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My students are teachers, so I do my best to lead by example.  This usually involves creating a product of my own to show them before I ask them to do [insert any "crazy" idea here].   By collaborating with the teacher as they are learning through design of their own units, lessons, etc for students, I develop a partnership and hopefully foster a culture of change.   I also keep pushing, encouraging and challenging teachers, sometimes to an annoying degree.  Allowing them to see that they have someone on their side who will support their risk taking, no matter how many times they fail, is invaluable.  I'm the first one to admit that an idea was horrible if something went wrong, but the first question I ask my teachers is, "how can we fix it and make it better?".
P. Lewis

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For me personally, I can start by spending less time at the front of the classroom. Rather than give prescribed assignments, I need to allow students to take the reins on their learning when appropriate, and PBL would be a great way to do this. As far as Moonshot Thinking goes, I love the concept, but it's so outside my own experience and comfort zone. Admittedly, I am a very "safe" teacher and student -- not that it's bad, but I've never felt very creative myself. Whenever I hear about PBL, moonshot thinking, genius hour, 20% time etc., my brain always goes to the kids that will struggle with this freedom of choice; my "ya, buts" always worry about these kids and how they will use their time and resources. BUT -- in the research I've done for this unit, I've come to the conclusion that in worrying about those few kids, I'm doing a disservice to many others. AND -- those students that I'm worried about? They'll learn by following the leads of their classmates that will flourish in an environment of freedom. I just know that when I start to encourage more moonshot thinking, students will amaze me with the things they come up with.
- Kelly Weets

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We can create Moonshot Thinking with PBL by encouraging students to take risks and embrace failure as a way to dive in and learn from what didn't work. By creating an environment where you set the stage for thinking to be at the 10x level, there has to be failure to grow. Some of the most amazing inventions have come about through accident, or attempting to solve a different problem.
Try-fail-solve! -Marnie Roush

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I try to teach my kindergarten students that it's okay to make mistakes, in fact, I encourage it. I find that with my students are sometimes afraid to try new things because they think they can't do it. They are afraid of doing it "wrong". In my classroom we talk a lot about the fact that everybody makes mistakes and that is how we learn. My hope is that by creating a classroom where it is okay to make mistakes my students are willing to go beyond what I am teaching them and accomplish the unexpected. -Brittany Kurt

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Moonshot thinking in my Special Ed class

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Moonshot thinking in my Special Ed class

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Moonshot thinking in my field of special education is presuming competence in my students' abilities, giving them the opportunities they have not had before, build their confidence to show what they really are capable of doing, and empower them to try.
Mariami Reamy

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Moonshot at the elementary level comes from letting the student assume more responsibility and the teacher comes along as a guide when needed.

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Moonshot at the elementary level comes from letting the student assume more responsibility and the teacher comes along as a guide when needed.

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Jeff Carpenter

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Over the past four years my school has been working towards creating a culture of permission. A culture where students assume that if they can dream it, they can do it. A culture where the assumed answer to 'Can I...?' is always yes, therefore changing the dialogue to "I'm going to...'. A change in culture takes time but with each new group of students that I work alongside each year I notice a difference in their desire to try first and figure out the bumps along the way.
I think the best way to create Moonshot Thinking is to get out of the students' way. Let go of the need to be in control. Be supportive in whatever way you can. Encourage execution of ideas. Celebrate the failures as much as the successes.

Suzanne Kitto

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I would share stories of famous people who failed at first.   These people had the courage to pursue their passions, reach for their dreams, think outside the box and never gave up.  I believe true stories about people are powerful.  Their stories are inspirational. I would emphasis the quality that all of these individuals have in common - persistence. I'd create a wonder wall in the classroom and we'd spend time sharing and questioning.

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I have learned that to truly integrate something into my classroom, I’ve got to really believe in it outside of the classroom.  So when it comes to moonshot thinking, I’m challenged by the whole notion of it.  How can I expect my students to shoot for the moon, if I don’t believe that I can shoot for the moon?  I am encouraged by the words a woman spoke in the video, “There are so many challenges in the world, and you can feel daunted by that, you know and sort of repressed by that, or you kind of say how might we think differently about this?” Recently, several challenging aspects of my job have come about. But with perseverance and different thinking, i can work through these challenges. Perhaps if I stretch myself in this area, my students and those around me will also believe it as truth.  - Karrie Zanetti

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Moonshot Thinking in Middle School Health

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Moonshot Thinking in Middle School Health

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My classroom, and my school, teach the concept of the design cycle. In the design cycle users define the problem, plan a solution, create a solution, and then evaluate if their solution fixed the problem. Due to time constraints my class has been limited to one iteration of design, without investing time revising unsuccessful creations or applying the concept of moonshot thinking to successful creations. Unfortunately, I think I may be missing the grandest opportunity for learning. I'll have to think about that when I apply the design cycle to my curriculum.

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My students need encouragement for moonshot thinking! I teach in a school that 85% FRL and 40% Title X (Homeless). Many of my kids have a hard time imagining themselves anywhere other than where they are. One of the most important things that I can give my students is a view of a larger world. I want to inspire my students to be something much bigger than they are. Everything that we do that encourages bigger thinking is a BIG win with a high-risk student population. Engaging these students in and out of the classroom is critical to helping them achieve a destiny that is bigger than their demographics!

Amy Garoutte

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Whether I work with teachers or students, the main criteria needed for Moonshot Thinking is freedom.  Freedom to try something new, freedom to make a choice, freedom alter an idea or a project, and freedom to fail and try again.  We set basic guidelines for our 1:1 teachers to follow but the fact that their is flexibility/freedom in those guidelines to adjust for content, grade levels, and ability levels is what truly allows teachers to think beyond anything else and really have no boundaries for their idea.
Christy Morgan

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I think moonshot thinking is encouraged in a classroom/school where students are constantly put in situations where they need to use the 4 C's.  Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication are essential components that can be encouraged and taught if we are purposeful about integrating them into our teaching.  Students who can do these things are students who will be able to think outside of the box and learn from mistakes to lead to breakthroughs to solve problems.   ~Chad Gilbertson

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Providing students to experience the "pit" of learning or failed attempts, making what seems to be the impossible, the possible via learning experiences. Students work to solve a problem that will encompass failure, frustration, perseverance, collaboration, and a mentality of the "sky is the limit" as they trudge through real word obstacles. Teachers continuously instill confidence and strategies as they support their students while they are experiencing the "pit" of learning. As learners, while spending time in the "pit", it encourages, allows for, and fosters moonshot thinking of the students as they work to resolve, understand, and solve complex skill application.
Jennifer Landon

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One of the best ways that we can encourage Moonshot thinking with our students is to give them the confidence to fail, and the knowledge that they must fail forward. When students can approach a challenge with the knowledge that they will fail, that's it ok, and that they will have a chance to learn from their failure and improve, the challenges of the world suddenly become just a few failures away. It is a great way to teach kids that they can accomplish more than they can imagine, if they are willing to try. -Jamie Snyder

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"These aviation pioneers were figuring it out at they went. Nobody really knew how to build an airplane, right? Nobody knew how to fly an airplane. It was amazing and crazy and wonderful and they wanted to explore."

I think for me, this is going to be my biggest hurdle in creating a Moonshot mindset in my work. We spend so much time telling students and teachers no because we don't have the resources, the time, the policies in place that support it. We need to let go of the idea that we have to have perfection in place before we can shoot for the moon. Let's start achieving and start thinking 10x, instead of hoping everything will be perfect.

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We didn't think this was going to actually happen...

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We didn't think this was going to actually happen...

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When covering different epochs across human history, there are regular progressions associated with "revolutionary" technologies. My students observe these, but rarely marvel at them. When I suggest that stone tools and use of fire allowed greater range of migration and increased chances of survival, they nod and agree that, yes, fire is a good thing. The importance of specialized sails, navigational equipment, and chronometers that made European dominance of the seas and oceans possible seems understood, but underappreciated. Steam ships, rail, and the Trans-Atlantic Cable carried goods and communications at unbelievable rates...I think my students are impressed? But when I explain that that cable could relay photographs in the 19th Century by relaying an electrical signal through a copper wire...when I tell them that we do the same thing now, but through the air...that they have more computing power in their phones than we had on the first lunar landing...when I tell them that a watch serving as both computer and communication device was sci-fi when I was their age...I tell them that many people dreamed of these things, but didn't really expect them to come about.  But they have.  Because other people were not so doubtful.

--Bill White
@DrShmistory

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Dream big and embrace failure. To push my students towards moonshot thinking, I too must take on that mindset. I love what Kennedy said, " we are going to put a man on the moon. We don't know how to do it yet, but we are going to do it anyway".  We must teach our kids to have the courage to try!
- Gina Meade

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To truly surpass the likely results of a project, we need to relinquish control in our classrooms. This is a frightening proposition for some, but in practice allows the students to to more and go farther than they might if anchored by a rubric or guidelines.
What resonates with me is the notion of standing on the shoulders of giants. Moonshots are most likely in an environment where we bring students to the edge of what has been done. We need to introduce them to the giants. From there they are most likely to endeavor to try go beyond not only what we expect of them, but what we thouhght was possible.

Ben Hartman
@thebenhartman

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One of the ways that I can encourage Moonshot Thinking in my classroom is by offering more choices in terms of student projects. In my first level Fashion Course, I have set projects for the students. In my upper level courses, I have set project "ideas" but they are allowed to choose their own pattern specifics. By encouraging students, embracing their "big ideas" and instilling confidence I can inspire students to dream big!

-Jennifer Henderson

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Encouraging

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MIchael Brandwein, a world-wide educator and trainer of teachers, parents, youth workers and students teaches that saying to students "that's the kind of question a [scientist/linguist/anthropologist/artist] would ask" helps students see that they are already thinking beyond themselves in worthwhile ways. Acknowledging their curiosities, however small, can inspire them to keep asking questions that can shoot the moon. It is miraculous how exponentially the number of questions in a classroom increases when students see that you notice their thinking and equate it with what "important people" are doing. I reveled in the way Andrew Rikard's worded in his article about student agency that his teachers "renamed" him. By "dubbing [him] a collaborator," he felt elevated and valued, and was inspired to reach higher. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-10-16-student-agency-is-not-something-you-give-or-take
--Sara Wolfersberger

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Perhaps what I've found most valuable for students in terms of moonshot thinking is giving them a task, setting the proficiency scale or performance rubric, but not really giving them parameters on what the end product should look like.  There was one project I had my students work on and they had to show me a way they would advocate for a change in human output related to climate change.  Some of the projects that were turned in were more creative than even I could be and I'm supposed to be the "expert" as the teacher!  With PBL lessons and and open-ended product, our students can take the learning where it interests them!
*Vickie Donnelly

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I think we can create Moonshot Thinking with PBL by working together and lifting each other up.  We must encourage every student to think outside the box and give opportunities for all students to succeed individually and also together.  By working together and encouraging others to do their best, we can create an environment of safe learning and creative thinking.  Students need to learn to support each other and collaborate together to produce the best ideas possible.  All students need to be encouraged to be the best they can be and to never settle for less than giving their best.

~Laurie Wavra

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I think that to create Moonshot Thinking, there has to be a shift in both my mindset as the teacher and in the mindset of my students. I would love to shift away from the idea of "No" or the "We can't because..." which I think happens a lot as someone whose role is to help teachers integrate technology. We can't think about the limitations of budget, devices, tools, etc. but instead focus on trying out new solutions or looking for ways to better use the technology that we do have in schools. With more positive outlook on what CAN be done, I hope more people will be willing to try!

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I love the Kid President video that encourages students to reach for the stars. They are able to hear a young kid encourage them to go above and beyond and to never give up. I think showing my students examples of ways others have overcome different challenges in the world can simply alone be inspiring. They need to be encouraged to try and step outside of their comfort zone. I will encourage my students to dig deep and find their passion. They need to know that they can make a difference!

-Lacee Slaven

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While I was watching the Moonshot video, I was thinking how I would introduce this to my students. The first thing I thought of was researching past inventors and the challenges they encountered. I think by finding out how much passion and perseverance they had would be inspiring for students to create their own invention. I still remember my invention I made all the way back in middle school. Hopefully my students' inventions would have as much of an impact on themselves as much as mine had.
-Janel Bentley

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To me, my takeaways from Moonshot thinking really boil down to two things: building confidence and encouraging perseverance.  First, students need to believe that they can accomplish whatever it is that they want.  They need to have the confidence to really truly believe that they can do it.  After that, they need encouragement to keep trying, even after they fail.  They need to understand that failure bring you one step closer to success.
-John Liljewall

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I can encourage moonshot thinking with PBL in my classroom by allowing students to reach for the stars and to try something they do not think is possible. I can not put up walls that limit their exploration. I need to remind my students often that everyone starts from the bottom. Barack Obama was not born a president, Steve Jobs did not invent Apple overnight, everything takes time, effort, and most importantly a dream!
-Kristen Olsen

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I want to hang hang letters on my classroom wall that spell out "Question Everything" - I want to encourage my students to be curious!!  -Jessica Romano

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We can create Moonshot Thinking with a PBL by not putting limits on our students, and by never saying "that's impossible". - Shannon Treichel