Interdisciplinary project database

Analyze how bias and historical context are relevant within school curriculum (e.g. how schools teach about certain subjects, especially current events and major historical time periods).

Demonstrate how artists have been inspired by global art movements over time. Showcase how the development of art movements and intersection of regional developments has led to masterful works over decades and centuries.

Student Voice is an organization that amplifies student perspectives to change the education system and the world. Read, listen, and analyze one or more of the pieces of student journalism from their website. What are these student journalists focused on? What does their perspective add to the coverage of important topics and events? How can we help amplify student voice in similar ways?

What impact does the fast fashion industry have on a community's economic well-being? Answer the question: Is the fast fashion industry’s profit worth the human price? How would removing the fast fashion industry (or changing business practices such as wages) impact a company’s profits?

Research and read about their favorite or currently worn clothing manufacturer. Do they have a production ethics statement? If so, what is it? Is there any information about the company withholding or breaking this statement around the world? Write a statement of ethics for a clothing company you operate. Or, amend an existing clothing company’s ethics statement.

Perform an audit of your physical spaces (appearance, entrances, fixtures, safety, etc.) using some of the guidelines of universal design in physical spaces. Is the environment appealing, welcoming, and accessible to those with a variety of cultural backgrounds, ages, abilities, and other characteristics? Create an action plan to address areas of improvement.

Talk about the concept of math anxiety. How can we create classrooms where students aren’t afraid to challenge themselves with mathematics? Present options on how math can connect to personal goals and experiences.

Consider how writers pair down their ideas into the simplest form, recognizing the power of concrete, quick examples. For example, use the Hemingway Editor and consider how it can be used. Is it always useful?

Survey teachers, family members, community members, local employers and employees, about the top 10 skills they want to see in their students, kids, and future employees. Compare their top 10 list with this one from the World Economic Forum. What is similar or different?

Music is heavily connected to one’s culture and the entire concept of music theory shifts depending on where one lives. Learn about the differences between chords and key signatures across the world, such as quarter tone scales in the Middle East.

What is a classic book? Why is it that we read certain books and not others typically during our school years? 

Determine if these labels make sense and if books should be added or removed. Does it make sense to have a canon?

Finding reliable health and nutrition information is incredibly difficult. There is so much mis- and disinformation about health, nutrition, and fitness. How do you know what to trust? Create a health misinformation guide with students to sort out what is reliable from what is false or potentially harmful. To show that they know the tricks, have them use those tips to create their own health and nutrition disinformation ad or video.

Stories in various mediums (such as books, movies, lyrics, and games) are one of the best ways to develop an emotional connection on perceived harms, bullying, and counteracting hate. Encourage students to share stories of when they’ve felt disrespected, either by other students or by educators, and give them private spaces to share these and learn from each other.

Many websites offer resume templates for different professions. Find a template for a profession you see yourself involved in and design a “dream resume” for yourself in that field. Pair this with your five-year plan to set and align short-term goals!

There’s beauty in language. Many languages and dialects have specific words, phrases, and concepts that only exist in their background. Figure out what these words and grammatical rules are and talk about their importance.

Nearly 430 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss, making speech and the spoken word difficult to access for about 5% of the global population. There are numerous sign-language alphabets, research which one is used primarily in your community and learn to communicate the basics to improve your ability to interact with deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Alternatively, you can start a sign-language club to encourage others to pick up the language!

Designing for disability is a vitally important element of our society. In schools, learning disabilities can often lead to many difficulties, including failure or discipline. Consider, what would your community look like if it centered disabled people? What would you need to account for? What would change? Create a plan that highlights these changes and propose them to your local governance.

Many people who have difficulty seeing or reading information on computers use screen readers to browse the Internet. However, many websites are not designed properly for these screen readers to function. Learn about accessible web design. Perform an audit of your school’s (or community’s) website(s) and offer suggestions to increase accessibility.

How do we break our perspective’s “bubble”? Assign a reading with reflection that goes against one’s opinion or preconceived notions. Of course, students may not change their mind — but challenging their perspective allows them to grow their ideas and consider new possibilities.

Consider how the impact global hunger has on your daily life. Perform research on how different regions of the world are struggling with food shortages, offering guided analysis on ways people in your area can assist. What steps can be taken at a local level to make a global impact? Share your findings in the global World Food Prize competition.

Research methods of allyship and informing others on positive ways to counteract the stereotype threat, including having conversations, bringing people together, and practicing anti-racism.

Look at how sports, culture, and art all influence each other. For example, the graffiti and skateboarding “scene” has a specific “look” each decade. How does this compare to the look of say, golf? Tennis? Basketball? Why is it that different sports have different artistic and cultural styles?

Great art is often done in partnership with others. Reach out to local artists to listen, learn, and improve on. Who are the great local artists of your area? What do they specialize in? Research more about them and conduct interviews on their tips and techniques. Then, use this work to inform your own.

Perform an in-depth analysis of a certain “soft skill”: teamwork, communication, time-management, etc. Why is that skill valuable and needed? Where can you find examples of it in action? How can that skill be better taught in a school curriculum? 

Consider systems through mediums: how can art display itself in a variety of mechanisms: through illustration, digital design, music, video, dance, and more. How can the same concept be portrayed in these styles, and what impact does each style have? Are there advantages and disadvantages in each medium?

Communicating through the written word is linguistically beautiful, but often heavily focused on the aesthetics of laying out and formatting type. Examine how typography and layout are used to convey poetry. For example, Harlem by Langston Hughes indents after the first line, or [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] by e.e. cummings, which features all lowercase letters, heavy indentation, and a lack of traditional spacing.

In adopting an internal locus of control, a huge barrier in today’s age is social media. The expectations we set for ourselves based on “the algorithm” distorts realistic expectations. Analyze this study on the impact of social media, isolation, and happiness.

Research famous speakers and business developers. Analyze how they use speech and written word to exemplify their ideas, noting the various tools they use to best convey their ideas. Convert this into a guide for others to follow.

Let students brainstorm issues in their community, then analyze the game played in the lesson below. How could it be modified, improved, and transformed? Write new instructions and explain to each other how to play, including the new issues as additional cards.

Using your knowledge of the algorithm, research how these concepts could be used to advertise a business or nonprofit. Partner with a local organization, offering to manage their social media, developing a content and branding strategy to increase engagement.

Our present conversations around race can get stuck in a reflexive defensiveness of language. What is structural racism? What is actually meant by white privilege? This article from Learning for Justice unpacks the history of the term and action steps to do better.

Incorporate soft skills and team building into a series of games. Have students reflect on why they work or don’t work well together as a group, how they can improve their individual role, etc. Play the games again after reflection to put their new understanding into practice!