Elementary teachers: Design for Change is the largest global movement designed to give children an opportunity to express their own ideas for a better world and put them into action. The challenge asks students to design solutions for the world’s greatest challenges by doing four very simple things: FEEL (anything that bothers them), IMAGINE (brainstorm ways to make it better), DO (implement the act of change), and SHARE (send the stories to inspire others). From reducing the weight of backpacks to converting garbage dumps into playgrounds to designing alternatives to packaged food, school children across the globe are “dreaming up and leading brilliant ideas.”

Many of you already involve children in your classrooms or across the whole school in project-based learning activities that are designed as service learning or community service. Visit the Design for Change website to get registered and access resources to help take your students through a process of identification, problem-solving, and acting to solve a challenge. Project submissions are due by May 15, 2015.