Hello, I’m Dr. Mara Huber, and I want to introduce you to a tool we’ve developed here at UB that’s helping students engage more deeply with their learning—and with the world.

It’s called PEARL, and it’s a simple but powerful framework for experiential learning—one that starts not with assignments or grades, but with something more human: curiosity and care.

When students are invited to explore something they’re genuinely curious about—something they care about—they begin to approach their education not as a set of tasks, but as a way to make sense of the world and their place in it. That’s where PEARL comes in.

PEARL stands for:

• Prepare – getting grounded in context and purpose
  
• Engage – actively connecting with a challenge, community, or opportunity
  
• Add Value – contributing meaningfully, even in small ways
  
• Reflect – looking inward to identify growth and learning
• Leverage – carrying that learning forward into the next opportunity

One of the most effective ways to ground PEARL projects is through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These global goals provide a meaningful, context-rich frame for student inquiry and project-based learning. Rather than trying to “solve” massive global problems, students are encouraged to explore local expressions of these challenges—whether related to clean water, gender equity, education, or innovation.

This framing allows them to connect academic knowledge to real-world issues while pursuing questions and projects that matter to them and their communities.

The PEARL framework is already being implemented in diverse and inspiring ways:

• In Enugu, Nigeria, PEARL is at the heart of the Smart Green School Initiative, where students across grade levels are using local materials and innovation to solve real problems tied to the SDGs—everything from water purification to sustainable agriculture.
  
• At Nardin Academy in Buffalo, NY, high school girls are leading water innovation projects in collaboration with global partners, learning to apply scientific methods while cultivating leadership and civic engagement.
• At the University of the West Indies (UWI), a growing partnership is using PEARL to shape SDG leadership training for graduate students and professionals, embedding experiential learning into online modules and strategic programming.

These examples show how PEARL transcends geography and age—empowering students to become problem-solvers, innovators, and contributors wherever they are.

What I love about PEARL is that it helps students develop both competencies and self-awareness. They build critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills—but they also begin to see themselves as innovators, contributors, problem-solvers.

For faculty, PEARL is a flexible, high-impact tool. You can use it to structure an assignment, a course, a research experience, or a service project. You don’t have to do more—you just have to give students the invitation and the structure to engage more deeply.

In fact, one of the most beautiful aspects of PEARL is that students can “borrow” their teachers’ care and curiosity. When you model genuine interest in a topic, problem, or community, you give students permission—and a pathway—to explore and care as well. Your passions can serve as doorways into their own, helping them discover questions and connections they didn’t know they had.

This creates a culture of engagement and learning that’s shared—not just assigned. It allows students to step into complex issues with guidance, empathy, and structure, while gradually developing their own voice and focus.

The Instructional Innovation and Transformation team is here to help you leverage PEARL in your own teaching and mentoring. We can support you in:

• Designing and aligning PEARL-based assignments or courses
  
• Identifying meaningful project opportunities
  
• Partnering with global or local organizations
• Assessing student growth through digital badges and reflection

Wherever your students are in their journey, PEARL gives them a clear path from curiosity to contribution.

If you’d like to explore how PEARL might work in your course or program, we’d love to collaborate.

It starts with a question—what do you or your students care about?—and grows from there.

Thank you.