Through this unconscious education the individual gradually comes to share in the intellectual and moral resources which humanity has succeeded in getting together. He becomes an inheritor of the funded capital of civilization.
-John Dewey
Note: For the unit suggestions by developmental and subject, scroll below.
When John Dewey wrote his Pedagogic Creed over 120 years ago, the landscape of learning was a very different place. The ways that students engaged with information were slower, more deliberate, and required more effort than anything students (especially in K-12) would recognize today. One can easily imagine that it was expedient, and often highly necessary, to memorize information and skills by rote in ways that access to information doesn’t require today. However, whatever the difference between the skills that were practical then and what is practical now, treating learning as capital to be accessed and invested into the tasks at had to build the body of knowledge can be a valuable way to think about research.
This is not to say that there is inherent value in what Paolo Freire described as traditional banking model of learning where the teacher deposits information into the passive mind of the empty learner. Mixing financial metaphors around can be confusing. The notion that the learner can come to share in the resources of humanity is not a passive matter, quite the opposite, it is an active participation that requires knowing when, how, where, and why to access certain information. The capital of civilization is the shared commodity of the body of knowledge we can add to and utilize to solve problems. As teachers, it is not our role to transmit knowledge into the empty vessel, but rather to guide and learn with the student. Freire described a more active two-way process with students and teachers that is a far more valuable approach and dovetails beautifully into Dewey’s model of constructivist practice.
It is from this perspective that the modern learner and the modern teacher share the capital of information and can invest it towards dividends through problem solving, practical application, self-determination, and project based learning. I often like to think of skills as tools and skillsets at the tool box. As you master each skill, it is something that you know how to apply in the right situation. That is not to say that there isn’t error or misapplication that happily works. As the grandson of a plumber, I often would go on jobs for extra cash. To say that I never witnessed and emulated using the blunt end of a screwdriver as a hammer because the problem was in too tight a spot to back out of was a lie. However, the screwdriver wasn’t quite as effective as the hammer would have been.
This aligns with one of the conclusions that National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine published in 2020 that suggested that each learner has a unique array of knowledge and cognitive resources that depend on their cultural, social, biological, and developmental contexts that, as teachers we have to understand in order to get them to learn. Effectively, learning is a very personal endeavor that happens in very social settings. Understanding the idiosyncrasies of our students learning needs is key to effectively supporting them.
However, in the high data driven world we live in of standardized data, responsive testing, and metric after metric after metric, we’ve come to look at curriculum as a hardware store where they can identify the tools and either state or intuit their use. We’ve become excellent at measuring if students can identify the difference between the hammer and the screwdriver, but we never let them actually build anything with them. (And if we do, it is so rarely that students remember these activities as novelties rather than as learning experiences).
This model of knowledge without application, or rigor without purpose, or skills without transfer misses the entire point of education. It’s like counting the money we can never spend or invest. Just know it is there doesn’t provide any real solutions and certainly doesn’t prepare the students for…whatever it was we were expecting them to use these skills to excel at. Without these tools being applied, there are no capital improvements to the social inherence Dewey was talking about and there is no two-way process to construct and own anything.
There are, however, ways that we can continue to measure and make use of the benefits of what standardized, responsive, computerized, metrics provide side-by-side with practical application that makes use of problem solving and gives students the practice they need to invest and grow in the capital of human knowledge as they enter a world that won’t grade them but will judge them on their successes to apply the correct tool to the correct problem.
These ways provide structure enough to be safe but have enough room for students to be creative, experimental, and think their ways through the problem while understanding the purpose of the learning opportunities presented to them. Structure doesn’t have to oppression of the spirit, it simply means that there are guard rails on the situation and levers of equity to get students where we need them to go. We want students to be able to think, to perform, and to make a learning impact; we don’t want them just to comply to a protocol or sit and raise their hands as the rules dictate.
Simple Guidelines
Each subject and each developmental level are rightfully different. These suggestions approach ideas that can work at each level. Some are common practice with a new framing or are heavily discussed in teacher preparation courses and professional development but have a hard time making into reality for a variety of administrative, regulatory, or scope and sequence reasons. These aren’t the only solutions, they are suggestions that follow four simple design checkpoints with possible themes at different development levels; some of the projects are sophisticated across levels because the project has multiple entry points from the skills required at different levels. Take these suggestions and dream up something that works for the unique community of learners you have in front of you for the opportunities to learn you can present them in. Experiment, succeed, fail, reflect, but use the checkpoints to see if you are moving meaningfully through the process so your students can invest the knowledge they’ve gained and master the tool you’ve offered them:
- Teach the skill explicitly
- Practice it deliberately
- Use it publicly (project/presentation, performance, product, real audience, etc.)
- Student and teacher “Reflect and Share”: What did this skill/activity allow you to do that you couldn’t do before? How can you use this in your life? What could I do better next time?
Elementary (K-5): Building Meaning As A Habit Of Practice
English Language Arts– Writing as the bridge into real world communication and expression. Note that these suggestions should be taken as a whole approach to ELA, meaning that exemplar texts, shared writing, and class discussion are assumed before these projects are undertaken.
- Letters that Matter– Students identify a relevant and authentic audience to write letters to (school administrators, local politicians, family members, community organizations) addressing real concerns they have and asking for redress. Not only does this serve as a civics lesson but the transferrable skills of letter writing, persuasive argument using claims, reasons, and evidence, and general conventions of English according to whatever standards schools are beholden to are intact. Students learn agency and practice the skill. Hopefully, they get a reply too.
- Research Books/Blogs/Presentations/etc.- Students create short how-to or all about projects on concepts from science, social studies, art, music, or any high interest topic. In this setting students have to utilize citations, identify opinions, can develop synthesis, and develop informational writing skills. Research becomes a habit of life and a way that they manage learning on their own for their own interests. This is a common activity, however the next dimension is to actually teach another student about or how to do what they learned. This follows to a certain degree the Genius Hour model that many schools picked up from the free design time that Google developers have. Now students have not only the venue to teach themselves but to turn that information over to others which is a transferable skill for study groups and group projects.
- Stories with a moral- Students create narratives using a story model like a fable, The Hero’s Journey, or a Freytag Pyramid and insert a moral or lesson into the action. By providing them with the framework to utilize and the opportunity to teach something that is meaningful, they learn how fiction operates by creating it. Students become not just writers, but storytellers with something to say and add to the world. By following a story model, they are also able to utilize it in their analysis. These models can be developed over time to increase sophistication and build on a common language. (Extension: If they are able to insert the lesson or moral based on the issues they wrote letters about or utilizing the information they researched they can bridge ideas in their research and efforts over long periods of time).
Mathematics– Problem solving as sense-making rather than answer-seeking. Note that this is a math practice that sometimes gets criticized because it is difficult to balance the understanding of what to do with getting the calculations right. There is another entire piece to be written about building number sense and automaticity of math facts. Suffice it to say that while these suggestions are heavily involved in the critical thinking aspect, and the thinking is 90% of the real world application activity, eventually we do have to lean into getting the numbers right along with seeking a good process.
- “3-Act Math” weekly routine: This routine from Dan Meyer has three steps. Launch with a real scenario in the form of a picture or problem, then generate questions, estimate, solve, and defend thinking, then finally the solution is revealed. The key is explanation—students narrate math, not just compute. This practice addresses the “when will I ever need this” problem head on and supports students recognizing the abstract ideas of math into scenarios that they can and will continue to recognize. It also teaches them how to talk through problems, persevere, and creates foundations in the areas of logic and proof providing that they’ll come across in more advanced math courses.
- “Math for the Classroom Store” (mini-economy): Pricing, data displays, bulk rates, and argument writing (“Why is this a fair price?”) using interdisciplinary time and skills from ELA. This is especially effective when the circular ads from the stores are used to update the information. This is one of the most practical things students can do with their math abilities and this kind of activity can be done at increasingly sophisticated levels throughout the entire K-12 experience, adding in new dimensions of thinking and math skills as they get older.
Science- Science actually is the easiest of these to apply the model to. Science is an inquiry based area of study with a well developed method of exploration and experimentation. Note that while each of these are simple seeming, science time is exceedingly limited in Elementary settings. The more frequently and consistently simply projects like these can be practiced, the more skilled students will become in the behaviors of science.
- Phenomena notebooks: Students record observations, sketch models, revise models after investigation, and write short explanations.
- “Local weather + heat” mini-unit: Track temperature over time; connect to materials, sunlight, shade, and surfaces. Explain trends through analyzing data and presenting a case for the interpretations.
Social Studies– Inquiry and Civic Engagement as a Personal Expression. In the early grades of Elementary school, students are often presented with their communities and local or state governments. As they get older they learn about the communities and states. Note that there are lots of interdisciplinary opportunities for ELA and math that get taken advantage of in Social Studies at this age group, but that science is an often overlooked connection that is especially important when learning about geography or local history. Consider that the Local weather unit in the science section above is a really good opportunity to connect these areas.
- Community Then and Now– Find archival photographs from when your community was founded, look at images that family members or neighbors may have if they are from the area. Provide some for students, have them look for some in the school or local library, find websites they can use (as appropriate). Have them compare maps and the pictures, interview adults and family members and discuss or create projects (models, maps, videos, etc.) about how the community has changed.
- Letters That Matter- See the letters that matter suggestion in the ELA section.
- Election Tracking- This can be done every year, but it is obviously much more exciting when there is a Presidential election happening. In the Spring before a November election, track the primaries. At any time of year there is a school budget or School Board vote have students follow what the discussion around the budget is. In the Fall before a November election, track the polls, discuss the issues, have student make a case for who they would vote for and debate why they think this is the best person based on the issues.
World Languages– Some schools have World or Foreign language classes, or even dual language programs, early as Kindergarten. While building vocabulary and fluency are always important there are many ways to make language use feel even more authentic.
- Follow the same texts and writing assignments as ELA or other subjects. Obviously, with modifications based on their ability to follow the language. Utilizing the same general idea in the foreign language can solidify the concept in both languages and piggybacks on the rationale for the assignment.
- Translate Media- Have students translate or write new dialogue for stories, short videos, and comic strips they enjoy. By introducing high interest narratives and non-fiction ideas students will be more likely to grasp on the information.
Middle Schools (6-8): Application Is The Default
English Language Arts– Middle school is the moment when students start noticing the world’s contradictions and need language strong enough to do something about them, lest we lost them to apathy or lack of agency. ELA becomes the place where reading turns into thinking, and thinking turns into claims you can defend. Note that these suggestions assume the full ELA ecosystem is in place: strong anchor texts, routine discussion, explicit writing instruction, vocabulary work, and regular feedback cycles. These are not “cute add-ons”—they are the use-case for those core practices.
- Student Agency in Claim–Evidence–Reasoning (CER) Across Text Sets– This is a highly utilized model of pairing sets of texts together to uncover meaning. However, when students are left to find the connecting texts, it changes the texture of the assignment so that they are building and constructing the meaning along with the texts that have been assigned. This doesn’t preclude the teacher from controlling the general message through choices of other texts to pair and guiding class discussions, however by adding in this additional layer students now are creating the discussion and guiding the learning. Teachers may find themselves surprised and learning along with their students and receiving suggestions on how to improve the curriculum for the future. Note that criteria for choosing texts and resources for finding them will be essential for student success.
- Journalism Lab- This is a sophistication of the Letters that Matter Elementary assignment. Through research, discussion, interviews, and surveys students can create news publications in the form of newspapers, newsletters, email campaigns, websites, videos, social media posts, podcasts, and many other multimedia venues to speak truth to power and advocate or promote change they want. The issues are of concern to them in their community, school, in the country…the scope is without limit really. This piece of civic literacy can be tied to Social Studies in many ways, but especially through Current Events programming.
- Thematic Fiction– Utilizing the common language of the story structures they learned in the lower grades, or introducing new ones (like Plot Embryo, Tragic Plot Embryo, Save the Cat, The Snowflake Method, etc.) students can now embed more than a moral, they can introduce thematic structure into their story. By using the method to break down stories and then turn them into opportunities for writing, students are joining a conversation and a tradition of storytelling that can serve them well in deciding if they enjoy fiction writing. These themes can be connected to the journalism lab, or they can write thematic stories as part of the CER protocol by writing stories that match either large form novels, short stories, poems (and they should always be writing poems!), or non-fiction texts.
Mathematics– Middle school math is where students often determine whether or not math is “for them.” That’s a tragedy we should treat as avoidable–too many adults (myself included) feel saddled with the idea that math is beyond their reach. The cure isn’t lowering the bar or turning everything into games—it’s showing students that math is a language for making sense of reality. These suggestions assume continued explicit instruction, fluency-building, and feedback. Thinking is central, but accuracy still matters—because nobody wants to cross a bridge that was designed “almost right.”
- Scaled Up 3-Act Math- Don’t tell me I’m lazy. This protocol works and can be ramped up throughout the years to build student agency and confidence in math. se a visual scenario that raises questions: a crowded hallway, a water bottle filling, a fundraiser goal, a subway schedule, a TikTok poll dataset, a sports statistic. Students estimate first, define what information they need, and build a model. The point is not only solving—it’s defending why the model makes sense. This trains persistence and mathematical argument without calling it “proof” yet. The protocol in this way also continues to ground math in high interest content at a time when students are easily turned off. Note that in today’s rapid fire culture, it is important to stay on top of the examples you use and change them regularly. Additionally is is incredibly important that you understand the online meme content that you use in class. Plenty of times I use the standard English language only to find out I’ve said something untoward in kid-lingo. Try not to bring visuals into that too.
- Budgeting 101– Once again, this may feel like the same as the Elementary version of the Classroom Store but the sophistication here is key. In Middle School we begin to truly work with algebraic ideas of missing pieces of data, rates, percentages, and other very practical ideas. Students can, for example, choose a career and a place to live. They can then research what a reasonable salary for that career and what the standard of living in that place is. Utilizing that information they can budget for living expenses, groceries, saving for retirement. They can account for taxes, health insurance, vacation funds, emergency funds. One way to build this into interdisciplinary learning would be in Civics to plan an urban renewal project like a new playground or a bike lane or in science to plan on budget to recoup a coast line after a hurricane.
- Claims and Numbers– Students collect data from school life: homework time, sleep, screen time, cafeteria waste, attendance trends, sports, or environmental observations. Then they make a claim and back it with graphs, measures of center, and clear reasoning. This becomes a shared language that supports math, science and social studies. Note, if you’re making a claim, you need evidence.
Science – Middle school science is the perfect age for students to start thinking like investigators. They are curious, skeptical, and often delightfully unimpressed—which is exactly what science needs. These suggestions assume you’re using an inquiry model aligned to your state standards and are building consistent practice with data, modeling, and explanation. The best part is that science is the perfect partner for any of the other content strands and can easily be inserted with cross curricular skills that can support scientific thinking and the goals in other subjects.
- Myth Busting- Teach students to evaluate popular claims: “energy drinks are safe,” “vaccines cause X,” “climate change is natural,” “plastic recycling solves everything,” “AI is unbiased.” The task is not to preach—it’s to teach scientific literacy: identify the claim, evaluate the evidence quality, check sources, and explain uncertainty responsibly. Students learn how science works in public life, which is the only way science survives politics. This dovetails amazing with Math, ,ELA, and Social Studies…it just depends on the myth!
- CER for More Than Labs– When Claim–Evidence–Reasoning becomes the standard format for thinking, critical thinking will explode. Students do CER for investigations, readings, graphs, demonstrations, and videos. If they can do CER, they can read science critically and speak it clearly.
- Local Science Units- In another sophistication of a unit in Elementary, looking at the science around the community is a great way to make it real. Students pick one local phenomenon and return to it repeatedly: heat islands, flooding after storms, water quality, invasive species, local air quality, recycling systems, or seasonal changes in biodiversity. Students gather simple data, build models, and propose solutions. The point is that science becomes something they do, not something they “cover.”
Social Studies- Middle school is where social studies can stop being a parade of names and become training for citizenship. The key is inquiry arcs: compelling questions, supporting questions, sources, claims, and a product that faces emphasize and critique. These ideas assume your scope and sequence is guided by state frameworks, but the methods keep the learning alive and support students towards being active members in the community and thoughtful citizens.
- Flip The Questions- Instead of “learn about the Constitution,” frame it as: What makes a law legitimate? Instead of “learn about immigration,” frame it as: Who gets to belong—and who decides? Students evaluate sources (including primary sources), write claims, and revise them. By forcing students to come to terms with the principles that lay under the content, they can engage with why the world is the way it is, and prepare to change it.
- Beyond Student Government, Run Simulated Government- Run a school-based simulation: a mock school board meeting, a budget allocation debate, a community zoning decision, a proposed policy on phone use, a new school rule on attendance, or a climate action plan for the building. Have students vote on the topics and bodies they emulate and simulate so that they engage deeply. Students must use evidence, speak in roles, and propose solutions. Make it messy—because civic life is messy.
- Connect To The Community- Let students pick their favorite local places–restaurants, stores, parks, whatever it is. Discover and learn the history of those places–or phenomenons–in the community. The can build their own identify by learning about the identity of their communities. They may become very well versed in migration patterns, industry changes, housing shifts, community institutions, cultural landmarks. They can build a timeline or “walking tour” guide in a variety of media or project based representatins.. This is where students learn that history isn’t dead, its literally happening around them.
World Langauges- Middle school language learning often dies from boredom and fear of embarrassment. Conjugation of verbs and contextless vocabulary are slow death for the American foreign language learner. The fix is to treat language as a tool for authentic expression—not a game of memorizing disconnected phrases.
- Immerse In Authentic Language Use- Students read/watch something authentic (appropriately level article, ad, song clip, menu, poster), discuss it (in structured conversation), then produce something (a short presentation, story, or guide). This keeps the language alive and functional.
- Translate for Meaning Not For Vocabulary- Another sophistication of a previous idea, in the Middle School version, we can be a little more day-to-day. Students translate comic strips, short scenes, memes, or school announcements—but the real task is making it make sense in the target language. This builds nuance and teaches that language is culture, not substitution.
- Pen Pal / Partner Dialogues- Many kids had pen pals in school, this is not a new idea. However, the 21st Century has security conerns that can be community dependent…or sometimes students learning in English aren’t necessarily available. Even if it’s within the school, set up consistent dialogues: introductions, preferences, opinions, plans, short debates–but let them pick the topics. Some of the vocabulary they’ll have to find will be non-standard but their ability to use language will be more authentic. The repetition builds fluency; the purpose builds courage. They’ll be far better suited to order the right thing at the restaurants they go to on vacation if their practice is practical and consistent.
High School (9-12) Learning Becomes Life Practice– In High School we can really move from wax on/wax off into full practice. Students have spent years building into these practices, if they exist in a system where those younger grades were exciting work like what was explained above. If they were, which is far more likely if you are reading this, you can still scaffold these practices into your work…it’ll just take a little more practice in creating the common language and norms.
The following list can be used in many subjects, across curricula, as stand alone practices, or interdisciplinary. The goal isn’t to force every teacher into interdisciplinary units all the time. The goal is to use shared best-practice structures—strategies that work in ELA, math, science, social studies, world languages, arts, electives, everything—because they teach students how to think, communicate, decide, and create across contexts. Instead of specific content based projects, these become school wide approaches to learning that build student agency, choice, and meaning in practice.
- Claim With Receipts– Students make a claim about a real academic or contemporary issue, support it with credible sources, explain their reasoning, acknowledge at least one limitation or counterclaim, and revise the claim accordingly. This activity establishes a schoolwide norm that opinions are not free-floating — they are earned. Whether students are writing an argumentative essay in ELA, interpreting data in science, analyzing a historical decision in social studies, modeling outcomes in math, or presenting an issue in a world language, they learn that intellectual integrity requires a basis in fact. Just as importantly, students practice saying “here’s what I know, here’s what I can prove, and here’s what I’m still unsure about,” which is the foundation of both scholarship and citizenship.
- Data As Evidence Not Distraction- In a world saturated with charts, polls, and algorithms, students must learn that data is a language — and that it can lie when handled carelessly or dishonestly. This activity trains students to ask better questions: What does this data really show? What doesn’t it show? What assumptions were made? Whether used in math, science, social studies, or ELA, this practice builds skepticism without cynicism and equips students to engage responsibly with information that shapes public life. They identify trends, question missing information, distinguish correlation from causation, and explain how data can be misused. This is the inversion of the previous activity where they had to make the claim. In this activity they have to explain why, or why not, a position is valid.
- Disagreeing Like Adults- This one is a bit of a misnomer. Adults don’t really know how to disagree. They either know how to avoid or how to shout, and that’s what they teach their kids. But, we can change that. High school students are naturally primed to argue. This activity harnesses that predilection and teaches them a better model. Instead of getting into shouting matches and arguing for By practicing evidence-based disagreement in a structured environment, students learn that changing one’s mind is not weakness, that disagreement can be civil, and that listening is an intellectual skill. This protocol works especially well in world language classes, where structure reduces anxiety and promotes authentic communication. By practicing evidence-based disagreement in a structured environment, students learn that changing one’s mind is not weakness, that disagreement can be civil, and that listening is an intellectual skill. This protocol works especially well in world language classes, where structure reduces anxiety and promotes authentic communication.
- Show Me You Can Do It (Performance, Portfolio, Portrait Of A Student)- nstead of relying tests and standardized assessment, students demonstrate learning through performances: investigations, presentations, portfolios, designs, proofs, exhibitions, or oral defenses. Start a TEDTalk, build a better mousetrap, present on a real study. Students explain what they did, why it matters, how they revised, and what they would improve next time. The world rarely hands you a test and this makes things far more practical and constructed for them. This activity reframes assessment as evidence of capability rather than compliance. Students are evaluated not just on final answers, but on reasoning, process, revision, and communication — the same criteria used in real professions. Whether in math, science, humanities, or electives, performance tasks allow students to prove they can use what they’ve learned, which is the true measure of understanding.
Collecting the Dividends of Civilization’s Capital
Through meaningful practice, our students can learn the agency of the skills and content we feel they need while giving them the agency to express themselves in the content. Curriculum is something that should flow through the learner, not happen to them. If they are truly to tap into humanity’s “intellectual and moral resources” to because the inheritor of the capital of civilization they have to be able to invest it into themselves personally.
In 2026 (and beyond if you are reading this later), information is ubiquitous, instant, and very often distorted. We can limit what students have access to or limit the ability of the data to misguide them. By giving our students choice, they have to know how to use the capital rather than frivolously spending it on meaningless lessons and assignments. The practices here are loose, general ideas of how we can transform our approach to learning to enhance student practice. Without a doubt there are teachers here who have similar to practice to what is outlined here–maybe even better practice. However, if you’re a teacher or a school leader who saw these ideas and sensed the possibility you need….you’re probably in the vast majority. I hope that most of us are doing these things some times, but the principles here can be applied most of the time. Certainly for initial introduction of new skills and ideas, as teachers we are more than guides, we create the whole map. Over a short introduction period however, we can move students into working for meaning as they move towards mastery and express themselves in the learning.
If Dewey was right, then in a K-12 system that takes these principles as guiding light, students will leave their high school careers truly well versed in how to learn for meaning and think about the capital they’ve inherited and put it to use in transformative ways that will pay dividends for the generations to come.