Using Clubs to Foster Real-World Skills

School-based clubs are often treated as something extra—valuable, but separate from the “real” learning that happens during the school day. I’ve come to see them differently.

Some of the most meaningful problem-solving, collaboration, and independent thinking I’ve witnessed has happened in school-based clubs. Students weren’t just completing activities.

They were testing ideas, making decisions, and figuring things out in real time, whether that meant analyzing basketball shot patterns, trying to understand why a batch of muffins fell flat, or redesigning games after watching peers struggle to play them.

Over time, I’ve come to realize that the strongest school-based clubs aren’t random, but instead share a few key characteristics: student ownership, real-world connections, and opportunities for collaboration.

Start With Student Ownership

For many students, school-based clubs are just something they show up to. A teacher tells them exactly what to do, and they do it, but they aren’t really an active participant in creating the learning experience. I wanted to try to shift this: Instead of showing up to each session of a club with a fully built plan, I came with a theme for the day and left plenty of room for students to shape what came next.

For example, in my Mathletics club, I introduced the idea of exploring math through sports and simply asked, “Where do you see math in games, movement, or sport?” I expected surface-level answers like scores, timers, and maybe some statistics.

But students had some other ideas in mind. One student began estimating shooting angles during basketball. A small group debated whether certain positions on the court were “easier” than others and how they could prove it.

I didn’t need to steer them much. I simply gave them space to follow what they were noticing. In a later meeting, students tracked where basketball shots were taken from, recorded outcomes, and began noticing patterns in real time.

At one point, a student said, completely matter-of-factly, “You basically never make it from there unless you bank it.” That discovery wasn’t something I had planned for. It came from students staying with the question long enough to care about what they found.

When students have that level of ownership, they stop waiting for instructions and start looking for evidence. Along the way, they practice inquiry, observation, data collection, and evidence-based decision-making—skills they can apply beyond a single club or subject area.

Anchor Learning in Real-World Contexts

Some of the strongest school-based clubs I’ve run didn’t feel much like “school” on the surface. Instead, they were rooted in experiences that invited students to apply what they had learned in class to a real-world context.

For example, I led a Chemistry in the Kitchen Club, in which students measured ingredients, followed recipes, and worked together around tables. Students learned a lot about how science showed up in cooking, but more important, they learned how to problem-solve when things didn’t go to plan.

One day, we pulled a batch of muffins from the oven and immediately knew something was off. They were dense, flat, and not what anyone expected. Students looked at our creation and immediately started hypothesizing about what had gone wrong: “I think we mixed it too long. Maybe we didn’t measure something right. What if the oven temperature was off?”

No one stayed disappointed for long. Instead, they were curious. Without prompting, students went back to the recipe. They checked measurements, compared notes, and started building explanations from what they could see. I didn’t have to try to force this experience into a science lesson; students were already doing that themselves.

Students were testing variables, identifying possible causes, and reconstructing what had happened using evidence and reasoning. Because the outcome was real—something they could see, smell, and taste—they stayed engaged in the problem far longer than they would have with a worksheet or teacher demonstration.

That’s the power of giving students a real-world context for their learning: It keeps students invested because the outcome matters to them. At the same time, they build problem-solving, critical-thinking, and troubleshooting skills that mirror how learning happens outside of school.

Create Opportunities for Collaboration and Revision

Collaboration doesn’t automatically become meaningful simply because students are working in groups. It becomes meaningful when students share responsibility for creating, improving, and refining something together. School-based clubs that foster this kind of meaningful collaboration can help students build their social and emotional skills.

For example, in my Winter Games club, students worked in teams to design winter-themed games that others would eventually play. They created rules, built scoring systems, and tested their games with peers.

Pretty quickly, students began to realize when something important had been left out: Players would stop and ask, “Wait... what are we supposed to do here?”

At first, the designers defended their ideas. Then they began noticing where players hesitated, became confused, or started improvising just to keep the game moving. From there, the designers were able to revise their ideas.

They rewrote instructions, simplified confusing rules, and redesigned parts of their games after watching how others actually played them. Collaboration expanded beyond just working together to include feedback, reflection, and iteration.

At the end of each of our club meetings, we would talk through what we had done and what we noticed: What worked today? Where did things fall apart? What did you change after seeing how others responded?

Through this club, students practiced communication, leadership, adaptability, and the ability to improve their work based on evidence and feedback.

Designing Clubs That Build Real-World Skills

Across Mathletics, Chemistry in the Kitchen, and Winter Games, the activities looked very different—but the same pattern kept showing up: When students had ownership, they stayed with ideas longer; when the context felt real, they cared more about getting it right; and when feedback and revision were part of the process, they actually changed their thinking.

If you’re thinking about school-based clubs, it doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Start with three questions: What decisions can students make from the beginning? What real-world context can anchor what they’re doing? Where will they get to revise and improve their thinking?

When clubs are designed this way, students aren’t just showing up, they are actively building the critical thinking and social and emotional skills that will help them long after they leave your classroom.