Life Discovery Curriculum
Life Discovery Curriculum Overview
The Life Discovery curriculum is designed to help students become the best, most successful versions of themselves—both throughout school and after graduation.
We believe that for students to thrive in today’s fast-changing world, they must be able and ready to navigate a variety of challenges and opportunities, both in their personal lives and in the classroom. Building on life-prep programs that specialize in teaching one skillset—such as financial literacy or career readiness—Life Discovery’s curriculum offers a well-rounded and integrated approach.
Our full-year curriculum consists of five modules that can be used consecutively as part of a single course or used individually by teachers or in school-adjacent settings, including after-school and summer programs.
Life Discovery Essential Elements
Life Discovery is focused on life skills development. To help prepare students for the complex challenges of adulthood and interpersonal relationships, Life Discovery incorporates two Essential Elements: personality and aptitude assessments and interviews with people from all career paths and all walks of life.
Emotional Intelligence & Self-Discovery Assessments
- Engage in meaningful self-reflection
- More effectively communicate and collaborate with others
- Learn how to align these insights with their future career paths
For educators, knowledge of each student’s communication style and unique needs can help them better connect with individual students. These insights can also help them strategically organize students into more effective groups and teams.
Emotional Intelligence & Self-Discovery fosters improved communication and collaboration, prepares students for smoother conflict resolution, and gives students a path for strategic career planning.
The Life Discovery Interview
Many students live in a microcosm. School populations tend to largely consist of similar demographics, minimizing exposure to other life path opportunities despite educators’ best efforts.
The second Essential Element, the Life Discovery Interview, brings the stories of diverse backgrounds and life choices into the classroom.
Students will be taught to lead discussions with guest interviewees from all walks of life, diving deep into the circumstances and choices that brought them to the classroom that day. These discussions will be followed by reflection about how the students can apply the lessons and discoveries from these interviews to their own lives.
We recognize that not every school has the resources or contacts to bring in a wide variety of guest speakers for this Essential Element. To that end, we are building out a library of pre-recorded interviews, along with educational resources to accompany each, to help diversify the life stories students hear.
Overall, the Life Discovery Interview is designed to broaden students’ exposure to different cultures and career options—and reinforce the idea that there is not just one correct way to prepare for their futures.
Winning at Life: Life Skills Covered in the Life Discovery Curriculum
The Essential Elements above are tools that will help students develop the life skills to help them succeed both personally and professionally after graduation.
They’ll be integrated throughout the curriculum, which includes the following modules to help students prepare for life after graduation:
Creativity, Innovation & Problem-Solving
Module 1
This module introduces the concepts of creativity and innovation—and how skills in these areas can help them in all areas of life at all life stages. A critical element of this module is students’ ability to identify problems, gaps or challenges that provide opportunities for them to create new ideas and solutions.
Highlighted skills include:
- Critical & creative thinking
- Problem solving
- Purposeful innovation
Establishing & Achieving Goals
Module 2
Students learn to set specific, meaningful and measurable goals and create a strategy for achieving them. These goals and approaches are informed by data from their personality and communication-style assessment and by lessons gleaned from the Life Discovery interviews. The work in this module focuses both on students’ individual development and their role in growing and strengthening their community.
Highlighted skills include:
- Career & life strategy
- Establishing & achieving goals
- Time management
- Assessing social impact
Personal Branding & Life as Business
Module 3
As students discover their aptitudes and potential career paths, they also work on ways to authentically present themselves in a range of life situations, from social to academic to professional. They also learn the essentials of what makes a business successful – knowing your audience, understanding your numbers, surrounding yourself with quality people – and develop tools for applying those concepts to their lives.
Highlighted skills include:
- Financial literacy
- Networking, mentorship & trust-building
- Negotiation & difficult conversations
- Job interviews & resume-building
Leadership, Longevity & Ethics
Module 4
Students explore the characteristics and approaches of successful leaders, how to operate within a team, and the overarching importance of making ethical decisions. They are also introduced to the concept of longevity: how they can set themselves up for the best chance of sustained success.
Highlighted skills include:
- Agility & resilience
- Flexibility & pivoting
- Building transferrable skills
- Ethics & influence
Presence & Influence
Module 5
Your presence alone impacts your environment, whether you’re speaking or listening. Students learn to leverage verbal and nonverbal communication skills through public speaking, presentations and other critical conversations. They learn to sell ideas, listen actively and negotiate with the goal of mutuality.
Highlighted skills include:
- Public speaking & presentations
- Nonverbal communication & active listening
- Finding intent in messaging
Life Discovery: Sample Curriculum Resources
Coming soon!