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Do you use special projects to help students get engaged or dive a bit more deeply into a topic? As the hosts of the annual Maurice R. Hilleman Essay Contest, we have learned that some teachers have used the contest for just this type of approach. To find out more, and share experiences with our readers, we had a conversation with Lily Crist, an educator in Canada, who works with one of our Canadian partners, Kids Boost Immunity (KBI). Lily taught elementary classes in a French school in Canada and did substitute teaching before starting at KBI where she develops curriculum and lessons related to science and health, supports teachers using the KBI platform and leads teacher trainings. See what Lily had to say.

Editorial note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you think special projects can help advance teaching goals?

I think special projects can connect students to learning practical applications in the real world. So, if you're a student interested in science but you don't always understand how things work, a special project can help. For example, by researching the work of someone that developed vaccines for an essay contest, you can see the concrete application in your everyday life because you might have gotten the measles shot or other vaccines. So, you really understand that it's not far away and removed from you because you benefit from it in your everyday life. That's also something that is really, really cool.

Another thing, it encourages students to strive to achieve something tangible. That is a good way to promote enthusiasm and encouragement for students to learn. So, I think that's an aspect that is really good. 

Also, it helps students step out from the classroom. They get to interact with the world at large, because if you're doing an inquiry-based project it's not the simple structure — the teacher telling you what you need to learn. You're the one doing it, and with your research you go to a different avenue and make it yours. The knowledge becomes something that goes in the direction that you want to take it, and many years down the road you will remember that.

Yet another aspect is the cross-curricular learning. For example, the essay contest incorporates English and science, and together the students are able to showcase their knowledge on both subjects, which is really cool and it makes it easier for teachers, also. This way they can evaluate English and science at the same time.

Could you speak more to the real-world application of special projects?

Anything that is scientific will impact global populations. Making the connection with something that is happening in the past but still has an impact now, like how you relate to social studies and history too. So that's why the cross curricular is not just science, or English, or French for that matter, it's also being an actual citizen.

Our modern classrooms are filled with diverse learners, and special projects are a great outlet for them. It allows a different way of learning.

Can you talk about how Canadian teachers used the Maurice R. Hilleman Essay Contest in French class?

I think the contest creates interest in a wide range of students because it really attracts different types of learners and people that like to write but also young people that are interested in science. So, what we like with this type of project is that it is an inquiry-based project.

Some of my colleagues said that because it wasn't something that is recurring and wasn’t in the regular curriculum, students were assigned something different to do. One colleague called that self-worth because someone believes that you can do research. You can write. You can do certain things. Another said this essay was a vector for some of her students to really feel empowered, to have agency, in their words. 

One teacher said because not every student is interested, she made sure that it was an extra project. As such, she presented it as, “OK, there's this contest if you'd like to participate. As a class, we're going to talk about how you write an essay anyway, but you have the opportunity to do something very specific.” When she graded them, because they did this extra work, it really helped the students to have in the report card that they went above and beyond the curriculum.

Someone else said it was done in a safe environment, “My students didn't feel like they could fail.” It was like a free exercise. Students had the freedom to do it without bad consequences because she was going to give them extra credit no matter what happened with the essays. So, the students knew that it was a win-win situation.

Do you think there is a benefit of students communicating issues about scientific concepts or even ideas outside the realm of science?

Yes, in British Columbia (BC) and in different places of Canada at least, a core competency is for students to understand their roles in the community and on a global scale. We need to determine how students are meeting those core competencies, and this is a tool that could allow us to see in a really concrete way if they are meeting them. Teachers can explain to their students how they can impact the world, and it's not always easy to find the connection between the world and the classroom. But I think this is a more authentic way for students to be able to showcase their civic responsibilities through what they're learning to really make those connections. 

Kids Boost Immunity (KBI) is another example of a special project. Can you talk about the program and how it relates to these ideas?

Kids Boost Immunity (KBI) is a non-profit Canadian education initiative made possible through a partnership between the Public Health Agency of Canada, the BC Ministry of Health, the Public Health Association of British Columbia, and the BC Centre for Disease Control.

KBI has free lessons and quizzes developed in partnerships between teachers and health professionals. Every time a student scores at least an 80% on a lesson quiz, a vaccine is donated to UNICEF Canada. This enables students to directly impact the health of others and connect their learning outcomes in a global context.

This makes KBI the perfect link, because we have this saying at KBI, “Act locally, to help globally.” We have over 500 lessons and quizzes on subjects like: science, social studies and health, with learning module topics like critical thinking, evaluating information, the spread of infectious diseases, and cross-curricular research and inquiry, just to name a few.

All of them have a really strong literacy component, and we added numeracy because, during COVID, by talking to teachers and students, we realized that a lot of kids missed some opportunities to learn, to be in classrooms. And so literacy and numeracy have become priorities in Canada for learners because that's where we see how COVID impacted students. 

Have you either used yourself, or heard of other teachers using, different types of special projects?

In Canada, I know there's different projects around water; there's a whole curriculum around water. In Manitoba, in Saskatchewan, in different regions they have these other programs outside of the classroom to better understand the environment. I think that themes around the environment have been really big because our country has been burning, we had floods in different areas too. So, you know global warming is real.

I'm also totally crazy about art and science together because I think that's something that we don't do enough. Art is math, perspectives. It's colors. It’s chemistry. It's physics. It's so many things.

What advice do you have for any teachers who are thinking about using a special project like this with their students?

My advice is to allow it to happen. Trust the process with your students because they can surprise you, and they know that they can surprise you. We need to do more for them to really feel they're capable. And they are; they have magic within them! And this is not just an essay contest. It's really an opportunity for students to shine, to show different aspects of what they're capable of. You have an opportunity to see something else in your students, and I think that's great.

Could you speak more to the real-world application of special projects?

Anything that is scientific will impact global populations. Making the connection with something that is happening in the past but still has an impact now, like how you relate to social studies and history too. So that's why the cross curricular is not just science, or English, or French for that matter, it's also being an actual citizen.

Our modern classrooms are filled with diverse learners, and special projects are a great outlet for them. It allows a different way of learning.

Can you talk about how Canadian teachers used the Maurice R. Hilleman Essay Contest in French class?

I think the contest creates interest in a wide range of students because it really attracts different types of learners and people that like to write but also young people that are interested in science. So, what we like with this type of project is that it is an inquiry-based project.

Some of my colleagues said that because it wasn't something that is recurring and wasn’t in the regular curriculum, students were assigned something different to do. One colleague called that self-worth because someone believes that you can do research. You can write. You can do certain things. Another said this essay was a vector for some of her students to really feel empowered, to have agency, in their words. 

One teacher said because not every student is interested, she made sure that it was an extra project. As such, she presented it as, “OK, there's this contest if you'd like to participate. As a class, we're going to talk about how you write an essay anyway, but you have the opportunity to do something very specific.” When she graded them, because they did this extra work, it really helped the students to have in the report card that they went above and beyond the curriculum.

Someone else said it was done in a safe environment, “My students didn't feel like they could fail.” It was like a free exercise. Students had the freedom to do it without bad consequences because she was going to give them extra credit no matter what happened with the essays. So, the students knew that it was a win-win situation.

Do you think there is a benefit of students communicating issues about scientific concepts or even ideas outside the realm of science?

Yes, in British Columbia (BC) and in different places of Canada at least, a core competency is for students to understand their roles in the community and on a global scale. We need to determine how students are meeting those core competencies, and this is a tool that could allow us to see in a really concrete way if they are meeting them. Teachers can explain to their students how they can impact the world, and it's not always easy to find the connection between the world and the classroom. But I think this is a more authentic way for students to be able to showcase their civic responsibilities through what they're learning to really make those connections. 

Kids Boost Immunity (KBI) is another example of a special project. Can you talk about the program and how it relates to these ideas?

Kids Boost Immunity (KBI) is a non-profit Canadian education initiative made possible through a partnership between the Public Health Agency of Canada, the BC Ministry of Health, the Public Health Association of British Columbia, and the BC Centre for Disease Control.

KBI has free lessons and quizzes developed in partnerships between teachers and health professionals. Every time a student scores at least an 80% on a lesson quiz, a vaccine is donated to UNICEF Canada. This enables students to directly impact the health of others and connect their learning outcomes in a global context.

This makes KBI the perfect link, because we have this saying at KBI, “Act locally, to help globally.” We have over 500 lessons and quizzes on subjects like: science, social studies and health, with learning module topics like critical thinking, evaluating information, the spread of infectious diseases, and cross-curricular research and inquiry, just to name a few.

All of them have a really strong literacy component, and we added numeracy because, during COVID, by talking to teachers and students, we realized that a lot of kids missed some opportunities to learn, to be in classrooms. And so literacy and numeracy have become priorities in Canada for learners because that's where we see how COVID impacted students. 

Have you either used yourself, or heard of other teachers using, different types of special projects?

In Canada, I know there's different projects around water; there's a whole curriculum around water. In Manitoba, in Saskatchewan, in different regions they have these other programs outside of the classroom to better understand the environment. I think that themes around the environment have been really big because our country has been burning, we had floods in different areas too. So, you know global warming is real.

I'm also totally crazy about art and science together because I think that's something that we don't do enough. Art is math, perspectives. It's colors. It’s chemistry. It's physics. It's so many things.

What advice do you have for any teachers who are thinking about using a special project like this with their students?

My advice is to allow it to happen. Trust the process with your students because they can surprise you, and they know that they can surprise you. We need to do more for them to really feel they're capable. And they are; they have magic within them! And this is not just an essay contest. It's really an opportunity for students to shine, to show different aspects of what they're capable of. You have an opportunity to see something else in your students, and I think that's great.