建立海啸预警系统、为白血病患儿的母亲募款、帮助小学毕业生向初中学习生活过渡、在打工子弟学校教授英文……7至9年级学生将他们对气候变化、性别平等、教育公平、社会可持续发展等现实问题的观察和思考落实到本学年的数十个PFC项目当中：
8年级的王潇仪、郭笑晴、许曦元、李嘉琦关注女性的困境。在北京Happy School里，她们看到白血病患儿妈妈的生活处境艰难，就决定帮助她们售卖自制的手工艺品，筹集善款分担孩子的治疗费用。
几位学生在启明星幼儿园、团结日和地球日3次组织义卖，向大家讲述这些母亲的故事，得到了大家真诚的支持，筹集到很多善款，几乎成为年度数额最大的学生筹款项目。
邹宇霆和陈泊序也来自8年级，关注教育公平问题。他们的目光落在打工子弟学校安民学校。他们希望以学生喜欢的方式教授安民学校学生英文，带领他们做更多的体育锻炼。
邹宇霆和陈泊序多次前往安民学校，把英文和篮球运动融合在一起。“我们带着大家练习投篮，没投中的学生就要来找我学英文单词。我们还组织篮球赛，背单词最多的学生可以优先挑选队员组队。”他们说，“项目结束时，大部分同学都能记住我们教给他们的单词，我们认为既定的目的达到了。”
“今年PFC的独特之处在于，我们能够看到，学生以自己的热情提出各种极具创意和原创性的想法。这种主人翁意识对于培养内在动力和促进终身学习非常重要！”社会创新副总监李恬美评价。
在PFC项目中，学生们探索自己真正关心的问题，并培养同理心、协作能力、抗压能力、创造力和毅力等社会创新者需要具备的品质。学生们也学习到进行访谈、设计调查问卷、提出有效问题，利用反馈来完善和改进想法的方法。我们的PFC导师引导学生系统性地深入思考如何为周围世界提供有意义的问题解决方案。通过这些学习，学生们认识到，与解决表面现象相比，消除问题的根源能产生更大的影响。于是，学生们运用不同的工具和技术，挖掘问题的根源，提出更有影响力的解决方案。”
——小学英文教学指导兼社会创新项目课程协调员Rebecca Fezekas
谈到亲身观察到的学生的进步，PFC导师Bita老师说：“学生们因为关注同样的问题、而不是彼此是朋友聚在一起，所以他们要学习团队合作，都有领导力的锻炼。这些学生对解决现实问题的贡献不一定很大，但是课程给了他们反思现实问题的机会，让他们相信自己有能力改变世界，但就是PFC课程的意义！”
Establishing a tsunami warning system, fundraising for mothers of children with leukemia, assisting elementary school graduates in transitioning to middle school life, teaching English at schools for the children of migrant workers– the list goes on and on. Through the Projects for Change (PFC) this academic year, 7th to 9th-grade students have implemented their observations and reflections on real issues such as climate change, gender equality, education equity, and social sustainability into dozens of projects for PFC.
In 8th grade, Aurora Wang, Gwyneth Qian, Tia Xu, and Doris Li focus on the plight of women. At the Happy School in Beijing, they witnessed the difficult living conditions of these mothers and decided to help them sell their homemade handicrafts to raise funds to cover their children's treatment costs.
These outstanding students organized three charity sales at Daystar Early Learning Center, Unity Day, and Earth Day. They shared the stories of the mothers and received sincere support from everyone, making it one of the largest student fundraising projects of the year.
Daniel Zou and Tim Chen, also in 8th grade, focused on the issue of education equity at Anmin School for children of migrant workers. They aimed to teach English to the students in a way they enjoy and engage them in more physical activities.
Daniel and Tim visited Anmin School multiple times, integrating English lessons with basketball activities. "We practice shooting together, and students who miss have to come to me to learn English words. We also organize basketball games where the student who memorizes the most words can choose teammates first," they said. "By the end of the project, most students have learned the words we planned for them, and we believe our goal has been achieved."
"What was unique this year is that we were able to see a wide range of highly creative and original ideas emerge from the students’ own passions. This sense of ownership is really important in cultivating intrinsic motivation and fostering lifelong learning." commented Temily Tavangar, Deputy Director of Social Innovation.
Through this course,students were given time to explore issues they truly care about and develop the qualities of a social innovator including empathy, collaboration, resilience, creativity, and perseverance. The students also learned important skills such as how to conduct interviews, create surveys, generate effective research questions, and use feedback to refine and improve ideas. Our PFC facilitators guided students think systemically and deeply about how they can contribute meaningful solutions to the world around themthrough lessons on impact and root cause analysis. Through this learning, students developed the understanding that solutions are most impactful when they address the root cause of an issue rather than just the symptoms.They then used different tools and techniques to uncover the underlying cause of an issue to propose more impactful solutions. "
——Rebecca Fezekas,
Elementary School ELA Instructional Coach/
Social Innovation Curriculum Coordinator
Speaking about the progress she observed in her students, PFC mentor Ms. Bita said, "Because students come together not as only friends but as peers focusing on the same issue, they have to learn teamwork and exercise leadership. These students may not make significant contributions to solving systemic real-world problems, but the course gives them an opportunity to reflect on real issues, and believe in their ability to change the world. That is the significance of the PFC curriculum!"