Last year students in a New York City elementary school took on the challenge of recycling paper in their school. The Pillow Project was their solution to the problem of how to encourage teachers and students to recycle paper. The project led them into a scientific study of materials. It extended their research skills too. And, it made them hone their presentation skills. Eventually, it led them to a meeting of the Board of Education at 110 Livingston Street where the students presented their work to the Chancellor and Board members and to the news media in attendance. (See "The Pillow Project" for more information.)

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, this time at a middle school, a class decided to set up their own school store. They decided they needed a store of their own because students were always starting the day short of the school supplies they needed. They persuaded their principal to let them pursue their idea, researched stores in other schools, surveyed their potential customers, searched out suppliers, and developed a scheme for publicizing the store and managing its operation. Eventually, they were able to put their plans into action and turned their attention to putting the proceeds from the store to best use. (See "School Store" for more information.)

Not far away, a pair of high school students accepted a commission to develop a promotional campaign for the Office of School to Career. They determined their client’s needs, researched the logos produced by a wide variety of organizations, explored design ideas, developed proposals and tested them in a presentation to their client. Then they took the reactions their proposals had generated and developed a final plan that was adopted. (See "Public Relations Campaign" for more information.)

All of these initiatives represent ways “doing” applied learning. Applied learning projects may arise unexpectedly from student interests or may be planned by the teacher. Applied learning projects may lie firmly inside one subject area or they may straddle several. Applied learning projects may involve a whole class working together or they may involve a smaller group of students. Some projects may be individual endeavors. Applied learning projects may require considerable scaffolding by the teacher to enable students to participate effectively or they may involve students working almost independently of the teacher. Applied learning projects may take only a few hours to complete or may take longer. Depending on their scope and complexity, these projects may take several weeks or they may extend over a whole school year or even over more than one year.

What is important about an applied learning project is that it involves students in working to create a solution to a problem that addresses a genuine need, for which there is no preconceived plan and solution but for which there is an expectation of a genuine outcome.

Working on applied learning projects is a way of helping students make connections between what they learn in school and how that knowledge is used for real purposes both in school and out of school. One of the things that teachers notice about their students when they do projects like these is the level of interest and commitment the students demonstrate.

Working on applied learning projects also offers opportunities to help students learn the kinds of things that people who get things done need to know: problem solving, communication, skills in accessing and using information, how to be self-managing, and how to work with other people. These are the kinds of knowledge and skills that the Applied Learning Performance Standards address. They are sometimes referred to as “soft skills.” We have a tendency to think they’re the kinds of skills that are innate; people either have them or they don’t. And we know that some of these skills are hard to assess. But we also know that they are the kinds of skills that are in increasing demand in all kinds of work and community activity. The Applied Learning Performance Standards were developed on the premise that these kinds of knowledge and skill are essential to active participation in the new and emerging forms of work and work organization and to being an active citizen in the twenty-first century. The Applied Learning Performance Standards were also designed on the premise that these kinds of knowledge and skills can be learned providing we give students the opportunity to do so. Another of the things that teachers notice about students who are involved in applied learning projects is that students can tackle increasingly challenging problems as their competence and confidence grows.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, working on applied learning projects offers students the opportunity to learn what it means to be productive. They learn to put effort, knowledge and skill into activities that have a value beyond an assessment grade and to experience the sense of purpose and achievement that comes with productive activity. Over time, students come to regard themselves as productive people, people who can set their minds to something and make it happen; people who can make a difference to their own lives and can make a difference in the quality of the lives of other people. Yet another of the things that teachers notice about students involved in applied learning projects is that once they have had a taste of this kind of learning they want to do more applied learning projects. They even suggest problems they want to pursue and propose ways of tackling them.