OpenCitizen Prepares High School Students For a Future Driven by Curiosity

Curiosity and adaptability are key to paving a successful future, and OpenCitizen is helping young learners cultivate both. Following a successful pilot in spring 2024, OpenCitizen is available to high schools nationwide that are interested in giving students the opportunity to practice inquiry-based learning, a form of active learning that nourishes students' curiosity, promotes educational agency, and encourages students to make real-world connections throughout the research process. Students who experience the program get to design their own projects and develop solutions to real community problems—all while earning college credit.

Developed in collaboration with Beagle Learning and Learning Enterprise, the Interplanetary Initiative's OpenCitizen program is available to 9th through 12th grade students. After signing up for the course, students identify a problem within their community, develop a research plan, and craft an impact project based on their findings. Students are required to complete college-level readings, assignments, and learning modules. Work submitted through the online course is graded by the ASU course team, and once the student has earned a "C" or higher, they are eligible to convert the course into 3 ASU credits via Learning Enterprise’s Universal Pathways program.

The program's 2025 rollout follows a successful pilot conducted earlier this year. During the pilot, teachers at five schools worked with the Interplanetary Initiative to bring OpenCitizen to over 700 students in the greater Phoenix area. The program provided teachers with the OpenCitizen process: a structured framework designed to promote student-led research and projects in the classroom. Instructors saw that OpenCitizen helps prepare young learners to make real-world impact by teaching them to engage their curiosity, explore nuance, and overcome roadblocks. 

Caolan Head, who teaches at Westwood High School in Mesa, saw one of his 10th grade students use OpenCitizen to develop a retrospective piece on the impact of major cultural and historical events on high school students. The student's project taught her to sift through valuable information across a variety of sources, including school communication documents and yearbooks from the school's library archive. Head believes OpenCitizen's accessibility to high school learners helped drive the student's success.

"The ability for students to work their way through the open-inquiry process, engage with community and global narratives, and receive quality feedback from seasoned professionals is amazing," Head said. "The program is such a boon to the classroom."

Kim Reynolds, R&D program manager at ASU’s J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute, worked alongside teachers at Centennial High School to implement OpenCitizen during the program’s pilot. She found that students enjoy the sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency that OpenCitizen offers. “Students love that they are empowered to make real change and are shown how to do it,” Reynolds said. “The process isn’t limited to a classroom or a single type of a challenge—this is something students can use over and over throughout their lives.”

To support teachers for their students' OpenCitizen participation, the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, in collaboration with the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, has also introduced OpenCitizen for Educators, a professional development course that prepares teachers and teacher candidates to facilitate inquiry-based learning projects. Taken online, this course focuses on supporting student-led research while instilling a reflective mindset within the classroom. Educators who are interested in taking the self-paced course independently can sign up now, while cohorts of 15 teachers or more are invited to reach out to set up an online facilitated version. Teachers who take OpenCitizen for Educators will receive a certificate of completion that demonstrates their commitment to professional growth; micro-credentials are also available.

"OpenCitizen can give high school classrooms a safe, structured opportunity for students to determine their own learning directions, and practice the skills they will need when they graduate: The ability to decide on their own question, to find and assess information, and to figure out next steps. And then, to take action! Write a letter, hold an event, build something," said Lindy Elkins-Tanton, vice president of the Interplanetary Initiative. "OpenCitizen offers teachers a way to have inquiry and project-based learning that develops the whole process in their students, with lots of support for the classroom."

College credits earned via OpenCitizen are applicable as elective credit to any major at ASU. The course best equips high school students with the skills to succeed in the Interplanetary Initiative's bachelor of science in technological leadership program. Those who have successfully completed the OpenCitizen course can use their earned credit to satisfy an introductory inquiry course requirement of the degree's curriculum.

"The most important things we can teach emerging scholars are a sense of agency—the idea within each person that they can see what needs to be done around them—and that they know how to learn enough on their own and with the help of others to be able to take steps toward needed change," said Elkins-Tanton. "The OpenCitizen program is designed to help every person take charge of their learning and their progress."

Enrollment for the spring 2025 OpenCitizen course is now live. Teachers and administrators interested in bringing the program to their schools are encouraged to reach out to the Interplanetary Initiative at interplanetary@asu.edu. 

The Interplanetary Initiative works to advance activities that produce public value and a shared stewardship for all living things on Earth and beyond, now and in the future. Learn more at interplanetary.asu.edu or subscribe to stay updated on our latest opportunities. 

Story written by Adrianna Nine.