Key Components
The Challenge Based Learning process begins with a big idea and cascades to the following: an essential question, a challenge, guiding questions, activities, resources, determining and articulating the solution, taking action by implementing the solution, reflection, assessment, and publishing.
Big Idea
The big idea is a broad concept that can be explored in multiple ways, is engaging, and has importance to students and the larger society. Examples of big ideas are Identity, Sustainability, Creativity, Violence, Peace, and Power.
Essential Question
By design, the big idea allows for the generation of a wide variety of essential questions that should reflect the interests of the students and the needs of their community.
The Challenge
From each essential question a challenge is articulated that asks students to create a specific answer or solution that can result in concrete, meaningful action.
Guiding Questions
Generated by the students, these questions represent the knowledge students need to discover to successfully meet the challenge and create a map to guide the learning process.
Guiding Activities and Resources
These lessons, simulations, games, and other types of activities use a variety of resources to help students answer the guiding questions and set the foundation for them to develop innovative, insightful, and realistic solutions.
Solutions
Each challenge is stated broadly enough to allow for a variety of solutions. Each solution should be thoughtful, concrete, actionable, clearly articulated, and presented in a publishable multimedia format such as an enhanced podcast or short video.
Featured Challenge
Apathy, O’Neill High School, O’Neill, Nebraska