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Challenge Based Learning

Take action and make a difference

Introduction
Traditional teaching and learning strategies are becoming increasingly ineffective with a
generation of secondary students that have instant access to information, are accustomed
to managing their own acquisition of knowledge, and embrace the roles of content
producer and publisher.
Today’s high school curriculum presents students with assignments that lack a real-world
context and activities that lead to uninspired projects and end in a letter grade. Many
students either learn to do just enough to get by or they lose interest and drop out. In
this interconnected world, with ubiquitous access to powerful technology and access to a
worldwide community, new models of teaching and learning are possible.
Students embrace media that presents participants with a challenge and requires them
to draw on prior learning, acquire new knowledge, and tap their creativity to fashion
solutions. The entertainment networks have capitalized on this formula with shows like
The Amazing Race, Top Chef, Trading Spaces, and Project Runway in which participants
creatively draw on their knowledge and resources to create appropriate solutions to
challenges.
To address the need to create new ways of engaging students to achieve, Apple worked
with educators across the country to develop the concept of Challenge Based Learning.
Challenge Based Learning applies what is known about the emerging learning styles of
high school students and leverages the powerful new technologies that provide new
opportunities to learn to provide an authentic learning process that challenges students
to make a difference.
The Challenge Based Learning effort is part of a larger collaborative project initiated
in 2008 called Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow—Today (ACOT2) to identify the essential
design principles of the 21st century learning environment with a focus on high school.
ACOT2 follows in the tradition of Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT), a research and
development collaboration among public schools, universities, and research agencies that
Apple initiated in 1985 and sustained through 1995 with outstanding results.
Challenge Based Learning is an engaging multidisciplinary approach to teaching and
learning that encourages students to leverage the technology they use in their daily
lives to solve real-world problems. Challenge Based Learning is collaborative and hands-
on, asking students to work with other students, their teachers, and experts in their
communities and around the world to develop deeper knowledge of the subjects
students are studying, accept and solve challenges, take action, share their experience,
and enter into a global discussion about important issues.
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Challenge Based Learning includes these attributes:

• Multiple points of entry and varied and multiple possible solutions
• Authentic connection with multiple disciplines
• Focus on the development of 21st century skills
• Leveraging of 24/7 access to up-to-date technology tools and resources
• Use of Web 2.0 tools for organizing, collaborating, and sharing
• Focus on universal challenges with local solutions
• Requirement that students do something rather than just learn about something
• Documentation of the learning experience from challenge to solution

These attributes ensure that Challenge Based Learning engages learners, provides them
with valuable skills, spans the divide between formal and informal learning, and embraces
a student’s digital life.
To support Challenge Based Learning, Apple is creating an online environment that
provides teachers with access to challenges along with guiding questions, activities and
resources, and solutions to the challenges designed and published by other students.

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.
The Big Idea: The big idea is a broad concept that can be explored in multiple ways, is
engaging, and has importance to high school 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. Essential questions identify what is important to know about the big idea
and refine and contextualize that idea.
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.
Guiding Activities: These lessons, simulations, games, and other types of activities help
students answer the guiding questions and set the foundation for them to develop
innovative, insightful, and realistic solutions.
Guiding Resources: This focused set of resources can include podcasts, websites,
videos, databases, experts, and so on that support the activities and assist students with
developing a solution.
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.
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Assessment: The solution can be assessed for its connection to the challenge, accuracy
of the content, clarity of communication, applicability for implementation, and efficacy of
the idea, among other things. In addition to the solution, the process that the individuals
as well as teams went through in getting to a solution can also be assessed, capturing the
development of key 21st century skills.
Publishing: The challenge process allows for multiple opportunities to document the
experience and publish to a larger audience. Students are encouraged to publish their
results online, soliciting feedback. The idea is to broaden the learning community and
foster discussion about solutions to the challenges important to students.

The Process
Challenge Based Learning follows a workflow that mirrors the 21st century workplace.
Students are given enough space to be creative and self-directed and at the same time
are provided with support, boundaries, and checkpoints to avoid frustration. The workflow
can be structured and modified in a variety of ways. The following process is provided as
a starting point but is not meant to be prescriptive.

Setting Up a Collaborative Environment

A shared working space is helpful for a successful challenge. The workspace should be
available to students 24/7, include needed resources, access to activities, a calendar, and
serve as a communication channel with the teacher and between team members.
A variety of resources can be used to create a collaborative environment, including:
Apple Tools: iWeb and the resources included with MobileMe provide a set of tools for
building a collaborative environment to support a challenge.
Google Tools: Google Sites, Calendars, Gmail, and Docs also can be used to create a
collaborative space. A Google Site can be used for distributing information and content as
well as serving as a collaborative space for each of the student groups.

Introduction
Once the big idea is selected, the first step is to develop with the class an overview of the
big idea and the related essential question. This sets the broader context and foundation
for the work that will follow. The class then identifies a suitable challenge or is introduced
to one of the existing challenges.

Team Formation
In today’s workforce, individuals with various skill sets typically work together in teams
on specific projects or challenges. During this team formation stage, it is important to
consider roles and responsibilities and discuss the developmental nature of teams.

Assessment
The teacher and the teams discuss what they will use as a measure of their success and
adopt, adapt, or develop a project rubric to gauge the success of their solution.
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Guiding Questions
After the teams are formed and briefed, the students begin the process of identifying the
questions that will guide their analysis of the challenge topic. These questions outline
what the students think they need to know to formulate a viable solution. Questions will
be answered, reframed, or new questions will be formulated along the way as information
is gathered and concepts explored.

Guiding Activities and Guiding Resources

During this stage, the teams seek to find answers to the guiding questions by
participating in a variety of learning activities, conducting research, experimentation,
interviewing, and exploring various venues to assist in crafting the best solution. The
activities can be teacher directed or student directed, whole group, small group, or
individual, depending on the topic and the need. The goal of this stage is for students to
gain a solid foundation on which to develop their solution.

Prototype/Testing
Once the students have identified possible solutions, they can build them out, try them
with small user groups, or present them to a focus group. This process allows the teams to
polish their solution.

Implement
The next step is to develop the implementation plan for the solution and put it into
action. The scope of implementation will vary greatly depending on time and resources,
but even the smallest effort to put the plan into action in a real-life setting is important.

Assess
The teams can use the project rubric developed at the beginning of the process to gauge
the success of their implementation.

Reflection/Documentation
Throughout the process, the students should document their work and reflect on the
process. Much of the deepest learning takes place by considering the process, thinking
about one’s own learning, analyzing ongoing relationships with the content and between
concepts, interacting with other people, and developing a solution. Blogs, video, podcasts,
digital storytelling, and photographs are all great ways to document and reflect on the
process.

Publish
Students should be encouraged to publish their work in a variety of locations. One way
for students to publish is to create a two-to-three minute video about their solution and
share it locally or post it online for broader visibility.
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Ongoing Informative Assessment

Informal assessment that helps students move toward a viable solution should take place
throughout the project. Formal assessment can take place at specific points within the
project. Three obvious points of assessment involve the development of an articulation
of what makes a compelling solution, assessment of their documentation of the process,
and the results of the action taken. This type of practical evaluation is much closer to how
work done in the world outside of school is evaluated.

Example Challenges
To illustrate the Challenge Based Learning process, Apple has engaged with educators
across the country to develop a series of challenges that can be used or modified by
other teachers. These initial example challenges (more to come in January) fall under the
big idea of Sustainability. A summary of these initial challenges is included here. See the
Appendix for details of each.
Sustainability is a defining issue for this generation. In this instance, the term is defined
broadly as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs” (www.epa.gov/Sustainability).
A wide variety of challenges can be presented under the Sustainability umbrella such as
the four challenges presented here on the issues of water, food, energy, and air.
These are meant to be examples and to serve as discussion points. Teachers and students
can work with these challenges or determine new themes and challenges that are
important and meaningful to their specific context.

Big Idea—Sustainability: Water, Food, Energy, Air

Water
Essential Question: How does my water consumption impact my world?
It is a simple fact of life: we need water. Water is essential to life on earth. We need it to
drink, keep clean, generate power, and grow the food we eat. We are using up our planet’s
fresh water faster than it can be replenished naturally. You can make a difference by
improving the use of water in your home, school, and community.
Challenge: Improve your home, school, or community use of water.

Food
Essential Question: How does my food consumption impact my world?
You are what you eat. So what are you? Maybe it’s time to consider food and how it
affects our bodies and the world around us. The decisions we make when deciding what
to eat have a significant impact on our personal health and wellbeing, our ability to
perform the activities we engage in, and our environment.
Challenge: Improve what and how you eat.
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Energy
Essential Question: What is the impact of my fossil fuel consumption?
Eighty five percent of U.S. energy consumption is of fossil fuels. They also play a part in
a wide variety of other products we use daily. Any way you look at it, dependence on
fossil fuels is problematic. They are a finite resource, the source of considerable pollution,
and supply cannot meet worldwide demand. So what can you do to reduce your family’s
consumption? You first need to discover all of the ways that you use fossil fuels in your
everyday life—not just the car trip to the mall or school but all of their more hidden uses.
Then you need to act.
Challenge: Reduce your family’s use of fossil fuels.

Air
Essential Question: How do my actions impact the air we breathe?
The air we breathe has no boundaries. What we put in the air ends up in someone else’s
lungs. According to the American Lung Association, in 2001, over 6 million American
children and close to 14 million American adults suffered from asthma. We also know
that the quality of the air has a negative impact on the ozone layers and that many cities
issue ozone warnings. Not only is the quality of our outside air a concern, but we also are
learning that the air we breathe in schools and our homes may be hazardous.
Challenge: Improve the air you breathe.

Opportunities to Participate
Challenge Based Learning is built with participation in mind, and there are multiple
opportunities for participants to share. By promoting participation and sharing, Challenge
Based Learning can develop organically and leverage the interests of students and
teachers across the globe. As the world changes, new big ideas, essential questions, and
challenges can be posed. The level of participation will vary based on time constraints,
interest, and so on. Within the Challenge Based Learning process, teachers and students
can participate at many different levels.
Engage in conversation. The overall Challenge Based Learning process and each
challenge will have a group discussion component. You will be able to join the group—
enter into the discussion, ask questions, make recommendations, and suggest new big
ideas.
Engage your students in a challenge. Implement one of the challenges with your
students.
Publish. Once you have taken on a challenge, have your students document their
solutions through video and publish them alongside other solutions in the challenge
gallery (coming in January) or within other online repositories.
Expand on the sample challenges. As you identify new guiding questions, activities, and
resources, you will be able to recommend them for addition to the challenges by posting
them in the appropriate strand within the discussions.
Create new challenges. Students and teachers will be invited to create a new challenge
using the standard template. Perhaps you have a different sustainability issue that impacts
your community or an entirely new big idea, essential questions, and challenge. As you
publish new challenges, others can engage with you.
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Moving Forward
Today’s challenges call for bold action. No longer can school be a time where the
curriculum is devoid of reality and opportunities for immediate application. Students are
looking to be challenged in an authentic manner. They need to learn how to confidently
ask questions and identify, research, analyze, and solve problems. Challenge Based
Learning is designed to equip a new generation of students to solve real problems,
develop 21st century skills, and make a difference in their community and the world.
When provided with guidance, students can approach today’s critical challenges and
make a difference.
The Challenge Based Learning Community will provide a space for teachers, students,
and experts to address local challenges that are impacting neighborhoods, communities,
and the world. It will encourage participation at many different levels, allowing for the
organic development of a rich and engaging body of knowledge and community freely
available to all educators. Learning communities can share different perspectives on issues
and consider the variety of challenges faced around the globe and the solutions to these
challenges designed by students. Powerful ideas combined with youthful creativity and
cutting edge technology will address the myriad challenges facing our world, country, and
communities.
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Appendix

Sustainability: Water
The Essential Question
How does my water consumption impact my world?

Overview
It is a simple fact of life: we need water. Water is essential to life on earth. We need it to
drink, keep clean, generate power, and grow the food we eat. We are using up our planet’s
fresh water faster than it can be replenished naturally. You can make a difference by
improving the use of water in your home, school, and community.

The Challenge
Improve your home, school, or community use of water.

Guiding Questions
Guiding questions direct the research of the challenge topic.

Examples
• How do we use water?
• How much do we use?
• How is water wasted?
• How much water is wasted?
• How can water be conserved?

Guiding Activities
These activities assist students with answering the guiding questions and set the
foundation for them to develop insightful and realistic solutions. They can be student or
teacher directed. The student teams may begin with these activities but will need to seek
out new ones to answer their questions. The goal is not to create a prescribed path to a
solution but to provide guidance when needed.

Examples
• Setting the Foundation
Student groups brainstorm everything they know about water, then search the Internet
for basic water information and the top water issues. See “Guiding Resources” for
websites to start this research.
• Calculate Your Individual Water Footprint
Students determine how much water they and their families use with the H20
Calculator available from the National Wildlife Federation.
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• Water Source Scavenger Hunt

Students use the Surf Your Watershed site provided by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency to locate the community’s watershed. If available, they use the data
in the site to identify local groups or experts to interview about the watershed.
• Where Does Your Water Go?
Students research how much water is used to brush their teeth, flush the toilet, and
water the yard. The U.S. Geological Survey provides a web-based water calculator that
gives a general overview of water use. They can also use a spreadsheet to track the use
of water in their household.

Guiding Resources
This is focused content that supports the activities and assists students with developing a
solution. The ingredients include websites, videos, podcasts, experts, and other resources.

Examples
• Indoor Water Use in the United States
This site from the Environmental Protection Agency provides statistical information
about indoor water use.
www.epa.gov/watersense/pubs/indoor.htm
• Water Science for Schools
This U.S. Geological Survey site includes a wide range of resources about many aspects
of water and includes pictures, data, maps, and an interactive water knowledge test.
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/mwater.html
• Conserve and Protect Water
This site from the National Wildlife Foundation provides a personal water calculator and
other water-awareness activities.
www.nwf.org/water
• WaterSense Quiz
This activity from the Environmental Protection Agency is designed to help raise
students’ water awareness. The site includes many other resources.
www.epa.gov/watersense/water/text.htm
• Surf Your Watershed
This Environmental Protection Agency site identifies your local watershed and any
citizen-based groups that are active in your area.
http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm
• Water Drops: All About H20
This series of 90-second podcasts from renowned hydrologist Peter Black provides
comprehensive information about water.
http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/esf.edu.1520520292
• Water for Tea
In this 12-minute video from NASA, Star Trek star Patrick Stewart hosts a voyage to
better understand the “bigger picture” of water on earth.
http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/lifeonterra.com.1525139207
 Challenge Based Learning 10
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Solution/Action
The challenges are stated broadly enough to allow for a variety of solutions. Each group
of students will base its solution on what students have learned as they moved through
the guiding activities. Any solution must be concrete and actionable.

Example
Students researched and recorded all of the ways that water was being used in their
school. They checked all fixtures for leaks, looked at student and teacher use, and
explored how water was used for landscaping. They determined that one of the largest
sources of water use was the school landscaping. The students went about determining
the amount of water necessary to sustain the current landscaping, the source of that
water, and alternative landscaping options. They designed a plan for changing the school
landscaping that included a plant palette, a forecast for the amount of water saved,
and a budget and prediction of the district’s return on their investment. To explain their
plan, students created public service announcements as well as brochures. All of this
information was then presented to the school board.

Sustainability: Food
The Essential Question
How does my food consumption impact my world?

Overview
You are what you eat. So what are you? Maybe it’s time to consider food and how it
affects our bodies and the world around us. The decisions we make when deciding what
to eat have a significant impact on our personal health and wellbeing, our ability to
perform the activities we engage in, and the environment.

The Challenge
Improve what and how you eat.

Guiding Questions
Guiding questions direct the research of the challenge topic.

Examples
• What do I eat?
• Where does my food come from?
• What is the cost of getting food to my table?
• How does food impact me?
• How does the food I eat affect the world?
• What is in my food?
• What are some local sources of food?
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• Why do I eat?
• Why do I eat what I eat?
• What does food mean to me?

Guiding Activities
These activities assist students with answering the guiding questions and set the
foundation for them to develop insightful and realistic solutions. They can be student or
teacher directed. The student teams may begin with these activities but will need to seek
out new ones to answer their questions. The goal is not to create a prescribed path to a
solution but to provide guidance when needed.

Examples
• What Are the Issues?
Students complete a review of Internet resources with their guiding questions. Websites
that can be used to get started are listed in “Guiding Resources.” Students brainstorm
issues surrounding food, thinking both micro (their eating habits) and macro
(community and global impacts).
• Analyze Your Menu
Students create a photo journal of what they eat for lunch or dinner during a normal
week. They take pictures, create a spreadsheet, and identify the ingredients, number of
calories, and how much of it they consumed.
• Food Map
Students take one of the items they eat for lunch, identify its contents, and attempt to
track the source of the contents. They see if they can determine the number of miles
the food travels to get to them.
• What Should I Eat?
Students review dietary recommendations from a variety or sources. They determine
how many calories are recommended on a daily basis. They then review their diet
inventory to see how many calories they are consuming. They break down where the
calories come from in terms of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. They also consider the
sources and science behind the dietary recommendations.
• What’s in the Package?
Students analyze food packaging at their school, what gets recycled, what gets thrown
away. Research includes the amount of waste along with recycling strategies and
alternative products. Are the current packaging strategies sustainable environmentally?
• Label Scavenger Hunt
Students learn about the purpose of and how to read nutritional labels. They collect a
label from one item of food that they consume and analyze its content.
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Guided Resources
This is focused content that supports the activities and assists students with developing a
solution. The ingredients include websites, videos, podcasts, experts, and other resources.

Examples
• U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Information Center
This USDA site provides comprehensive food and human nutrition information,
including the current Dietary Guidelines and materials for educators.
http://fnic.nal.usda.gov
• Foodroutes.org
This website provides information about the importance of buying local and how to do
it in your neighborhood.
http://foodroutes.org
• Local Harvest
This website allows you to locate farmer markets, family farms, and other sources for
purchasing sustainably grown foods in your area.
www.localharvest.org
• The Oil in Your Oatmeal
This movie presents an analysis of the overall cost of a breakfast when all factors are
considered.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsOsipWacG0
• Cooking Up A Story Podcast
This podcast from the Local Food Sustainable Network provides information about
issues involving food and sustainability. Two episodes relate to the documentary King
Corn (2007), which concerns the use and production of corn in the United States,
including the role of high fructose corn syrup in our daily diet.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=251805518
• Chef Ann’s Podcast
This podcast from school chef Ann Cooper explores issues related to school food and
nutrition for students.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=121140232
• Where Does Your Food Come From?
In this episode of The Ethics of Eating podcast from American Public Media, Michael
Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,
argues for a more sustainable food production system.
http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/americanpublicmedia.org.1353
684204.01353684211.1351757528?i=1620428009
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Solution/Action
The challenge is stated broadly enough to allow for a variety of solutions. Each group of
students should base its solution on what students learned as they moved through the
guiding activities. The solution must be concrete and actionable.

Example
Students researched one regular lunch item at school and discovered the ingredients,
the nutritional value, the manufacturer, and the cost per serving. They then researched
possible substitutes for the item that contained locally grown ingredients, was more
nutritional, and was cost effective. They conducted a comparison between the two food
items and a tasting for the students. The analysis and recipe were presented to the
head of food services, parents, and the school board. A letter writing campaign along
with testimony from local nutritional experts was used to convince the food service
department to try the new recipe.

Sustainability: Energy
The Essential Question
What is the impact of my fossil fuel consumption?

Overview
Eighty five percent of U.S. energy consumption is of fossil fuels. They also play a part in
a wide variety of other products we use daily. Any way you look at it, dependence on
fossil fuels is problematic. They are a finite resource, the source of considerable pollution,
and supply cannot meet worldwide demand. So what can you do to reduce your family’s
consumption? You first need to discover all of the ways that you use fossil fuels in your
everyday life—not just the car trip to the mall or school but all of their more hidden uses.
Then you need to act.

The Challenge
Reduce your family’s use of fossil fuels.

Guiding Questions
Guiding questions direct the research of the challenge topic.

Examples
• What is a fossil fuel?
• Where does my family use fossil fuels?
• How much fossil fuel does it take to heat or cool my house?
• What is made from fossil fuels?
• How much gas does my family use in one week?
• How much oil does it take to make a gallon of gas?
• What are the alternatives to fossil fuels?
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Guiding Activities
These activities assist students with answering the guiding questions and set the
foundation for them to develop insightful and realistic solutions. They can be student or
teacher directed. The student teams may begin with these activities but will need to seek
out new ones to answer their questions. The goal is not to create a prescribed path to a
solution but to provide guidance when needed.

Examples
• Learn About Fossil Fuels
Students research and develop a clear definition of fossil fuels.
• Oil Scavenger Hunt
Students examine all of the things they use in a normal day and do research to learn if
they contain or use oil. They try to quantify the amount of oil each item represents.
• How Much Fossil Fuel Do You Own?
Students create a list of products that have fossil fuels in them. They do an inventory of
all the items in their homes that contain fossil fuel and investigate alternatives to these
items.
• Transportation
Students calculate the amount of gas used during the week to transport members of
their family. They then identify alternatives.
• How Much Fossil Fuel Is in a Plastic Bag?
Students calculate the amount of fossil fuels needed to create plastic bags. They record
how many plastic bags their family uses in a week. They then determine how much
energy they can save by not using plastic bags.
• Finding Alternatives
Students research providers of alternative energy sources in their community. They
interview the providers and identify pros and cons of the options.

Guiding Resources
This is focused content that supports the activities and assists students with developing a
solution. The ingredients include websites, videos, podcasts, experts, and other resources.

Examples
• Energy Story: Fossil Fuels—Coal, Oil and Natural Gas
The California Energy Commission provides an overview of fossil fuels.
www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.html
• Fossil Fuels
This site from the Institute for Energy Research includes an overview of fossil fuels.
www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/energy-overview/fossil-fuels
• Energy Efficiency
The Energy Information Administration provides information for students about energy
consumption and efficiency.
www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/saving/efficiency/savingenergy_secondary.html
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• Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government

This site includes a large collection of raw data to use for analysis from the Energy
Information Administration.
www.eia.doe.gov
• Personal Impact Calculator
This global warming calculator, from the AOL Research and Learn site, can be used to
measure a household’s greenhouse gas emissions and learn how to reduce them. This
calculator was updated in December 2006 with data from the EPA.
http://reference.aol.com/planet-earth/global-warming/calculator
• AAA Fuel Cost Calculator
This site provides a tool for estimating the fuel cost of trips using the starting location
and destination and vehicle manufacturer, year, and model.
www.fuelcostcalculator.com
• Smart Energy
This podcast from Stanford professor Margo Gerritson explores technologies and ideas
to power the world safely and efficiently.
http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/itunes.stanford.
edu.1380022380
• Stanford University Woods Energy Seminar
This interdisciplinary series of talks primarily by Stanford experts covers a broad range
of energy issues.
http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/itunes.stanford.edu.1635890187
• Inside Renewable Energy
This overview of the renewable energy industry includes interviews, news, events,
product information, and more.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=135363982

Solution/Action
The challenges are stated broadly enough to allow for a variety of solutions. Each group
of students will base its solution on what students learned as they moved through the
guiding activities. Any solution must be concrete and actionable.

Example
Students researched different ways that their families utilized fossil fuels. They determined
that the use of plastic grocery bags was one area where they could reduce the amount of
fossil fuels used. Students first did an inventory of how many bags each team member’s
family used during a normal month. They calculated the amount of fossil fuels that
these bags represented. They then designed and implemented a green bag campaign
that acted both as a fundraiser for the school and measurably reduced the number of
plastic bags their families used monthly. The green bag campaign included designing
creative bags that would be attractive to consumers, determining the cost of production,
developing a marketing plan, and selling the bags. A final comparison showed that the
footprint of the bags was less than the plastic bag consumption.
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Sustainability: Air
The Essential Question
How do my actions impact the air we breathe?

Overview
The air we breathe has no boundaries. What we put in the air ends up in someone else’s
lungs. According to the American Lung Association, in 2001, over 6 million American
children and close to 14 million American adults suffered from asthma. We also know
that the quality of the air has a negative impact on the ozone layers and that many cities
issue ozone warnings. Not only is the quality of our outside air a concern, but we also are
learning that the air we breathe in schools and our homes may be hazardous.

The Challenge
Improve the air you breathe.

Guiding Questions
Guiding questions direct the research of the challenge topic.

Examples
• What is the composition of air?
• How is air quality defined?
• What is the quality of the air in my home and community?
• What impacts air quality?
• How does air quality impact plants and animals?
• How can air quality be improved?

Guiding Activities
These activities assist students with answering the guiding questions and set the
foundation for them to develop insightful and realistic solutions. They can be student or
teacher directed. The student teams may begin with these activities but will need to seek
out new ones to answer their questions. The goal is not to create a prescribed path to a
solution but to provide guidance when needed.

Examples
• Learn About Air
Students explore the guiding resources to gain background knowledge on the
atmosphere and air quality.
• Create a Virtual Environment
To learn about the impact of airborne pollutants, students create two terrariums,
introduce different pollutants to one, and compare their impact on the plants.
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Take action and make a difference

• How Is the Air Quality in My Community?

Students visit the airnow.gov website (see “Guiding Resources”) and determine the
quality of the air in their location. They identify the major types of pollution and
determine their sources.
• How Is the Air Quality in My School?
Students use the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit to investigate indoor air
problems. The kit is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (see “Guiding
Resources”).
• Cost Benefit Analysis
What is the cost of clean air? Students research what it costs companies to modify
their process to meet air quality regulations. They explore how that impacts the cost of
products. They also interview local companies to see how they protect air quality and
what it costs them.

Guiding Resources
This is focused content that supports the activities and assists students with developing a
solution. The ingredients include websites, videos, podcasts, experts, and other resources.

Examples
• AIRNow Air Quality Index (AQI)
This cross-agency U.S. government site has an index for reporting daily air quality. It
tells you how clean or polluted your outdoor air is and what associated health effects
might be a concern.
http://airnow.gov
• Indoor Air Quality
This Environmental Protection Agency site provides information about indoor air
quality.
www.epa.gov/iaq
• Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Program
The IAQ TfS Action Kit, most elements of which can be downloaded from this
Environmental Protection Agency site, shows schools how to carry out a practical plan
to improve indoor air problems.
www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/toolkit.html
• Ground-level Ozone
This Environmental Protection Agency site includes general information on ozone and
ground-level ozone.
www.epa.gov/air/ozonepollution
• Major Air Pollutants
This PDF document provides a list of major air pollutants, their sources, and their effects.
www.ciese.org/curriculum/airproj/docs/major_air_pollutants.pdf
• Pollution in Your Community
At this site, you can get an in-depth pollution report for your county, covering air, water,
chemicals, and more.
www.scorecard.org
 Challenge Based Learning 18
Take action and make a difference

• Air Pollution and Respiratory Health

This site presents information about air pollution from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
www.cdc.gov/nceh/airpollution
• Air Quality
This video podcast from University of California Davis covers topics related to air quality.
http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/ucdavis-public.1454546375

Solution/Action
The challenges are stated broadly enough to allow for a variety of solutions. Each group
of students will base its solution on what students learned as they moved through the
guiding activities. Any solution must be concrete and actionable.

Example
Students investigated the air quality issues in their school using the Indoor Air Quality
Tools for Schools (IAQ TfS) Action Kit provided by the Environmental Protection Agency.
This in-depth program contained all of the content they needed to analyze, correct, and
prevent indoor air quality issues in schools across the district. Using the information
they learned, they created a series of video public service announcements that were
distributed to all schools. They made presentations to the district executive team and
board resulting in the adoption of district-wide policies and educational programs
concerning school air quality.

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