SEEDS Project
(Maine West High School, Des Plaines)
The goal of SEEDS (Students Educating for Equity in a Diverse Society) is for
students to see that while knowledge and wisdom is great to pursue, they lack
power and meaning without putting them into action. SEEDS is designed to
help students learn that they too have the power to make change in our world.
Connecting these ideas to research methods, students select an issue and
conduct research using the Pathfinders tool developed by the Maine West
High School Library. Students organize their research around three questions:
What is the problem? What are the causes? What are the solutions? After
completing their research, students are required to identify with an action plan
to put their new knowledge into a format that actively informs others. This
also challenges students to think creatively. Students then share their projects
at an open house, where having all the projects in one location allows the
students to also learn about the issues other students studied.
SEEDS is offered each year in all sections of the freshman World Cultures
class as the final project at the end of the course. Students choose from areas
already studied in class. SEEDS also is the assessment tool that introduces
students to research methodology. Participation is required and is part
of students’ assessment grade. Approximately 150 students participate
each year.
While the ideas and student guides were created for Maine West students,
many ideas came from the Active Citizenship Today: Field Guide (1995:
Constitutional Rights Foundation and Close Up Foundation). SEEDS has taken
many different formats and has changed from year to year in an effort to
make it better and better, but the goal remains consistent: to let students feel
empowered and motivated to be active citizens for life.
Click to view Exemplar 4 >>