Finding Problems to Solve: The Purpose of Intellectual Excellence

In 2019, David Epstein wrote a book, “Range,” that I can’t forget. Maybe it is because it opens with the origin story of one of my favorite athletes, Roger Federer, and questions the whole premise of youth sports. Or maybe it is because it celebrates the powerful partnership between human ingenuity and technological tools. Those elements are captivating, but if I had to choose, it is because it introduced the idea of the wicked problem, a concept that has helped determine my vision of what attributes students need in the future.

David Epstein uses the work of psychologist Robin Hogarth to define a wicked problem as a situation where “the rules of the game are often unclear or incomplete, there may or may not be repetitive patterns, and they may not be obvious, and feedback is often delayed, inaccurate, or both.” It is often a problem that can not be solved with a formula. The contrast to wicked problems is what Hogarth defined as kind problems, those that do follow a clear set of rules or patterns. Like it or not, when I consider the world that our graduates will enter, I see a world with more wicked problems and feel an urgency to foster the attributes needed to solve those types of challenging dilemmas. Why can’t I shake this concept from “Range”? Because it has helped affirm the why behind our mission to achieve intellectual excellence: to solve wicked problems.

This year, we unveiled the five intellectual attributes–authenticity, creativity, purpose, insight, and perspective–to continue to explore and define intellectual excellence. These attributes and associated behaviors are critical to problem-solving. In my last “Graland Today” article, I explored how our Gates inventors demonstrate those attributes while answering the guiding question, “What’s Your Problem?” and following a design thinking process to create an invention to improve the lives of others.

There is another important Graland endeavor during which our students display those attributes: The Grade 8 Capstone Project. Since 2018, eighth graders have culminated their Graland careers by embarking on another problem-solving endeavor as they consider major global dilemmas, research solutions, make an effort to solve the problem locally, and present their solutions and their service to the community in a TED Talk-style presentation. The problems they study are not kind. They delve into wicked problems like eliminating poverty and hunger, providing quality education for all children, and striving for gender equality. Throughout this rigorous process, students demonstrate all of the attributes mentioned above.

The project, like Gates, begins with inquiry, as students identify the problem they want to explore. To help scaffold this global problem identification, students use resources like the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and decide which problem most resonates with them. By giving students a choice in selecting a problem, the project provides voice and agency in their studies, ideally enhancing their intrinsic motivation and ultimately, their sense of purpose, one of the intellectual attributes. Examples of past projects include improving bus transportation in Denver, mitigating the water crisis in Kenya, and reducing space junk.

From there, students demonstrate the behavior associated with “Purpose” by applying the expertise they have gained from their academic classes to a real-world situation, a global dilemma. They write an extensive research paper on their topic, using skills learned in English and history. They also utilize their math and science understanding to present compelling data about their topics in charts and graphs for their final presentation. This in-depth analysis delves into the root causes of the problem and offers viable solutions, demonstrating another intellectual attribute, “Insight,” and the associated behavior, “analyze the value of information.”

While they are finalizing their essay, they have the opportunity to give their time to an organization that is also trying to solve a related wicked problem. Throughout the year, they rotate through service experiences set up by our Service Learning Coordinator, Christi James, and eighth-grade Science Teacher, Jen Chen, to help them understand what their action piece could resemble. These experiences include visiting and volunteering at Denver Urban Gardens, Wyatt Academy, Project Cure, We Don’t Waste, and Bluff Lake. These activities ideally inspire them to take their own action by volunteering at an organization related to their dilemma and interviewing members of that organization. This hands-on element of the project once again emphasizes the attribute of “Purpose” and also stresses “Perspective” by giving them an experiential learning activity to reflect on and deepen their understanding of their problem. 

Finally, equipped with this purpose and perspective, they deliver a TED Talk-like presentation to their peers, teachers, and other educators. I have been fortunate to witness these presentations since the onset of the Capstone Project in 2018. I appreciate the unique perspective students bring to their topic, finding solutions by making unique connections between disciplines and seeing inventive possibilities, the behavior associated with the intellectual attribute, “Creativity.” I distinctly remember one of these presentations on the dangers of “fast” fashion and the importance of recycling, reusing, and repurposing clothes. I never knew there was such a collective of businesses set up to help reduce waste in the clothing industry. The presenter selected a topic close to her heart, fashion, and then expanded that interest to see the humanitarian and environmental complexities of the fashion industry, ultimately sharing practical ways that we all can do our part to minimize the negative impacts of that industry. I was struck by the “Authenticity” the eighth-grader displayed. The presentation was very much her own. She displayed that final attribute by communicating effectively and finding her unique voice.  

The capstone project offers students an opportunity to demonstrate the attributes of a graduate before they graduate. Though it was developed before we unveiled the intellectual attributes, it intentionally targets all five (and many of the character attributes as well) and fosters them throughout the final year of students’ Graland journey. I am so thankful to Christi James, Jen Chen, Ben Simmons, and the entire team of eighth-grade teachers for making this project happen and giving me confidence that our soon-to-be graduates leave Graland with the competencies they need to thrive in the world and to help the world thrive by solving those wicked problems.