Are large-scale, multidisciplinary projects an effective way to increase student motivation?
The
Global Citizen Project
Our classroom is full of incredible students with a very mixed level of task motivation. There are several who will enthusiastically tackle any assignment you present them with. There are others, however, who although bright, struggle with engagement. They oftentimes lack the motivation required to complete schoolwork, and especially to complete it with any level of excellence.
I wondered ways to help these students find motivation. To be clear, I firmly believe I myself actually cannot motivate anyone else. True, lasting motivation must come from within. It must be intrinsic. Regardless, as an educator, I wondered if the way I designed and presented learning could help facilitate students finding the intrinsic motivation required for meaningful learning?
I started thinking about project-based learning and wondered about the effectiveness of using large-scale, multidisciplinary projects to increase student engagement?
I started off by interviewing several educators on their experience with these sorts of projects. They shared insightful wisdom that is recorded on the “Multidisciplinary Projects In General” tab of this website.
I, then, began to plan and implement our own project. The Global Citizen Project incorporates many curricular outcomes from Grade 6 Social Studies, ELA, Math, and Art.
A large part of Social Studies 6 is centered about poverty and inequality. Before jumping into any huge project I wanted to first make sure students had a foundational knowledge of these vast topics. This is crucial to student motivation. We often ask students to do very challenging tasks but they don't know why they are doing them, which can be very demotivating. Establishing context is so important in increasing student motivation!
We, thus, first spent a lot of time learning about poverty, its causes and implications through a variety of learning modalities. We studied the refugee crisis through doing a novel study together, we learned about poverty abroad and close to home through a variety of tasks and discussions. We watched videos and read articles. We did interactive activities to help students increase in empathy. We had a guest speaker who grew up in extreme poverty in a village in Burkina Faso and who now runs a non-profit combatting poverty in many ways, including giving microloans to people so that they can start their own small businesses.
Two and a half weeks in, I asked the students “in light of everything we’ve learned about poverty and inequality, how do you think we should respond?”. I was encouraged to hear answers such as, “I realize now how good I have it and want to make sure I live grateful” or “it’s taught me that you never know someone’s story and shouldn’t judge anyone”. Another student responded, “I think we should use our privilege to help make a difference. What if our whole class raised money and donated it to giving people microloans?”
I was so encouraged with how the students had owned their learning and now wanted to do something to respond! They wanted to make a difference in the lives of others. What a better source of motivation!? As educators we can choose to use extrinsic motivation such as grades, or even candy, to entice students to complete tasks, but this sort of deep-rooted intrinsic motivation is far, far more valuable!
We then began the next phase of the project. I approached the local ski hill, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, and asked if they would want to loan us “seed money” so we could start our own business fundraiser in which we would donate all our profits to microfinancing efforts in impoverished areas. Essentially, we would be running a business in order to empower those living in poverty to start and run their own businesses! The ski hill agreed!
When we involve the greater community and give students the chance to showcase their work, it almost always increases motivation.
The students were then tasked with the project of coming up with a business proposal that they would then pitch to a group of judges, including the school principal, representatives from the ski hill, and other teachers. The winning pitch would be chosen for our whole class to then collaboratively work on executing.
We then spent three weeks learning all about business plans and public speaking. The learning was highly scaffolded. We discussed marketing, learned how to use Excel to calculate projected profits, created action plans, designed logos and slogans. Students developed teamwork skills. Learned how to design presentation slides and implemented techniques to engage their audience.
It was so special to sense the building buzz in the room as we drew nearer to our business pitches. Students who normally struggle to finish a short worksheet, begged to stay in at recess to finesse their pitch. Groups got together to work on this after school. They discussed their presentations with their parents and guardians and got their advice. They would approach me at lunch asking me questions about their work. In other words, students were highly motivated by this project!
It came time to pitch their work and the students did phenomenally! Myself and the other community members were blown away by the calibre of skill and passion displayed!
Later that day, my Teacher Mentor sent out an email to parents/guardians saying, "It's not hyperbole to say that in 17 years of teaching, I've never had a group work as diligently, thoughtfully, and ambitiously on a single project as our class did over the last few weeks. Our judges from RMR were also not exaggerating when they said that many of these pitches were "as good or better than ones we've seen in the business world."
What I loved about this project is that it was super challenging and yet, still accessible for everyone. The task itself automatically differentiated to students' strengths and capacities. The students who often struggle academically, rose to the occasion and showed up like we have never seen them do before. At the same time, there were so many opportunities for students who often excel academically to still push themselves even further in this project. On their own accord, kids designed websites, tested out hot chocolate bomb recipes, etc. One group learned all about 3D printing so that they could create prototypes for their presentation. It was quite remarkable to witness!
In the end, the judges chose to go with a bike race fundraiser called ,“Break the Cycle”. The project now moves from competitive to collaborative as we seek to simultaneously raise money and awareness about combatting poverty through microloans.
For information on the lessons I've learned about using multidisciplinary projects as a means to increase student motivation, go to the "Learnings/Tips for Increasing Motivation" tab.
Student Business Pitch Example:
