Passion Project
What is a Passion Project?
A passion project is a creative project that gives you satisfaction and happiness. It goes by many names, including Genius Hour and 20% Time. Some businesses, including Google, allow employees to spend a portion of their work week on a passion project as a way of fostering innovation. In our class, we will be using the Passion Project as a way of connecting what you have been learning and doing in the STEM Explorations Academy to your own interests. You will choose a topic that you are passionate about, research information on that topic, collaborate with experts, and design and create a product that will be shared with an audience beyond our classroom.
Your passion project will:
- Be of your own choosing, but approved by your teacher
- Connect to STEM, either through the content or the product
- Explore questions that can't be answered by a simple Google search
- Include input, feedback, or research from an expert on your topic
- Include a product that represents your project
- Be shared with our community in a showcase and with the world through your ePortfolio
Technology Foundations Standards
All passion projects will help students meet the following course competenties for their Technology Foundations class. Students will also meet additional standards, both in Technology Foundations and other subjects, depending on their specific project.
Demonstrating Workplace Readiness Skills: Personal Qualities and People Skills
1 Demonstrate positive work ethic.
2 Demonstrate integrity.
3 Demonstrate teamwork skills.
4 Demonstrate self-representation skills.
7 Demonstrate creativity and resourcefulness.
Demonstrating Workplace Readiness Skills: Professional Knowledge and Skills
8 Demonstrate effective speaking and listening skills.
9 Demonstrate effective reading and writing skills.
10 Demonstrate critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
11 Demonstrate healthy behaviors and safety skills.
12 Demonstrate an understanding of workplace organizations, systems, and climates.
13 Demonstrate lifelong-learning skills.
15 Demonstrate time-, task-, and resource-management skills.
Demonstrating Workplace Readiness Skills: Technology Knowledge and Skills
18 Demonstrate proficiency with technologies common to a specific occupation.
19 Demonstrate information technology skills.
20 Demonstrate an understanding of Internet use and security issues.
21 Demonstrate telecommunications skills.
Addressing Elements of Student Life
33 Identify Internet safety issues and procedures for complying with acceptable use standards.
Designing a New or Improved Product to Solve a Problem
74 Appraise the needs and wants of people in school, home, community, or world that could be met through technological change.
75 Write a statement that defines a problem to be solved.
76 Collect information about a technological problem to be solved.
77 Generate potential solutions to a problem.
78 Represent three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface.
79 Select the best solution for a problem.
80 Construct a prototype of the best solution.
81 Evaluate a solution by comparing it with a problem statement.
82 Present a new or improved product.
Passion Project Phases
This site will help you go through the process of coming up with an idea for a project that you are passionate about, planning it, creating your product, and presenting your idea to the world.