwhile trade off due to the fact that I wanted students to experience senior projects,
a major aspect of the PDS curriculum, before answering the survey. Several email
reminders were sent, which helped the number of participants increase from the initial
24 to the total of 44. A description of my research topic and a simplified definition of
lifeworthy were provided at the beginning of the survey. Both qualitative and
quantitative questions were included in the survey as well as space for students to
openly comment on the research topic (Menter, p. 114).
Focus Groups
The student focus group discussion was video recorded and transcribed. I first
consulted with the senior class dean concerning my research topic and the need for a
variety of students that most accurately represented the senior class in regards to a
differentiation of perspectives and experiences, as well as gender, racial, and ethnic
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diversity. I asked him to recommend 8 students for the focus group session and 6 of
them were able to participate in April of their senior year (Menter p.135).
The faculty focus group sessions were with members of the Miss Fines Committee and
occurred during the winter and spring. Much of these sessions were transcribed and
the discussions, though sometimes generated by me, were centrally focused on
educational reform at PDS, professional development needed for faculty, and numerous
topics surrounding lifeworthy learning .
Interviews
I conducted one-on-one interviews with two participants. Both were
semi-structured interviews with a series of questions to guide, but not dictate the
conversations (Menter, p.133). Our Head of Upper School, Jason, had conducted exit
interviews with all of the seniors of the previous years graduating class. Reflecting on
the responses from those interviews, he was able to provide interesting insight into the
student perceptions of their Upper School experiences, and specifically how those
insights pertained to my research topic. I did not record a full transcript of these
discussions, but took detailed notes regarding key aspects of the conversations that
related to my research topic (Menter, p. 146).
Nia, a graduate of PDS the previous year, read through my interview questions
and typed her answers in June, after completing her freshman year of college. Having
been a student with a wide variety of experiences at PDS including a semester at
another school, Nia provided one perspective of a recent alumni. She had also just
finished her first year of college, and was firmly dedicated to a particular field of study
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and career path, which made her perspective particularly relevant. Nia was able to
reflect on whether her experiences at PDS were lifeworthy in light of her freshman year
at college and her specific professional path (Menter, p.135).
Researcher Role and Validity
Focusing the surveys and student interviews and focus groups on exiting seniors
created a likely assurance that students would answer authentically and honestly. One
student from my focus group and Nia, the alumni student, had been students of mine in
my studio art courses. This gave them a deeper understanding of my research and my
interest in their feedback. They know me to be someone who promotes constructive
criticism and objectivity and it did not seem that my personal relationship with them
influenced the honesty of their feedback. Neither of them seemed to be censoring
themselves when discussing the arts, nor did they favor the arts in the interviews. All of
the student interviewees seemed fairly comfortable discussing negative educational
experiences without naming teacher names. However, they felt more comfortable
discussing their positive experiences in regards to lifeworthy learning (Menter, p. 139).
Speaking with faculty members of the MFC committee and Jason, our Upper
School head also created mostly uncensored, honest discussions. The MFC
committee, though like-minded in regards to research and professional learning
regarding education and what is lifeworthy, contributed to the data by assisting with the
formation of the questions (Menter, p. 139). This assistance was focused on creating
questions of depth without a bias, as the other faculty members were more experienced
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than I with creating surveys and working with senior students, as well as a keen
understanding of my research topic (Menter, p. 135).
Both students and faculty were very supportive and interested in my research as
a Penn graduate student, and the collaborative spirit with which I approached creating
this research was a rich learning opportunity. The students, the MFC committee, and
the Director in particular helped immensely with introducing me to new concepts and
ideas in regards to lifeworthy learning. Many people were engaged by this topic, and
interested in the findings of my research, which made me feel that the research was
valued and worthwhile.
Findings
Summary
The data revealed four main themes of student perceptions of lifeworthy learning:
1. Engagement, curiosity, and creativity
2. Discussions and collaborations
3. Real-world problem solving and current events
4. Student choice and student-directed learning
5. Lifeworthy in the disciplines????
Findings Part 1: Engagement, curiosity, and creativity
The survey began with a ranking system (1=least lifeworthy and 5=most
lifeworthy) in which students were asked to rank the lifeworthiness of the following:
24
knowing, understanding, engagement (inspiring curiosity), practicality/usefulness, and
creativity. Engagement (inspiring curiosity) received the highest degree of
lifeworthiness - 61.4% of students ranked it at a level 5 and 31.8% of students ranked it
at a level 4. Creativity was ranked by 40.9% of students at a level 5, and 45.5% of
students at a level 4. Nearby in ranking was understanding, which received a level 5
from 52.3% of seniors, and a level 4 from 31.4%. It seemed that students were ranking
engagement so high because if they were engaged and curious, they were learning the
most about things that most interested them, and in turn, learning that would most likely
inspire their future field of study or their future lives in some way. Students perceived
their level of engagement/curiosity, the creativity of the work, and understanding the
material as the top ranking lifeworthy aspects of their education. Surprisingly, ranked
low with knowing, the practicality/usefulness of what they learned was deemed the
least lifeworthy. Only 15.9% of students ranked knowing as a level 5, 40.9% ranked
knowing as a level 4, and 40.9% ranked it at a level 3. Practicality/usefulness was
ranked by 34.1% at a level 5, 36.4% at a level 4, and 25% at a level 3. While it is
understandable that students would prefer understanding over simply knowing, it is
intriguing that students would value engagement/curiosity and creativity more than
practicality/usefullness. Is learning that is practical and useful deemed as being lesser
than learning that engages their curiosity and creativity due to our Digital Age and the
accessibility of practical and useful learning, and of known knowledge? This data
underscores the appreciation of lifeworthy learning as that which holds a students
engagement and curiosity while inspiring creativity. It also supports lifeworthy learning
25
as learning that promotes understanding, practicality and usefullness above simply
knowing something. All of these elements embody the concepts and processes of
design thinking, the project orientation model, the project component model, and
interdisciplinary modes of learning.
Findings Part 2: Discussions and collaborations
More discussions and less lectures. (senior survey, open comment section,
April)
Reflecting on both the survey and the interviews, class discussions and
opportunities to interact with other teachers and students was the most highly valued
lifeworthy educational experience. Students felt most engaged by discussions and they
also felt that retaining the learning experience was best accomplished through class
discussions. Out of the 44 students surveyed, 27 students felt that discussions made
them feel most engaged and curious and 20 students ranked discussions as most
helpful in respect to retaining material beyond the assessments. In the open comment
section, discussions were mentioned again in the survey, and one student felt that
courses should force more class discussion, [and] engage students outside of
traditional lecture settings. Projects were chosen by 12 students as helping them feel
most engaged (level 5) and 9 students chose presentations as most engaging (level 5).
In regards to helping them retain the material beyond the assessment, 15 students
ranked writing papers as being most helpful, and 11 students ranked presentations
most helpful. This data indicates that with the choices students were given for ranking:
26
lectures, projects, discussions, presentations, writing papers, and reading, students
found discussions to be the most valuable for their educations, with projects,
presentations, and writing papers following. Lectures and reading were ranked very
low; only 1 student felt that lectures most inspired engagement, curiosity and the
retention of course material. In regards to reading, only 7 students felt that it most
engaged them with the material and inspired their curiosity, and only 4 students felt that
it most helped them retain course material.
Another interesting finding came about during the focus group interview with 6
seniors in which the significance of class discussions was reiterated by each of them.
One student, however, noted the importance of a specific kind of discussion:
Discussion, I think, is kind of like a double edged sword. It [can be] difficult [if]
nothing new comes up, and it doesn't feel smart or engaged, it's really easy to go in
circles, because people just, you know, you kind of want to hear yourself talk and so
much of it is who is talking and what do they know and what do they bring to the table,
so when it comes to education, obviously discussions are super important, you've got to
know something, too. You've got to be at the discussion with a purpose. These
students also spoke of the importance of the teachers role when guiding an engaging
discussion and asking the right questions to inspire fruitful discussions.
Collaborating with teachers and peers was also a common theme that students
deemed lifeworthy in the focus group, the survey ranking, the survey open responses
and the senior exit interviews from the previous year. The data that Jason gathered
27
from his previous years senior exit interviews and the focus group responses supports
the finding that building relationships and getting to know the perspectives and mindsets
of teachers and peers was a highly valued lifeworthy experience at PDS. Jason noted
that relationships with teachers were weaved into what they inspired in the students;
students said they didnt pick classes, they picked teachers.
Within the surveys open comment section, a student wished he/she had
experienced more advisory workshops or one-on-one discussions to dig deeper into
who that person is, what their interests are, how they can combine them, etc. During
the focus group student interview, while speaking of older students in a particular
course and an english teacher mentor, one student wanting to pursue writing as a
career noted, "Okay, you're people who live a life that I'm interested in living, and
experienced things that I've experienced too, and they're okay, and this is how they've
done this." He went on to describe the pivotal experience that those students and the
teacher created for him in regards to helping him find his path as a writer and finding the
confidence to pursue it. Collaboration and the interactions between teachers and
students proved to be significant lifeworthy experiences. Again, the framework of
design thinking and project-based learning models which adhere to collaboration as a
key element of learning and problem solving comes to mind.
Findings Part 3: Real-world problem solving and current events
more discussion about worldly topics in classes other than English (senior
survey, open comment section, April)
28
Though practicality/usefullness was not the highest ranked in the ranking section
of the senior survey, in the focus group discussions and the survey open response
section, wanting course work to relate more to the real world, with experiences outside
of the classroom was a recurring theme:
just going on a trip and living there for eight days and walking through the city every
single day, I just gained information on my own to give me a broader sense of history
and I think once you do that, you start to contextualize when certain events are
happening in the world, so in Asian studies, we're talking about the rise of Islam, and
now you can parallel that because when you see that rise of Islam is happening
alongside certain things that are happening in Rome, you can begin to understand the
broader picture. I think traveling to me, has given me a higher exposure to history of the
world which I appreciate (senior focus group, personal communication, April).
Speaking of the independent, student-driven senior projects, Nia stated:
two other things that inspired new out-of-the-box learning were working in the
garden and my senior project. The garden was active, and in order to recognize all that
the space had to offer intellectually, I had to pay attention to details in the environment. I
became very good at articulating my questions so that I could get information on things
that one cannot see like, What adaptive measures do (insert plant) have that cause it to
be able to repel insects. Then it was up to me to seek the answer.
Another student made a connection between interdisciplinary learning and
real-world experiences, harkening back to Deweys quote about life resembling
education. He remarked on a course called Food for Thought: you study how things
29
are portrayed in literature and then we also had like chefs come on to teach us how to
cook things of cultural significance, writing things, we got to see what goes into writing a
cookbook, we had to plan a meal and it was just one of those things that's like you got
to see history in a cultural surrounding with food, wow (focus group interview, April)
Within the open comment section of the student survey, a student more
specifically related interdisciplinary learning to lifeworthy learning:
I think my education during HS at PDS could have been more 'lifeworthy' if it
included more interdisciplinary courses, because I think showing the connections
between seemingly different courses, rather than keeping them isolated from each
other, would better replicate problems I will encounter after high school, and
demonstrate how the history of the knowledge humanity has accumulated up to this
point is a jumble of many different disciplines that inform each other. (senior survey,
April)
Another student made a very insightful comment about teaching pedagogies in
the open comment section of the senior survey: I think a lot of it is up to the teachers
and how much they stress because I think each subject teaches something bigger than
just the pure material and it just depends on how the teacher presents it (senior
survey, April). This again speaks to the importance of relating course material to the
world beyond the classroom. This sentiment was echoed by a member of the MFC
committee during one of our discussions: it is part of our jobs to help students
understand why and how what we teach them is lifeworthy.
30
In the open comment section of the senior survey, a student commented on the
lifeworthiness of his/her education in respect to its usefulness and practicality in a
specific field:
I think that there should be more electives at PDS that pertain to real life stuff. I'm
going to be a finance major next year, but I have no idea of anything about it. A lot of
public schools have classes like marketing, accounting, etc. I think people would really
benefit from these types of classes especially because business is such a popular
option for PDS alums (senior survey, April).
Another senior survey student commented on usefulness and practicality as it
related to his/her future life outside of a career: If someone could teach us how to do
taxes and rent apartments and get health insurance and stuff like that... a "how to"
class. Instead of health class, teach about empathy and treating people like people, not
objects. It's something I find most people, including adults, lack in great heaps. It's sad.
This data further supports the structures of design thinking (especially the
empathy component), project-based learning models, and interdisciplinary learning as
being effective lifeworthy modes of educating students.
Findings Part 4: Student choice and student-directed learning
Stop trying to make students conform to what YOU want and start taking into
consideration that everybody learns, thinks and acts differently. (senior survey, open
comment section, April)
31
This finding draws back to the previous 3 findings because it underscores that
students want to be more engaged and curious, that students want their voices and
their peers voices to be heard and shared in discussion, they want to collaborate with
their peers and teachers, and that they want to learn material that they understand to be
relevant to their lives and their futures. History classes should look more at modern
events that are relevant,... english classes should have more peer-revising days and
sharing work with the class days (senior survey, open comment section, April). Nia,
the alumni student, stated, I wish there had been more opportunities to explore on my
own what I wanted to learn. My research projects were my favorite and students are so
much more engaged when they get to talk about their own interests. Nia commented
on herself and her peers in this statement that illuminates the importance of students
choice and student-directed research and learning. Students feel that a lifeworthy
education is one in which they can draw clear connections to the value that education
holds in their current and future lives: Stop forcing us to live in the past and read old
books that don't hold meaning to what's going on in the world right now. New and great
books are being produced everyday. I'm going to get more out of a book written in 2006
than a book written in 1943 (senior survey, open comment section, April). Perhaps if
the book written in 1943 were presented in such a way that clear connections to its
lifeworthiness to learners today were made, this student would have a great
appreciation for literature from history, however, the need for the student perspective to
be considered carefully when teaching for lifeworthiness is evident. Jason commented
on this significance during one of our discussions: We all have ideas about freedom,
32
religion, human rights, but all of them have histories - they are not our words, they are
words we inherited from prior generations formed during specific events[it is about]
connecting an event from history that formed a debate we are still having. This
collection of data strongly relates to the core curriculum model and the unstructured
core model of interdisciplinary learning, both of which rely heavily on the student voice
and student perspective.
Implications for Practice and Reflections
The challenge of a curriculum rich with lifeworthy learning is more like a smart
bet in the casino of life than it is a sure thing (Perkins, p.18). However, schools must
focus on the smart bet instead of carelessly taking chances with the education of our
children. Simply asking the question, to students, teachers, parents and administrators
is a necessary step. Evaluating and reflecting on the lifeworthiness of curriculums
should be a major part of the fabric of any educational institution. The data collected
illuminates what students perceive as lifeworthy, and how their experiences frame their
definitions of a lifeworthy education. It begs the question: If students feel that parts of
their educations are not lifeworthy, was their learning authentic and remembered, or
simply motivated by a grade and forgotten?
Project based, interdisciplinary endeavors, and design thinking are all heralded in
the literature as cornerstones of lifeworthy learning, and based on the data found at
PDS, each of these pedagogies would work well in practice. Checkpoints within these
practices must be to ensure student engagement and curiosity, productive
33
collaborations and discussions, and connections to the students and the world they live
in if they are to be effective as lifeworthy learning vehicles.
A needed step at PDS is for teachers to experience lifeworthy professional
development and support. Simply trusting that teachers are focused and concerned
about the lifeworthiness of what they are teaching is a necessary dynamic. My personal
example is that as an art teacher, I am not only concerned with training students to be
successful artists, (leaving out students who do not pursue careers in the arts, ) but that
I am equally concerned with every students creative confidence and creative problem
solving skills and how and why those skills are crucial to any field a student may pursue.
As a practicing teacher, I know that this will remain my ongoing goal and I know that it
will take a significant amount of lifeworthy learning on my part, as it will for any other
educator. Nia discussed her studio experience in the open comment section of the
survey stating: ceramics class allowed me to create and think with my hands while
also having space in my head to be where I wanted to be. The class (and outside of
class time) let me think creatively about messages that I wanted to send and energy
that I wanted to capture. It made me think critically about direction and impact that I
havent been able to find anywhere else since. It leads me to want to ask more
questions such as: How did you get to that mindset? How did I as a teacher help you
to get there? How can I more effectively assure that all of my students find this level of
critical and creative thinking? How has this experience proven to be lifeworthy for you?
How could I have created more lifeworthy experiences?
34
Teachers need to communicate more with each other and with students through
reflective practice and also with professionals outside of academia. They need more
professional development that is lifeworthy to them and that provides practical ways for
them to implement new practices and new content into their curriculums. Further
research is needed, and one of the best places to start may be investigating the
practices of Finnish schools. The Finnish National Curriculum has fostered a
supportive environment for the development of teacher professionalism and expertise,
providing Finnish teachers with the freedom needed to make classroom and
assessment decisions (Hendrickson, 40). Much of the success of Finlands
educational system is due to the support at the governmental level wherein all teachers
receive extensive graduate level training focused on the progressive pedagogies
explained in this paper (Hendrickson, 39). While the U.S. does not currently have the
benefits of fully funded teacher training at the college level, there are countless
professional development opportunities for teachers ranging from Stanfords K12
d.school workshops on design thinking to endless online resources and professional
learning communities such as edutopia. All of these measures require TIME, which is
chronically in short supply for many institutions, PDS included. However, with a new
schedule being implemented in the 2017-2018 school year, and professional
development through Miss Fines Center being heavily promoted, the school is showing
much more support for professional development in these areas.
35
Determining what is most likely to matter in the lives students are likely to live,
determining what will be lifeworthy to the students we teach is a complex challenge for
educators, especially today, when.
65 percent of todays schoolchildren will eventually be employed in jobs that
have yet to be created, according to this U.S. Department of Labor report. That also
means that many currently employed workers for the first time since the industrial
revolution must be thinking about what they will do to make a living 10 to 20 years from
now. Rapid technological change is changing the skill requirements for most jobs. Just
as manufacturing saw a shift from 80 percent unskilled jobs just 30 years ago to 12
percent today, the next decade will see a shakeout of unskilled jobs in early every
industry.
(http://www.successperformancesolutions.com/2013/65-percent-of-todays-students-will-
be-employed-in-jobs-that-dont-exist-yet/)
Based on this data, we can conclude that students will need to know how to
independently problem solve, how to navigate an increasingly technological world, and
how to adapt to change successfully. It seems clear that predictable and traditional
content based assessments are no longer very lifeworthy for our students. What
content based learning is necessary for teachers to cover with students and what
content learning should be sacrificed for lifeworthy learning? This is a challenging
question to grapple with among divisions and disciplines, but it is a crucial question that
should be continually asked of students, teachers, school leaders...and professionals in
various fields of study during curriculum development and continually throughout the
36
school year. It is the essential question in education today as major reform changes are
needed. Right now, the balance is off. There should be a balance between
content-based learning and lifeworthy learning. Content based learning is not
completely obsolete, but it needs to be significantly edited to allow for more lifeworthy
learning. A different lense needs to be used when evaluating what students are
learning and why students are learning it. For example, do students in 10th grade
Chemistry need to memorize the periodic table, or should they spend that time
understanding the significance of specific elements in regards to real world applications
and how and where to research any information relating to any element? Which is more
important for a 10th grader and why? College counselors push for students to complete
calculus because it is good for their transcripts and math teachers are tasked with
preparing students for the math sections of the SATs. Though a culture shift seems to
be beginning, teachers typically rely on these types of arguments to push back against
changing their curriculum to incorporate more lifeworthy learning. Some teachers also
feel that it is possible for students to be prepared for higher level courses and
standardized assessments and also experience lifeworthy learning in those subjects.
What is often overlooked at the core of this argument is the fact that lifeworthy learning
should be designed to provide the student with an applicable experience with which the
content can be truly learned, not just temporarily memorized. If students were provided
with learning experiences that secured the content knowledge in their brains, they
wouldnt have to spend the time memorizing and re-memorizing, reviewing and
cramming for assessments as they currently do.
37
Historically, pre-college education has focused on educating for the known, the
tried and true, the established canon.Perhaps we need a different vision of education,
a vision that foregrounds educating for the unknown as much as for the
known.reflecting our best guesses about whats most likely to happen and
foregrounding flexible knowledge likely to inform whatever does happen (Perkins, p.
20-21). Are students learning the skills to become creative problem solvers, are they
learning the process of design thinking across disciplines, through project based and
interdisciplinary learning that is relevant to their futures? Are they learning how to work
effectively in groups and collaborate successfully? Are they being given enough choice
and independence to follow their passions?
After pondering on those questions, and during the course of this research, I
have come to the conclusion that the pedagogies heralded as providing a lifeworthy
education have many similarities with the mindsets and objectives of a strong arts
education curriculum. Fostering independent thinking, drawing upon multiple ideas,
concepts, and content to solve problems, design thinking, interdisciplinary learning and
project based learning - all of these are cornerstones of a strong art education
curriculum. While I prepare to test this in my own practice and co-teach with an
academic teacher, I suspect that infusing art education practices into academic courses
will be a successful lifeworthy experience for students.
While I feel confident that this research has made an impact at my school, I
continue to see educators cling to past methods of traditional teaching pedagogies.
While there are wonderful elements to traditional teaching that should remain for 9-12th
38
grade students, such as inspiring and discussion igniting lectures and presentations,
student and teacher collaborations, and plenty of significant content focused learning,
there is a systemic problem that handicaps so much lifeworthy learning. Too many
traditional assessments with content heavy focuses, too much passive learning instead
of active learning, not enough interdisciplinary, project-based and design thinking
learning takes place. David Perkins describes this well when he urges,
Dont get rid of rigor in disciplines, but find a better balance between the
rigor/depth and the lifeworthy in the curriculum...There should always be some room in
education to allow eager learners to follow their muse, and indeed to inspire eager
learners to follow their muse. However, all this can be done while largely organizing the
curriculum for expert amateurism, looking outward to the world, not just inward toward
scholarly mysteries (Perkins, p. 39).
He goes on to categorize the big understandings that are key to lifeworthy learning:
Big in insight: The understanding helps to reveal how our physical, social, artistic, or
other worlds work.
Big in action: The understanding empowers us to take effective action professionally,

socially, politically, or in other ways.
Big in ethics: The understanding urges us toward more ethical, human, caring
mind-sets and conduct.
Big in opportunity: The understanding is likely to come up in significant ways in varied

circumstances. One might say, a little more playfully, big in comeuppance (Perkins,
p. 52).
During one of our discussions, Jason noted that progressives have won the
rhetorical battle, but things have generally stayed the same- traditionalists still control
39
the major aspects [of educational pedagogy] (personal communication, Head of Upper
School, May). The more I learn, the stronger I feel about major changes needed in
education. The next step is figuring out how to best communicate, and how to best
educate teachers and students, while continuing to learn from them and reflect on
successes and failures with purpose, intent, and empathy. Frank Gehry said, You can
learn from the past but you cant continue to be in the past; history is not a substitute for
imagination. I would add that while there is no one formula for accessing a students
imagination, there are proven paths, and they are: design thinking, project-based
learning, and interdisciplinary learning through collaboration with the students
perspectives.
From a balcony view, I hope that the future will soon hold a collective push for
educational reform at a national level. It is hard, if not heart-breaking, to know how
much better things should be for every student in school, to see what it looks across the
ocean where things are better, and yet to still see so many schools stuck in how things
are now.
It thus becomes the office of the educator to select those things within the range of
existing experience that have the promise and potentiality of presenting new problems
which by stimulating new ways of observation and judgment will expand the area of
further experience (Dewey, 1938, p. 374).
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Appendices
44
Appendix A: Implementation Timeline
Month Tasks
February Consult with Deans and develop lists of 10+ students in 8th and 12th
grade, checking with each student and gauging his/her interest and
availability during a lunch period for the interviews in March (pizza
provided). Consult with MFC committee and MS and US Heads to
arrange a date for entire 8th and 12th grade survey on Google Forms to
be administered in April.
March Week 1: Finalize interview focus group questions; finalize explanations

and definitions of terms in Question 1
Week 2: Contact interview subjects and set day and time
Week 3: Hold Focus Group Interviews for 8th and 12th graders
Week 4 (Spring Break): Create Google Forms survey for entire 8th and
12th grade bodies.
April Week 1: Send out survey to 8th and 12th graders.

Week 2: Review data and begin analyzing results
Week 3 and 4: Discuss data with MFC
May Weeks 1 and 2: Continue to discuss data with MFC, US Head and MS
Head
Weeks 3 and 4: Work on adding the data to the Practitioner Research
Paper
June Week 1: Continue work on Practitioner Research Paper

Week 2: Submit a draft of Paper to receive feedback
Week 3 and 4: Revise draft and solicit feedback; begin work on
presentation
July Submit final draft and finalize presentation
Appendix B: 12th grade Focus Group Interview Questions:
1. Are you familiar with any of the following teaching practices:

integrated/interdisciplinary learning, project based learning, inquiry-based learning, or
45
design thinking? (A definition and example of each of these terms will be presented to
the focus groups after the first round of answers)
2. Explain some experiences you have had in school that required you to use
knowledge and information in a way that felt new to you - that required you to answer a
question that did not have a readily available answer?
What subjects or courses in particular have provided you with these
experiences?
3. Do you prefer assessments that have definitive correct answers (with clear and
predictable answers) or assessments that have more open ended questions? (Do you
prefer classes that require you to solve problems that do not have a readily available
answer, or classes that have very clear learning objectives?)
4. Give some examples of your most engaged learning moments? When have you felt
most empowered by learning (when have you felt most inspired to learn more/to do your
own research beyond class expectations)?
5. What classwork (academic/arts) has most inspired your curiosity?
6. What homework has most inspired your curiosity?
7. Describe some learning experiences both outside and inside of school that you felt
would be relevant to your life beyond school.
8. Are you encouraged to take intellectual or personal risks in your classes? Can you
give some examples? (example: answering questions in class that you are unsure of as
to the right answer)
9. In what way(s) are you assessed on the following skills: collaboration and
communication, creativity, organization, critical thinking, and presentation skills..
10. What is the driving force for grades in your life? you, your peers, your family, your
teachers, college admissions, etc?
11. How do you imagine gauging your success in life when you graduate?
Are you more concerned with college readiness, finding a career path that you feel best
suits you/life skills, or economic mobility?
Appendix C: 12th grade survey questions
46
Link to Survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-cc-Vt6D0e_oqjSvwFFFXvuQtzT5nSH1vdEPMID
oYd0/edit
Prompt:
In the book Future Wise: Educating Our Children for a Changing World, Harvard
professor David Perkins simplifies the term lifeworthy as: likely to matter in the lives
students are likely to live. He states: But certainly the question of lifeworthiness is
right for education broadly. How often is a particular fact, understanding, or skill likely to
come up? With what importance? Would it grow in breadth and depth and significance
over time-or do we simply forget it? (Perkins, p. 8)
(Ranking system: 1=least lifeworthy and 5=most lifeworthy)
1. Please reflect on your 9-12 grade years when ranking the following:
Knowing
Understanding
Engagement --(inspiring your curiosity)
Practicality/Usefulness
Creativity
(Below, material refers to everything from broad concepts in a studio art

course, to complex equations in a math course.)
2. Of the following activities, which helped you know the material (got the information
into your head ? (rank them):
Lectures
Projects
Discussions
Presentations
Writing papers
3. Of the following activities, which helped you retain the material beyond the
assessment (test, quiz, final exam, etc.) (Which helped the material stick, allowing you
to draw upon what you learned for future reference?)
Lectures
Projects
Discussions
47
Presentations
Writing papers
4. Which of the following activities made you feel most engaged? (rank them):
Lectures
Projects
Discussions
Presentations
Writing papers
5. Which of the following activities provoked your personal curiosity the most? (Made
you want to learn more on your own) (rank them):
Lectures
Projects
Discussions
Presentations
Writing papers
6. Which of the following activities were the most practical/useful to you? (directly
translated to real world outside of school)
(rank them)
Lectures
Projects
Discussions
Presentations
Writing papers
7. How many of your courses have been interdisciplinary in nature? (a course that
utilized more than one discipline/subject, ex.: included art and science concepts)
(If you answered more than 0, please list each one and rank which activities you felt
were the most lifeworthy in each interdisc. course:
Lectures
Projects
Discussions
Presentations
Writing papers
8. How do you think your 9-12th grade education could have been more lifeworthy?
(Courses or other experiences that you felt would have been lifeworthy to you, and
would have helped you in your life after school, etc.)
48
Appendix D: Transcript of Focus Group Interview
Senior Focus Group Discussion
Interviewer: The red light means it's stopped, right? That little red circle?
Group: Probably means it's recording.
Interviewer: Perfect.
Group: If it's blinking ... [crosstalk 00:00:10]
Interviewer: That explains what I did last time. Okay.
Group: All right. Light for education.
Interviewer: All right, so I'm going to ask you my first question. Okay, so,
are you familiar with any of the following teaching practices,
integrated, interdisciplinary learning, project-based learning,
inquiry-based learning, or designed thinking?
Group: Yes. Yeah.
Interviewer: All of them? Okay great. All right, explain some experiences
you've had in school that have required you to use knowledge
and information in a way that felt new to you, that required
you to answer a question that did not have a readily available
answer. What subjects or courses, in particular, have
provided you with these experiences?
Ritvik: Starting off, two courses come to mind for me, first, the two
course are, basically, history courses here and just because
I've been involved in it, peer group. Those two courses,
especially peer group, you try to get across in a different kind
49
of messages freshman in diverse ways, so it stays interesting

for them, and but it's still an effective way of getting across,
and getting everyone to participate. In history, you're
supposed to be using a variety of documents and research
methods to be writing papers, which I think I used daily a lot
of sophomore year in America History. I think that's where, for
me, those are the two courses where I could see that kind of
diverse teaching style.
John: I'm in the peer group program as well. It's sort of like using
interpersonal skills, which you don't really use a lot in the
classroom and to teach actual information, so if you need to
teach freshman about some of the pitfalls of drug and alcohol
abuse, you can use select wording or stories, or, you know, a
horror story to convey information across, and I haven't really
used those skills in anything else besides peer group.
Garrett: I'd say Ms. Clair's English classes that make you, because
she doesn't let you just scratch the surface. She'll call you out
if you're just bsing your way through that course. She really
makes you think about what you've learned and make
connections to both your own life and other things. We often
reference past text and we do a lot of experiential learning
with that class.
Interviewer: Garrett, keep going, I'm just going to check ...
Mia: I did the Arts, I think, just because I feel like it gives me the
most freedom. Especially because in the media, you make
projects, you make videos, but you're given a lot of freedom
as to what you want to make the subject matter and then you
have the whole thing. In that sense, I'm able to use things
from other classes and other things like, last year, we read
[inaudible 00:03:34], to our school, [inaudible 00:03:42], I did
like a video project that explored what it might be like for
someone who is opposite to read that, and I feel like just the
freedom and the simple fact it's also just like thinking in a
visual medium is different from how I was thinking before and
you also have to think about your audience and how are they
going to take something that you're representing. It's kind of
interesting because also, even looking at the sequence of just
50
photos and how different photos are perceived by ...
Interviewer: Okay. Hold on just a second.
Jorina: Okay, so I think that one class that really stood out to me that
I think integrated is [inaudible 00:04:37] American Literature
with the Ms. Lee this year. I thought it was really interesting to
[inaudible 00:04:42] developing conversation and finding
ways to interpret these different novels without there was
never an answer for anything and I think that she really
pushed that onto us and also pushed to us to go where you
wanted with things and that sort of helped you grow older and
somewhat able to analyze [inaudible 00:05:12] about the
piece or about the movie, where it's getting at, or about where
it's interpretation. [inaudible 00:05:19] She was just really able
to shed some light for class to do that and then be able to
quote certain thoughts [inaudible 00:05:34] continuously push
and push you. Just finding certain routes and different ways. I
remember on days when I felt like, oh this is good enough, I'm
done,[inaudible 00:05:51]. It was exciting to do that, to have
discussions and classes about people's [inaudible 00:06:01].
Ritvik: I was also in that class, actually. One of the things that...
Interviewer: What year was that?
Ritvik: This was this year. Just building off of what you were going to
say, in that class, I thought that the reason why we were able
to have those kind of discussions, create that kind of writing,
is because as you build your writing skills over your freshman
year and sophomore year, you build a collection of skills that
you're able to use, but often, people just teach you how to get
that collection of skills and it's less about the application, how
that skills can actually be used. I think that learning that
actually applies those skills was really well taught in Mrs.
Lee's American Literature class and that aspect of learning is
something I don't think that you see everyday in every single
one of your courses. A lot of times, it's just about that material
and college is about where you have to apply those skills to
different skills. That was a course that I also enjoyed.
51
Jorina: I agree. A lot, I think that a lot of it was that it was the first time
I [crosstalk 00:07:22] I was able to write, but come up with, at
the end, and I still knew that if I could still work on it or still
write another revision but I knew it's just you don't see it, but
after having these discussions and thinking about about how
you can apply yourself more and how you can go deeper and
find another way of [inaudible 00:07:44] and come up with
these essays, and then, at the end of everything, you're like,
wow, [inaudible 00:07:54] such a high standard of discussions
and then what we were able to write about.
John: Discussion, I think, is kind of like a double edged sword. Last

year, I was in a Psychological Literature with Mr. McCoolick
and we had some really, really exceptional seniors. They
were super well-written, well-spoken, and discussions with
them, it was like really eye-opening, too. It was like, wow,
these are really, really smart kids. We always spent time
around and it was awesome, but this year, there's ...
sometimes my worst class, we'll be having a round-table,
partners, discussion, and it just doesn't, it's difficult, nothing
new comes up, and it doesn't feel smart or engaged, so I think
discussions, it's really, really easy to go in circles, because
people just, you know, you kind of want to hear yourself talk
and so much of it is who is talking and what do they know and
what do they bring to the table, so when it comes to
education, obviously discussions are super important, you've
got to know something, too. You've got to be at the discussion
with a purpose.
Mia: Like Ms. Lee [inaudible 00:09:05] and she called it

pre-association, where I remember we would bring up
something that was sort of a little bit associated, but veering
off on a tangent.
Interviewer: It sounds like having a specific kind of guidance from a

teacher, those kinds of discussions seems to help, along with
just the chemistry of ...
Jorina: What's interesting is [inaudible 00:09:42] sometimes she will

give us guides as to where in the film we should be looking to
have a description, at what point you should [inaudible
52
00:09:50] and then when she does make [inaudible 00:09:59]

forces us to use each other and discussions get so much
better when you get to a point where you're in a class where
the majority of everyone, or the majority of the people
[inaudible 00:10:11].
Interviewer: All right, I'm not going to get through if I don't keep going. Do
you prefer assessments that have definitive, correct answers
with clear and predictable answers or assessments that have
more open-ended questions? Do you prefer classes that
require you to solve problems that did not have a readily
available answer or classes that have very clear learning
objectives?
Garrett: In English class or philosophy class, I'd rather not, in case I

want to do my own analysis. In something like math or like
biology, there should be a definitive answer there. If there isn't
one, that would be kind of weird.
Jorina: I think one interesting thing that I've had with math class
specifically is that I [inaudible 00:11:16] and also I had one or
two teachers where the assessments are puzzles or different
themselves so you essentially get there. They're not
necessarily care for, but the way the teacher presents the
material, the point is you shouldn't go in feeling confident,
feeling oh I can [inaudible 00:11:40]. There are more of
extended applications of everything you've learned and I
know in tenth grade, my Pre-Cal class, the test were designed
so that I never seen any of those problems before, but then
we would sit down for fifteen minutes and we would realize
that were were proven and you were able to figure out and
those types of problems stopped me more than just routine
things that I memorized.
Interviewer: What kinds of problems were those? Like word problems?
Jorina: Yeah, more word problems.
Interviewer: [crosstalk 00:12:23] solve this thing?
53
Jorina: Some applications or some would just [inaudible 00:12:29] but

then just just kind of choose to give you [inaudible 00:12:35]
pieces of [inaudible 00:12:37] or that kind of works, so I'll just
go with it. Then she'll also have the [inaudible 00:12:45] worry
about the grade as much. Same with my math class this year
which is [inaudible 00:12:57]. Her tests are open Internet and
there's the most difficult things I've ever done. Like, I'll sit
down for two hours to take it, but I'm always able to figure out
while I'm sitting there and I feel so much better about myself
when I'm [inaudible 00:13:14].
Interviewer: It's a bit of a challenge.
Jorina: Yeah, but you can, like, figure it out.
John: Touching on some of that, you were in Chemistry too, so you

know, again it's the same kind of thing as like what I said last
time. You do have to know what you're talking about so our
History test will be, I think our [inaudible 00:13:37] is an
exceptional job at realizing, okay, I need my kids to be able to
discuss broad things to thinking heavily, think creatively, and
make connections, but they also have to know the factual
information. They have to know what the artist meant, you
have to know the context of the piece, and I think, her tests
can be blunt, it could be when was this made, and then it was
compare this to this totally other piece different other piece,
and write two pages about what took so long.
I think it's really about finding balance, I guess, and it's hard
because if a student is juts kind of talking out of thin air about
something they don't know about, in high school, you can't
really, if your teacher, like yeah, you don't have any idea what
they're talking about but you can't sit down because you don't
want people to be afraid to discuss but you know, a benefit in
college is my sister tells me horror stories of the kids who
come in having not done homework at the University and then
the TAs will just chew them out. Clearly, you have no idea
what you're talking about. It's like, it is about striking a
balance and we're more focused on building the voice in high
school then building the confidence and the voice and the
critical thinking skills and then in college, one of the things
54
you pick is you really have to know the factual information

really well.
Ritvik: I think that you gain the skill to have discussions and to be
able to do applicative work once you have a basis. Often, I
think high school is about developing that basis and you
cannot explore that high level applicative work until you're at
the higher levels of that course. Like, for me, I'm taking AP
Calculus, I personally, or maybe this is a naive view of it, but I
don't want to have very open ended questions. I want to be
able to study for my AP Calculus test and know that I know
the material, rather than sitting down, in the test, and feeling
really uncomfortable, take a test, maybe similar to this in May,
which could potentially save my parents money because I
clepped out of a college course. I feel like the college path be
more open to being more explorative with the basic skills that
I have gained throughout high school.
Interviewer: Okay. Let me move on to the next, give some examples, well
maybe we've already done that one. Describe some learning
experiences, both outside or inside of school, that you've felt
would be relevant to your life beyond school.
Ritvik: I recently went back to Rome and I don't know that much
history, to be honest, about the Romans or anything to do
with Rome really, but just going on a trip and living there for
eight days and walking through the city every single day, I just
gained information on my own to give me a broader sense of
history and I think once you do that, you start to contextualize
when certain events are happening in the world, so in Asian
studies, we're talking about the rise of Islam, and now you can
parallel that because when you see that rise of Islam is
happening along side certain things that are happening in
Rome, you can being to understand the broader picture. I
think traveling to me, has given me a higher exposure to
history of the world which I appreciate.
Mia: There was a bunch of [inaudible 00:17:30] it's hard to exactly

connect with all the certain [inaudible 00:17:52] but in
[inaudible 00:17:56] Arts the other day, [inaudible 00:18:01] in
the industry and it's [inaudible 00:18:11].
55
Interviewer: Talking to professionals in the field?
Mia: Yeah, and then not just be into that.
Garrett: Food for thought, last year, just you can do interdisciplinary
work, like getting to explore in the class how different
[inaudible 00:18:42] like food for thought, you study how
things are portrayed in literature and then we also had like
chefs come on to teach us how to cook things of cultural
significance, writing things, we got to see what goes into
writing a cookbook, we had to plan a meal and it was just one
of those things that's like you got to see history in a cultural
surrounding food, wow. It was not like a normal English
course. We were always, pretty much, always doing
something with food and learning about all the different
aspects of foods and that, to me, at least, seemed like it was
more of a wholesome experience than a lot of my other
classes.
Zoe: [inaudible 00:19:46] There are so many moments that stand

out in their classes. [inaudible 00:20:01] like things that I know
will stay with me beyond school and and there is so much
more than critiquing your reading and writing but they are
really kind of evaluating who you are and how you are living
and you don't really get the chance to think about that a lot in
school and like ...
Zoe: [inaudible 00:00:00] And then we also had, we were required

to read with her every other week, and just really sit down
face-to-face and confront everything that was happening not
just in our English class, but in our lives. Those moments,
also, I'll really remember from school as being super
transformative moments, for me.
John: I think, for me, the class background to the kind of people I
spent time with in classes, and, I think the same class as I
mentioned earlier, [inaudible 00:00:36] Literature class, I had
56
these really cool seniors who really knew their stuff, and
weren't necessarily who you'd pin as straight-A students, but
they could write really well, and they had a unique voice.
Because I just didn't really have role-models that I thought I
wanted to be like, and then I kind of could take elements of
that and just say, "Okay, you're people who live a life that I'm
interested in living, and experienced things that I've
experienced too, and they're okay, and this is how they've
done this." So I can kind of pin that to them. It's like a
[inaudible 00:01:20], right-?
Interviewer: And they were seniors?
John: Yeah, they were seniors, and I was a junior, so it wasn't even
a big gap, but maturity-wise- not maturity as in [scooching
00:01:31] my seat, like screaming, not that maturity, but in
terms of, I don't know, kind of just whole new thought. It was a
big gap, and it was really helpful for me to see that.
And then I made this attachment to Mr. [inaudible 00:01:43],

my favorite English teacher, because I'm a big music guy, and
he was a really big music guy, he had a radio station. I'm
going to the school that he went to college for, so...For me it's
been really helpful to have people like that, because I'm pretty
comfortable with who I am, but it's not always sure where I fit
in...? It's nice to have that, people like me, that I can see
myself in, and those are experiences I take inside and outside
of class.
Zoe: Like what he was saying, one thing that I know that definitely
transcend biggest experiences is the relationships you make
with certain teachers. One I think about is [inaudible 00:02:28]
outside English class. I think a lot of times in PDS classrooms
you just speak for the point of speaking, and she really taught
us, I don't know if you agree, but you have to speak with
purpose and meaning, by not getting moments where a
teacher is like "You can't just say that, you have to have depth
behind it, and [inaudible 00:02:52]."
John: I'm free after this, if anyone else is free. [inaudible 00:03:04]
57
Interviewer: I know, I'm cutting them down, and thoughtfully, here, I'm
trying to do it ...
Let's see if we can get through these two really quickly. What
is the driving force for grades in your life? You, your peers,
your family, your teachers, college admissions, et cetera?
Garrett: Mainly my parents ... ? I guess my whole sort of philosophy is

... As long as I took something away from it, and it wasn't ...
That I just completely didn't do it, because of laziness or
whatever, I'm okay with taking a lower grade, as long as I got
something out of it. Like Honors Chemistry, Sophomore year,
I pretty much was just pulling C pluses, and I was fine with
that, because I learned so much. At the same time, it's also
really nice to get to go to your parents and be like "Yeah, I'm
doing well in this class, I'm going to apply it and I'm able to
apply it."
Ritvik: I think for me, it used to be my parents, and eventually it

became getting into college. But at one point that mindset
changed, and that was when I took a step back and looked at
my own friend group, and realized just how intelligent people
are around me. And when you have a very high achievement
groups of friends, and the people you're surrounded with are
really, really smart, you don't want to- this sounds kind of sad,
but you don't want to look dumb.
Sometimes I feel like my grades can make people interpret

me as someone who is dumber or not as capable, so at one
point in high school I started pushing myself because I didn't
want to let down my friends, I didn't want to let down the
people around me, I wanted myself to understand that I can
reach a certain standard. And so, that's what I eventually
used to help drive my grades.
Interviewer: Around when did that happen, do you think?
Ritvik: I think that started happening towards the end of my

sophomore year, when I took my first AP, and I came to the
realization that, okay, I'm taking the US history AP as a
58
sophomore, and there are a number of people who are going

to be doing that, and next year I'm going to take 5 more APs,
it's a competitive scene and you don't want to- At least for me,
I didn't want to feel like I was getting shut down or like I was
getting overshadowed by other people. So, it became a little
bit of a competition for myself, but I also didn't want to let
other people down around me.
Mia: Similar but a little different, we could have friends [inaudible

00:06:18] the teachers. And because you do do it well, with
that relationship with the teacher, when you do badly, you feel
like you're letting them down. So I feel like ... [inaudible
00:06:27]. My parents probably wouldn't see my grades if I
didn't show it to them, because they don't pay attention too
much, because it's just grades and things. Yeah, and then
friends, in the beginning, it was sort of a little competitive, but
as you start moving away from that and realizing that you're
confident in that, then they don't really see it, [inaudible
00:06:54], your teachers.
John: I am 100% the same way- Or, no, I'm 90% the same way, I
think. I really like the teachers I have, and if it's someone I
click with, like Mr. [inaudible 00:07:06], for example. In his
Bioethics class, I just didn't want to write a bad paper,
because I didn't want him to have to read a bad paper, and
think "Oh, John wrote a bad paper." It's like they're friends,
someone who you as an adult figure.
For me it's a little bit of myself as well, it doesn't mean it

doesn't feel good to do poorly, and especially when you know
that you can do well. I've done really well in some classes, so
I know I can do really, really well if I really apply myself. And
once you plant that seedling of "You can do it", and then you
know you didn't do it, it just doesn't feel good.
Jorina: I think a little bit of what everyone said. I think, generally, it

started off as...When I was younger I was more [inaudible
00:07:57] with myself, I didn't really think about my grades
that much. And my parents, they always thought that I worked
hard, so they didn't really...[inaudible 00:08:04]. They thought
that I was doing my work, [inaudible 00:08:07] Which I never
59
really felt that. But I think it was halfway through the whole
high school experience that I started thinking about college
admissions and all that. I think that then it [inaudible 00:08:21]
a little bit, which made me realize that my grades kind of did
matter, and then that I think added some stress, which I didn't
really like. But it did turn into thinking about my parents and
my teachers' expectations, [inaudible 00:08:36]. But I didn't
[inaudible 00:08:41] stressful ...
John: Yeah, stress sucks. Education. Number one point, you can't-
Interviewer: [inaudible 00:08:53] to my next question, so if you want to

answer ... ?
Zoe: Sure. Well I'm really grateful, because my parents never put
any pressure on me, so for a while I'd say...Grades never
[inaudible 00:09:06] to me, and if I didn't do well, I would really
beat myself up over it. But I've kind of gotten this mindset that
just putting everything in perspective, and realizing, "What is it
going to mean to me?" Absolutely nothing.
And also, college became a huge driving force, [inaudible

00:09:23], but I also kind of realized- which I really believe,
although a lot of people probably say this isn't true, that I
knew that I wanted to go to a school where they didn't pick
me, or not pick me, based off my grades and test scores. I
wanted to go to a college where they realize there's so much
more to us all than that, and so that really comforted me a lot.
And I just realized that yes, I love to do well, I love to work
hard and do my best, but in the end, they're really just
numbers. And I'd say for the past year ... That's been all I
think about. Grades are just numbers and letters.
Interviewer: Okay ... How do you imagine gauging your success in life
when you graduate?
Ritvik: Graduate ... PDS or ... ?
John: [crosstalk 00:13:03]
60
Interviewer: Maybe we should say post-school in general, perhaps. How

do you imagine gauging your success, like, what's going to
make you feel like you're successful after school?
Garrett: If I'm still alive and if I'm happy ... ?
Interviewer: Living and happy.
Garrett: If I'm happy with where I am. If I'm okay, and not like an
"okay" sort of an acceptance, but an "okay" like "I am okay
with being where I am at this stage." Because if I won't get
into science, at school, am I okay being an assistant in a lab
for a few years? Yes, but I would like to be in science. Later,
yeah, but I'm okay with where I am, I'm on track, to get to my
final destination of where I want to be.
Ritvik: For me, I think I want to be able to first- this is a big thing, but
I want to be able to provide financial security for my parents,
at some point, in case they would ever need it. Because I feel
like they've done so much for me over these eighteen years of
my life, and even onwards they're still going to be doing a lot
for me, but I want to be able to provide for them. Passed that
point, just being able to provide for a family, knowing that they
get- I want people who I love to have the same opportunities
that I have, that's a big....Because otherwise, without those
same opportunities, I feel like they're not getting as fair a
chance ... as maybe I did. So, that's kind of my issue.
John: "Successful". It's kind of like a state of being, as well as a

status. So, are you successful, do you provide financial
security to your- or at least, the essentials: food, water,
shelter, to your family? Do you do that well? I think that's
really important, I want to write when I grow up, so it's like
"Was he a successful writer? Did he publish something?" I
hope so. And ... That was a weird way of saying what I meant
to say, now that I think about what I was actually saying ...
Yeah, I'd like to be good at what I do, I'd like to strike people
61
as someone dynamic, engaging, and be a figure to other

people, like other people were figures to me, like I mentioned
Mr. [inaudible 00:13:14] is, or the seniors were. Someone to
look up to, and someone that people take things away from, it
helps them improve their quality of life. I would like to be a
beacon of that ...
Mia: [inaudible 00:13:31] Well, sort of like what you were saying,
that you want to be a certain persona, and I think like that, I
want to be a good person, but I don't know that the people
around me ... How that'd be perceived. I'm not trying to say
that I want to be [inaudible 00:13:51] to everyone, and that I
want to be a "yes person", but I know how I'm acting and how
I'm being perceived. And also just the general things that ...
[inaudible 00:14:04]
Jorina: I think ... Generally, I would hope that I'm doing something
that I like doing. I have a general idea of what [inaudible
00:14:20] ... The head of new research, or just approaching
the edge of whatever is [inaudible 00:14:28]. I want to be at
the head of any marketing [inaudible 00:14:30], just do
research and all of that. So I hope that I'm at a place that I
[inaudible 00:14:36].
And then also be able to provide for myself and my family,

and be secure in that. Because two years back I thought I
was going to be a professional dancer, and then I realized
that that just wasn't practical. So, I think more of that decision
to [inaudible 00:14:59]. Just be financially secure, and know
that I'll be at a place where I'm stable. [inaudible 00:15:08] It's
really fun, it's something I like doing, I would just not
recommend it to provide that security.
Zoe: I don't know, it's hard, because I have no idea what my life is
going to be like, and I don't really even know what I consider
success to be. but I guess if I think about it, if I were to die in
the next moment, if I were just happy with the life I had lived,
if I was content, if I felt proud of the way I lived, and with the
death of the substance of it- If I felt free in myself, and had ...
Lived with the values and morals that I believe in, and just
that, as of now ... Just living in the purest and most deliberate
62
way that I can, and hopefully feeling that the things like family,
and being able to support them, but ... At the bare minimum,
just being happy, free and content, and just all those things.
Ritvik: I think this is a bit of a selfish thought, but I think a lot of

people have this thought, is that...I want to strive for
greatness, and I think everybody wants to strive for
greatness. I don't think people express that very often,
though. People are very reserved when they're talking about
their thoughts of success, because I think the word "success"
is often driven by dreams, and the highest possible achieving
people, I feel like you'd want to compare yourself to them.
And even though there's those are, like, one in a billion
people, and it feels so [inaudible 00:17:07].
I think that maybe another aspect of success that people think

about but don't always express is the idea of leaving a mark,
or having an impact, or being able to affect another person's
life positively. I think that is a really, really strong motivation
with people thinking about the idea of "success".
Mia: Also I think that [inaudible 00:17:35].
John: I want to be famous. I want a billion dollars. [crosstalk

00:17:46] I want to be like a Pynchon, like a Thomas
Pynchon. [inaudible 00:17:58]
Interviewer: We are out of time, but I did want to ask- and this is
something you can answer now, if you have to go, you can
go, and maybe take the time [inaudible 00:18:12] ... ? But I
am curious about the level of stress, too. I picked up on APs
in particular, a little bit of competition and the kind of stress
that can come from those, so I'm curious if you could talk a
little bit more about how maybe AP courses in particular,
versus other courses that you've taken, have created maybe
what you feel like is unhealthy, or sometimes healthy amounts
of stress? Some schools are doing away with APs, but you
can still take the AP test after. Some colleges are even
starting not to look at them as much as well, but that's kind of
slow to get moving. So, if you have to go, go, please, thank
you so much, if you want to stay and answer...[crosstalk
63
00:19:10] Okay, go ahead.
Garrett: I guess for me personally, I [inaudible 00:19:22], but stress is

also a really big motivator, especially creatively. I write most
of my papers, and all our admissions, two days or the night
before. It's one of those things where if I take time it turns out
well, but it's harder to get the ideas flowing.
I guess I've had this weird relationship with stress where

because of where I went to school and sort of my personality,
school, for a long while, school was a really easy thing, and
then when I came here, it was like hitting a wall of bricks. It
was a lot harder, especially with Architecture, which is a very,
very hard course. It was sort of like I was trying to not remain
stressed, but I was stressed, and then around junior year I
stopped.
Speaker 1: Not caring because that got rid of the stress, but I guess the thing now
is I found that balance between not caring and caring especially after I
got an Intro in AP Bio, which is the field that I want to go in, and I
realized I, there is a certain amount of stress I'll be putting myself
through to get to where I want. I eventually want to be, if I'm not going
to care because it's not going to, it's going to make me not stress, then
why am I going into this field where I'm going to have to care and why
am I doing poorly in this class that I need to go into this field?
Speaker 2: For me, by the time I'll have graduated high school I'll have taken
seven APs and one of the things that I didn't realize, I'd always heard
Junior year is tough, you know, it's horrible and it's bad, but when I hit
my Junior year third trimester I had to take my SAT and my SAT IIs
and my APs all in the span of three months and I got just so, I was so
stressed out that to a certain point I even got depressed, I just got
scared and depressed because I felt like I had become a machine
where, you know, it was just go to school, make sure you do well on
that quiz/test, do all the homework, study for your APs and repeat and
repeat and repeat and repeat and keep going and keep going.
There were points where I felt so down that I just I lost motivation, but I
think what ended up happening is that, at least for me, the amount of
stress that I was putting myself through I just thought, I kept thinking
like, "Once I get over that wall, once I just get past this certain point,
it's going to feel like the sky lifted off of my shoulders." Regardless of
64
what stresses were coming towards me, I would just deal with them
and when I got my AP scores, you know, I did well on some, I didn't do
as well on some, I still felt like a god because I was done, and at that
point you just don't care because you're looking forward and you think,
like, "There are more challenges to get over. I still have to get into
college and all of this stuff." For me, dealing with stress has been
really stressful and difficult, but also extremely necessary in my life to
make me a better individual I think.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when you do kind of creative stuff I think a big, and not even
that, just look at our [inaudible 00:03:00], like that work summary I did
wrong is about to be up and I've got to take that over to seminar. Such
a big message is like, "Don't worry, it's all going to work out, it's all
going to blah, blah, blah, you're going to find your path." I mean,
resilience is really important. That's how you be a better person is
through perseverance, and obviously there's healthy and there's not
healthy and there's limits, but I would rather be the person who could,
you know, hunker down and take three months of APs and SATs and
come out the other side okay than give up, you know?
I think I've had a relatively stress-free experience because I've been

here for 14 years. I know people really, really well. I feel like the faculty
and the administration are my friends, I feel like I have a good
perspective on grades so that grades and scores have never really
freaked me out too much, but when the stress comes on it doesn't feel
good and it's almost like I have to live up, and there's a little bit of
interesting development, there's a little bit of catching up to do
because the real world is stressful, right?
If you have a kid that's sick, that's really, really stressful and then your
baby has kept you up until 2:00 am and you have work at 5:30 am the
next day. That's stressful, but you've got to do it. I think stress is a very
strange thing and it's kind of nasty but so much of how we learn, that
so much of how we grow as people comes from stress and without
stress I think it's harder to kind of gain a good perspective on anything.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with that a lot. I would follow that with the AP classes I
take, and generally there has been something of value to them, but I'd
take them anyway and I think that I needed those courses to
continuously push myself to the point where I know I can't just relax
and I can't just throw it all away or not work on it, but I will always still
have something to do, something to work on, and continue to better
myself. I know that I'm really applying myself to the class as necessary
and I think that at some points yes I've felt in a few moments that it's
been unhealthy and it got just to be just overwhelming to the point
65
where I just didn't want to care anymore, I just wanted to sleep all day,
but I think that those were pretty rare in the AP courses I take, maybe
once or twice for each course I think. I gain a lot more from making
myself do it than not getting up and pushing to take the test, so I don't
think that they weren't valuable. I don't regret making myself do it.
Speaker 5: I think something that's interesting about AP classes is because, well

in my experience, you start out and it's all this material and you're
stressing and getting all this material and you feel like you're not
getting any of it, and you're not going to do good on the test and
everything, but then you get to the end and it's a little more, it's a little
more like you said the extension questions from before, it's a little
more contextual and you start using all these pieces that somehow
you start realizing you actually remember, and then the actual test is
kind of, I don't know, it was actually fun to do in my opinion because
you actually like, wow there's all these pieces and these bits and
pieces you've been trying to get along the way that finally come
together at the end.
Speaker 4: That's amazing [inaudible 00:06:47].
Speaker 5: Yeah, and then it all comes together.
Speaker 4: Yes, it's just ...
Speaker 6: Kind of with what [inaudible 00:06:58] was saying, I think you're right
about what you said about stress in Junior year. You kind of do feel
like a robot. You wake up, you go to school, you do work, you go to
bed, and it would make me so sad, like, "What am I doing with my
life?" You were kind of like in this cycle of grades and college and
stress and pressure and expectations and all those things and it's so
easy to get swept off and kind of swallowed and lost in it all, but I think
if you know who you are and you can stand your ground and just kind
of accept that stress is going to happen, if you look back it makes you
grow so much.
It makes you so much of a stronger and more resilient person that it's
worth it and stress is going to happen not just in school and looking
back when you connect all the dots it made you who you are and
would you rather have not gone through it and not be able to handle
anything and crack and just give up all the time or be able to handle it
all and just keep going and moving forward.
Also, talking about APs I had a super different experiences with art
history it was my favorite class. It was lots of work and it was hard but
66
I loved every moment of it, I got so much joy from it, and I was so
excited to do the homework and take the test because it was like so, I
was so passionate about it. Then in Euro this year I go home and do
my Euro homework and just want to fall asleep and rip the pages
apart, but whether it's an AP class or a regular class or a college class
it's kind of what you make of it and how you handle yourself and I think
that's with everything in life, no matter the level or the stress or
anything, it's your, it's how you handle it.
Speaker 7: All right. Thank you guys so much. I'll be in touch with some more
advice I'll be asking for. If you have time to respond that'd be good.
That was so great, that was really amazing feedback and I learned so
much and it's going to be wonderful for my research. Thank you so
much. I have a class waiting out there so time's on a budget, but take
as much of that as you can out, as much as you want take it with you,
there's more paper towels if you want to take something to go just
grab it.
67

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Running Head: Lifeworthy Learning Stephanie Stuefer

What is lifeworthy from a student perspective?

writings about educational reform seem to surface in so many areas of educational

lifeworthy learning into the curriculum.

Deweys book Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of

education, never in the life of farmer, sailor, merchant, physician, or laboratory

what lifeworthy learning means. In Perkins words, he simplifies to define lifeworthy as

determining what is likely to matter is a:

education broadly. How often is a particular fact, understanding, or skill likely to

significance over time-or do we simply forget it? (Perkins, p. 8)

"lifeworthy" learning in 12th grade (reflecting on their 9-12th grade experiences) at

Princeton Day School.

PDS as a Case Study and the Significance to the Field of Education

academic, artistic, extracurricular, and athletic programs.

to support research and collaborations related to interdisciplinary and inquiry based

focused on the lifeworthiness of their curriculums. However, many teachers continue to

adhere to a primarily traditional educational philosophy. While academics are strong at

to educating students. This approach specifically includes practices such as

project-based learning, design thinking, and interdisciplinary learning, all commonly

found buzzwords and initiatives at similar independent institutions.

school community on issues regarding educational reform as it relates to lifeworthy

learning. In January of 2016, Miss Fines Center sponsored a viewing of the

emphasis on project-based and interdisciplinary learning. The films discussion guide

Another startling study illuminating the inefficacy of traditional assessments

(cornerstones of the traditional discipline-based model of education), was performed at

faculty eliminated any detailed questions that students shouldnt be expected to

and project-based curriculum.

dramatic ways for years to come.

needs- the lifeworthy learning needs - of our students.

lifeworthy learning. Gaining an understanding of student experiences with lifeworthy

insightful information concerning where students experienced lifeworthy learning in the

taking place and using these examples as effective curricular models.

illuminate what students in an independent school system deem is important for

in education is a universally relevant topic in every educational system today. It is my

A plethora of curriculum changes and initiatives have swept the country as

studios are already demonstrating a successful integration of curriculum, project-based

and collaborate with, the students we are teaching.

be lifeworthy models of education: interdisciplinary learning, project-based learning,

1991). Because knowledge is interrelated (Kelly, 2012), seeing and creating

connections between subject disciplines is an essential skill for students to develop as

any field of research or career in the outside world.

Over time, evolving definitions of integrated/interdisciplinary learning have

subject/discipline in an educational curriculum/lesson/project. With this definition, four

sub-categories of integrated learning models have been developed. The correlation

This is essentially the correlation model previously described, but it is focused on

progress will be evaluated (Vars, 1991, p. 14.)

more than one discipline/subject to solve a problem; to answer an essential question.

This curriculum is created based on relevance to students: Needs, problems, and

(Vars, 1991, p. 14).

the value of standardized test scores is being increasingly questioned, integrative

counterparts and other Progressive-prepared students (Eight-Year, 2016)

creating and implementing an interdisciplinary curriculum, in place of, or in addition to,

the traditional educational model of separated disciplines. In spite of Dewey, in spite of

needs of the learner and societys problems (Vars, 1991, p.14).

Project-Based Learning and Design Thinking

To facilitate lifeworthy learning, students need opportunities to apply the content

and under-practiced. Project-based learning, as a practice in all disciplines, has a much

increasingly gained momentum as a lifeworthy educational model:

Project-based learning (PBL) is a model that organizes learning around projects.

complex tasks, based on challenging questions or problems, that involve

students in design, problem-solving, decision making, or investigative activities;

give students the opportunity to work relatively autonomously over extended

periods of time; and culminate in realistic products or presentations.