Student-driven learning environments are characterized by engagement over compliance. Engagement (minds-on) is best achieved when students know why they are learning what they are learning. Read my blog on "The Sounds of Engagement"; consider how you might use the ThinkSheet on the IDEportal to reflect on the level of engagement in a classroom.
In his book Drive, Daniel Pink speaks of the three conditions under which people are driven: a path to mastery, autonomy, and purpose. The Understanding by Design creators Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe ask "What is worthy of understanding?" Essentially, start with a purpose, the why! Simon Sinek's Golden Circle emphasizes the importance of beginning with the why.
Problem-Based Learning offers students the opportunity to tackle real-world problems, thus making the connection between the learning and application. Teachers can:
Introduce a problem that can be solved by the content about to be studied, but not necessarily have students engage in the actual problem-solving.
Engage students in solving a real-world problem, thus providing a "felt need" for them to learn the content.
Allow students to find real-world problems they wish to solve, focusing on the unit content.
Allow students to find real-world problems they wish to solve, and determine how they might steer students toward embedding the desired learning into the problem. (See my TedEd talk on "Problem-Finders, Innovators, and Entrepreneurs."
My blog, "In Search of the Perfect Problem."
A YouTube video on "The Tree of Whys" -- a tool for brainstorming a problem-based task.
A YouTube video on the difference between project-based learning and problem-based learning.
A YouTube video on "The Case for Problem-Based Learning."
An equity-focused problem-based task: Mirrors, Windows, and Doors
"Designer Pizza" problem-based task (you can search for more tasks on the IDEportal)
A YouTube video of a third grade STEM problem, and how the why drives a felt need to learn.