- Who We Are
- Topics
- By Subject Area
- dummy
- By Level
- Projects
- Projects Column 1
- Agency by Design
- Aligned Programs for the 21st Century
- Artful Thinking
- Arts as Civic Commons
- Causal Learning Projects
- Center for Digital Thriving
- Citizen-Learners: A 21st Century Curriculum and Professional Development Framework
- Creando Comunidades de Indagación (Creating Communities of Inquiry)
- Creating Communities of Innovation
- Cultivating Creative & Civic Capacities
- Cultures of Thinking
- EcoLEARN Projects
- Educating with Digital Dilemmas
- Envisioning Innovation in Education
- Global Children
- Growing Up to Shape Our Place in the World
- Projects Column 2
- Higher Education in the 21st Century
- HipHopEX
- Humanities and the Liberal Arts Assessment (HULA)
- Idea Into Action
- Implementation of The Good Project Lesson Plans
- Inspiring Agents of Change
- Interdisciplinary & Global Studies
- Investigating Impacts of Educational Experiences
- JusticexDesign
- Leadership Education and Playful Pedagogy (LEaPP)
- Leading Learning that Matters
- Learning Innovations Laboratory
- Learning Outside-In
- Making Ethics Central to the College Experience
- Making Learning Visible
- Multiple Intelligences
- Navigating Workplace Changes
- Next Level Lab
- Projects Column 3
- Out of Eden Learn
- Pedagogy of Play
- Reimagining Digital Well-being
- Re-imagining Migration
- ROUNDS
- Signature Pedagogies in Global Education
- Talking With Artists Who Teach
- Teaching for Understanding
- The Good Project
- The Studio Thinking Project
- The World in DC
- Transformative Repair
- Visible Thinking
- Witness Tree: Ambassador for Life in a Changing Environment
- View All Projects
- Projects Column 1
- Resources
- Professional Development

Good Project Lesson Plans
PUBLISHED: 2021Over the past 25 years, The Good Project, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero, has investigated individuals and institutions that exemplify “good work.” We define “good work” according to three criteria: it is 1) excellent (high quality), 2) ethical (socially responsible), and 3) engaging (meaningful).
As we move further into the 21st century, it’s clear that new challenges have emerged that may hinder the encouragement and achievement of “good work.” The world of work is rapidly changing: many jobs are disappearing, others are being dramatically reconfigured, and new technologies are not equipped to handle common ethical dilemmas. Despite calls for the development of “21st century skills” (e.g., critical thinking) in adolescents necessary for success in employment, current educational experiences about “work” are insufficient. Generally, secondary and tertiary education devote little attention to work in practice, programs that do exist to explore the topic most often take the form of isolated lessons or classes. Few outlets allow students to grapple with ambiguity, complexity, and their own opinions and beliefs.
Our curriculum attempts to fill this gap by giving young people the skills and strategies to flourish as future workers. Drawing on many years of research in the professions, we expose adolescents to real-world dilemmas, reflective activities, and guided conversations that will help to prepare them for the working world of today. Our contention is that students who are exposed to our materials will develop the skills, understandings, and repertoires to effectively navigate their future work lives.
View all lesson plans on The Good Project website.