Here’s what we do in three sentences: We teach children (and adults) how to dream and how to turn those dreams into reality. Then we measure whether learning how to dream and set goals helps children, in particular, whether it increases their optimism. Finally, we take everything we learn and use it to improve our tool for teaching this method, which is our workbook, Dream It! We have conducted 6 research studies over a 5-year period, each one improving upon the methods of the last. An analogy that we like to use is that if our ultimate goal were measuring the circumference of the Earth, we would start by verifying that our rulers were accurate. As we began our research, we realized it’s actually pretty difficult to measure a dream. We’re not talking about sleeping dreams but life dreams or passions. A dream is similar to a life goal, but perhaps without the full commitment (Yet!) to make it a reality. Since it is difficult to measure a dream, we used social-emotional skills as a proxy measure. We theorized that if students became better at dreaming they would become more optimistic about their futures (confidence). Similarly, we theorized that we could find improvements in perseverance (grit), growth mindset and hope. We also measured the differences between the quantity and quality of dreams. As you will see below, we improved in all these measures. But, we’re not just concerned about the students improving, we also care about the teachers, whether they be parents, professionals or healthcare workers. So, we also conduct interviews with teachers and facilitators to see if they think our book and curriculum are fun and easy to implement. Spoiler alert: They do! Better yet, teachers report that our program increases the overall school climate. Wow! Below, we are excited to share some highlights of our research with you!