Curriculum
A Department of Our Own
The Social Innovation Program draws inspiration and seeks guidance from a variety of changemaking disciplines. We borrow vocabulary and methods from each of these modes to craft a curriculum that all students can find themselves in.
Courses
Our four-year sequence integrates skill building, experiential research, and a focus on student-driven projects. As students progress from 9th grade through 12th grade, they work more independently, eventually establishing an approach to changemaking that makes use of their unique interests, personal identity, and creative skill.
Local Issues Through the SDGs
After an overview of each UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), 9th and 10th graders self-select into teams of ten students, each facilitated by one faculty member. Teams take the year to meet with a variety of people and organizations doing work in the Los Angeles area related to their SDG and then collaboratively carry-out a creative intervention of their own. Students graduate into the Impact Project course equipped with professional communication skills and having been exposed to a plethora of issues and perspectives.
Impact Project
In this capstone course, 11th graders work independently or with one or two peers to dive deep into a social or environmental issue of personal significance or curiosity. Students are led through assignments and activities which help them identify research questions, arrange and conduct fieldwork, and craft theories of change. All students produce a process book which documents the year’s journey, with all its twists, turns, and bumps in the road.
Advanced Impact Project
12th graders have the unique opportunity to turn their Impact Project into a two-year capstone endeavor. Students hit the ground running having already established relationships with community and organizational partners and having already created a research-based theory of change. Students end the year by adding a figurative and literal second chapter to their project through a process book assignment.
VolunteerSIP
VolunteerSIPs offer the chance for older students to develop a year-long relationship with a mission-driven organization and the people it serves. Throughout the year, students engage in a series of personal writing assignments and informational interviews with staff members. Collectively, these interviews makeup an institutional ethnography which is presented at the end of the year. Students also have the chance to exercise their intra-preneurial skills by carrying out a changemaking project of their own design.
Learning Outcomes
All of our learning is guided by eight learning outcomes that we think capture the essential qualities and skills needed to be a changemaker. Our curriculum provides students a diversity of age-appropriate opportunities to demonstrate competency in each Learning Outcome throughout the year.
Fieldwork
As a field researcher, I interact professionally and curiously, and consider the ethical implications of my actions.
Positive Psychology
I understand how my personal identity enables my ability to affect responsible change.
Presentation
I engage audiences by communicating what I've learned about my topic, myself, and how the world works.
Equity
I examine the ways people have varying degrees of power and access to resources.
Collaboration
I support my peers by providing and accepting feedback, and suggesting and taking on new responsibilities.
Prototyping
I make my ideas visible in a way that helps me ask and answer questions.
Iteration
I create multiple versions of questions and ideas over time based on research and advice from peers and faculty.
Expertise
I gain knowledge about my topic by listening to stories, reviewing data, and studying historical and societal context.