How a new learning model aims to create a better future.
Despite the obvious changes to how we work, most classrooms fail to prepare the next generation of professionals. That is even more the case in traditionally marginalized communities. Curriculum continues to encourage memorization and compliance instead of innovation and critical thinking. While teachers work harder than ever and students remain open and capable, our school environments continue to fall short. We need a new approach, and RevX–short for Revolutionary Experiences–is it.
RevX is the identity-affirming, social justice-forward, real-world learning model breathing life into classrooms across the country. They’re leveling the playing field so any student can step into their highest potential and advocate for the world they want to live in, and it’s powerful.
Watching young people come alive as early as six years old and feel empowered to make a lasting change–while seamlessly integrating academic, career, and personal development skills–means maybe there’s still time to change this narrative about school. But how is RevX implementing such an impactful learning model in traditional school settings? With their highly researched and thoughtfully developed instructional framework known as DEEDS.
DEEDS brings structure to project-based learning, or real-world learning, as RevX likes to call it. Through these 5 phases– Discover, Examine, Engineer, Do, and Share–learning environments name and address a relevant social issue and young people gain academic, personal, and career skills along the way.
I know this all sounds good, but what does it actually look like in real life? Glad you asked! Below are a few examples of each phase in action from a variety of recent learning experiences that young people across the country have had with RevX.
Let’s start with the immersive Discover phase, where students discover the challenge by experiencing the situation, thereby creating a more profound connection. This is also where curiosity is sparked, launching their line of inquiry.
A group of 2nd graders at Concourse Village Elementary School in the South Bronx discovered excessive waste in their school building. To determine just how much, they sifted through the trash to understand what they were sending to the landfills.
“I don’t want to live on a trash planet!” — totally relatable 2nd grader at CVES.
The learners conclude the Discover phase with the Question Formulation Technique, QFT, a structured method for generating and improving questions. You really get to see their curiosity here! The questions they brainstorm here will help guide their research in the subsequent phases.
During the EXAMINE phase, learners become research experts. They use the questions developed from the QFT process to guide their research and investigations.
Students in the South Bronx aren’t the only ones on this changemaker journey; young people in North Carolina are too! 5th graders in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, addressed the challenge of inclusive play spaces. They read articles, analyzed findings, and interviewed classmates to further understand the level of inclusivity their playground did or did not provide.
One of their QFTs asked: What are some play options for children in wheelchairs? After establishing that their first choice, a wheelchair-accessible swing, exceeded the amount they raised through a Tik Tok fundraiser (so resourceful!), they examined their 5th Grade Science ecosystems unit. They determined that a sensory garden could be a viable, cost-effective solution because it could live on a wheelchair-accessible playground level.
To prepare to build their sensory garden, they had to learn more. They partnered with a local family farm, Conetoe Family Life Center, and participated in hands-on activities to gather more information about what native plants they should include in their sensory garden and how other students could preserve the space at recess.
The ENGINEER phase is where our learners become builders, creating real things with real tools to use in the real world. Further south of North Carolina, there’s a group of innovative 4th graders thoughtfully working to solve their own community issues. In partnership with local land developers, students at Synapse STEM School in Florida used 3D modeling technology to create replica beehives to protect native bee populations at local construction sites.
“My favorite moment working with RevX was seeing the learners’ reactions after they finally got to print out their designs. You could really see how proud they were of themselves, and what they made.” — Maria Lee, Head of Synapse STEM School.
The DO phase is all about implementing solutions in a real-world setting! Back at Concourse Village Elementary, our 2nd graders attempted to teach their entire school community how to reduce waste. In the Engineer phase, they created a movie.
“This is a Netflix special!” — 2nd graders at CVES.
Now in the Do phase, they are ready to implement. Over a few days, they showed the movie they created to all grades, led discussions about strategies to reduce waste at their school, and assigned a timeline for fellow students to execute those strategies.
Once their solution (their movie) was tested, the 2nd graders collected and compared their data to see if their resolution reduced the daily waste in their school. And although their solution didn’t work, that didn’t stop our learners! They were prepared with a plan to improve and iterate on their solution, fully committed to positively impacting their school community.
In the final phase, SHARE, learners reflect on and share their experiences with their community. In the case of the Synapse STEM School 4th graders, they chose to create a podcast as the channel for their findings.
Yes, this was intentionally saved for last. You’re welcome.
“I didn’t know about podcasting; I think I might want to do that as a job.” — 4th Grader. We can all agree this option is worth exploring!
As you can see, young people come ALIVE in the DEEDS process. By the end of their multi-week journey (between 6–12 weeks, depending on the module), they have a stronger sense of who they are, more clarity about their purpose, and how they want to engage in their community and world. They go from learning disparate academic skills to applying these skills in an integrated way to create real-life impact. School now has a purpose, and it’s changing the world.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll dive deeply into one of these modules to explore what makes each of the five phases of DEEDS effective, transformational, and special. We hope you’ll come along with some of our learners, educators, and beloved community as we explore DEEDS.
