At Open Future Institute we believe that cultural values, worldviews, and ways of defining meaning are at the heart of the human journey. Evolving these “invisible” systems is the key to making room for the possibilities ahead and solving many of the all-too-visible problems that confront us.
Our vision begins with education. The QUESTion Project empowers young people to explore their values, worldviews and aspirations, while developing the courage to forge their own identity and future with meaning and purpose. It addresses the most important questions and choices that young people face as they become young adults and begin to take responsibility for their own life and future. It enables them to question and define their outlook on life, pursue their deepest aspirations, and define their role in making the world a better place.
By engaging youth with some of life’s biggest questions, we empower the change-makers of today and tomorrow to shape their lives with inspiration, meaning and purpose.
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Young people are discovering a new way to
transform their lives and impact the world
What is the QUESTion Project?
The QUESTion Project is a semester-long credit-bearing course, in which students address their most important questions about life and humanity that are at the core of a successful education. The program supports high school students in the transition to adulthood, helps them taking responsibility for their own lives and promoting openness and self-confidence and developing the skills needed for the 21st century.
Helping Teens Find Their Purpose
The QUESTion Project has been featured in The Hechinger Report’s “Science of Learning” column. The article, Helping Teens Find Their Purpose, highlights the QUESTion Project as “part of a movement within a movement” to support students as they grapple with their own answers to life’s biggest questions. The article goes on to explain how purpose is gaining momentum with a pivotal role in the classroom.
Podcast: Students from Bronx Center for Science and Math
In this inspiring PODCAST, ten students from the Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics – a public high school in the South Bronx – and three student leaders share the impact of participating in a semester-long daily QUESTion Class, where they addressed some of their most important questions in life. This is the first QUESTion podcast of a year-long student series on why big questions matter.
The Future of Education
In this video, Gerard Senehi, Founder of Open Future Institute, offers his perspective on the future of education. In discussing an email that he sent to principals, students and thought leaders, asking “what does taking the lid off education mean to you?”, much to his surprise, Gerard received a large variety of answers: the future of education is open to many possibilities.
QUESTion Project featured in new book
The QUESTion Project is featured in a new book, ‘Teaching for Purpose: Preparing Students for Lives of Meaning’, by Heather Malin, Senior Researcher, Stanford Center for Adolescence
Based on a decade of research conducted at the Stanford University Center on Adolescence, Teaching for Purpose explores how educators and schools can promote purpose through attention to school culture, curriculum, project learning, service learning, and other opportunities. Malin argues for expansive thinking on the direction schools should take, especially in terms of educating students to be creative, innovative, and self-directed critical thinkers. The book includes profiles of six organizations working in schools across the US that have made purpose development a priority.
Read more: http://hepg.org/hep-home/books/teaching-for-purpose
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