Get Started
Tools to help you implement this challenge
Teachers/Program Leaders
Use this guide to help you get started on participating in the Challenge with your class, club, or organization.
Independent Participants: Independent Participants are youth who are creating Challenge solutions without the support of a teacher or an adult adviser. If you are an independent participant, you should:
Check out the challenges page, watch the case videos, and use the background information provided to help you.
Pick the project type you want to work on — Nano, Micro, or Macro.
Join the industry engagement sessions that interest you.
Review the submission guidelines and submit your challenge through the portal.
Plan
Plan your engagement with the challenge.
Pick your case(s) and your problem(s)
Watch the case videos, review the instructional guides and decide which problem you will work on. Involve participating youth in the decision— they can choose to work on the same problem, or different problems.
Instructional guides for each individual Challenge case can be found on each of their respective Challenge page, or underneath 'Instructional Guides' on this page.
Note: Youth can work on projects individually, in small groups, or can submit a single project for the entire class/club/organization.
Pick your depth
Review the submission guidelines and decide what type of project fits your capacity (Nano, Micro, or Macro).
Develop your lessons
Use the instructional guides to develop lesson or activity plans. Need inspiration? Look at the example lessons in the lesson bank.
Connect
As youth are designing solutions, help them connect to Challenge industry and postsecondary resources.
Help youth explore related industries
- Share video content and resources from the Industry Connections page to help youth dive deeper into careers related to the Challenge cases.
Join industry engagement Zoom webinars
- Youth can learn directly from industry leaders about career paths in Washington and how industries are dealing with 2020 challenges.
- Have youth sign up for the industry engagement sessions that most interest them -- they can join any session!
Coming Soon! Use our prep and process tool from Junior Achievement to help youth get the most out of the engagement, or create one of your own.
Share postsecondary resources
Youth can explore options for pursuing careers related to the Challenge beyond high schoolwith our postsecondary pathways resources.
Share information about financial aid opportunities through Washington College Grant and Washington State Opportunity Scholarship.
Submit
Get awarded for the most creative solution.
Review submission options and guidelines
Read through guidelines here.
Make a submission plan with your students
Given your chosen case, depth, and lessons, make a plan for submitting the project.
Submit!
Submit solutions through the portal. Make sure to bake in some lead time in case you or your students need to connect with us about submission questions.
Instructional Guide
Instructional Guides include everything you need to create engaging lesson and activity plans to use with youth during the Challenge:
Challenge Case topics
Problem solving prompts for each case, with emoted background research (news articles, videos, graphs, etc.) that you can use in your lessons or activities.
Structure and timing suggestions — how to use the Challenge case with youth if you have 1 hour available; 1 week available; or 1 month+ available to engage with the concepts.
Example standards'
Submission guidelines
Each challenge case comes with its own instructional guide. Explore each one to decide which cases to focus on:
Human Centered Design Resources
Resources from the State of Innovation University of Washington Human Centered Design 101 Workshop — these tools can support students, teachers, and adult advisors in designing their Challenge solutions
Lesson Bank
Get inspired; share your stuff; get recognized.
Visit our Lesson Bank on OER Commons to find example lesson plans to spark your imagination and creativity.
Share your innovative ideas about virtual lessons and activities that work with teachers and youth program leaders.
Download great ideas from other teachers and youth leaders to use in your own class or program.
At the end of the Challenge, we'll be highlighting some of the most innovative lesson and activity plans submitted to the lesson bank for special thanks and recognition — more info coming soon!
Submitting a Project
Read through our submission guidelines page, and learn how to submit through our online portal.
Office Hours
Need help? Sign up for Challenge office hours to get one on one support, including advice on how to get started with project-based learning.
