Children's Spirituality Summit 2024

When one of my fifth grade students lost his home to a fire, his closest friends came to me asking what we could do to help. Using a Project-based Learning approach, I presented their question to the class as the catalyst for a cross-curricular project: “How can we support Kyle during his time of need?” This question prompted conversations that sparked students’ creativity and eventually inspired them to act on their ideas. In the span of two weeks, 60 ten and eleven-year-olds worked together to organize and carry out three fundraisers with minimal adult support. In the end, they presented Kyle and his family with a gift basket of items they had personally selected, a bundle of hand-made cards, and a check for over $4,000.

As a Christian educator teaching in a public elementary school, my goal for the project was two-fold: 1) Provide opportunities for the class to gain critical thinking skills while making progress toward several learning standards found in the state mandated curriculum for their grade level. 2) Take seriously Jesus’ command to love neighbor as self by creating space for my students to respond authentically to a classmate’s need. Having successfully utilized the Project-based Learning model in the past, I knew that the driving question would surface real-world problems that would push my students to grow as thinkers. I hoped that by working together for the good of a friend in need, my students would interact in ways that would help them grow as people. After witnessing my students’ capability and compassion in action, I have wondered whether the Project-based Learning approach can be used to intentionally nurture the spiritual lives of children in both secular and faith-based settings. This session will be a collaborative, hands-on experience whereby participants will explore the basic framework of Project-based Learning and its potential for promoting children’s spiritual formation in a variety of contexts.