By Sophia Lashmar, Year 10
It’s that time of year when so many Year 9’s and 10’s either dread or can’t wait for: the week when they finally finish their ULP projects and change from Geography to History (or vice-versa). So what do the students actually think about the projects, which have replaced exams in Years 9 and 10?
After interviewing several students from both grades, the general consensus was that first, essays are not enjoyable to write, second, that research is not particularly interesting, and third, that teachers don’t always communicate the clearest instructions.
The Year 9 History project was an essay on a topic or concept of the students’ choosing. It involved a broader research question and guidelines than in previous years, which the students seemed to enjoy more, and they were glad to be able to choose the focus of their studies.
The Year 9 Geography essay’s research question was the same as the two previous years, and was deemed to have improved significantly in clarity of instructions and stress levels over this time.
The Year 10 History students were less pleased with their project assignments, especially compared to how much they enjoyed the year before’s project. The interviewees agreed that the source restrictions limited them and the creativity of their responses, as well as the overall feedback being that the instructions were difficult to comprehend and at times misleading.
G, (a Year 9 student) has just submitted her final History project. For her essay, she had to choose a topic and research it over the time periods covered by her History course. G chose to write about trade, and was happy with her final essay. She felt as if she had enough time to complete her work, and enjoyed the fact that her project was mostly stress-free. G was especially glad that the essay replaced the former exam-style assessment, so had few complaints about the essay. When asked whether she was looking forward to starting Geography, G replied that she had never experienced a Geography class before and was curious to begin.
N, another Year 9 student has just completed her final Geography essay. N’s assignment was to write about what matters most to the people of a city. This is the third year of this being the Year 9 essay question, and based on N’s experience, the Geography teachers seemed to have developed a comprehensive and detailed set of instructions, and were able to support her and answer her questions as she wrote. The project started out as a quick fix to replace exams, then developed for the next year group, who found it simpler to understand than their predecessors, and has now been turned into a well-rounded and dare I say it, interesting project. N’s only feedback was that she was stressed by the project, as it was one of the first major assessments in High School, but felt that she had sufficient time to work on her project in class and that she received plenty of encouragement and support from her teacher. N is excited to begin History classes this week!
B, the third Year 9 student interviewed, is currently in the process of finishing his History essay, which he wrote in French. B’s instructions were to write about a topic covered by his History course, and he chose to deepen his knowledge of the Reformation. While putting his ideas and research into words, B found it a challenge to organise his ideas into a well-structured essay. B’s feedback after this project is that he would have liked to have more guidance with the structure of his essay, and that more time to complete the project would have been helpful. B thinks that the week they had to complete the project wasn’t sufficient and says that he would like “at least two weeks” if he had to do it again. However, B was glad that he was given the opportunity to choose his topic, and that he could deepen his knowledge in a particular area of his choice. Lastly, when B was asked what he would change about this project, he replied that he only “wished [he] could change his grade”.
C, a Year 10 student who has just handed in her final Geography essay, was allowed to choose her own research question, and wrote about what matters most, taking in refugees, or not? C thought that this was an interesting topic, but struggled to truly love writing it, saying that she didn’t enjoy the research, and generally is not the biggest fan of essays. C’s feedback on the project was that while she enjoyed the freedom of choice subject-wise, she would have most certainly benefited from more specific guidelines. Lastly, when C was forced to stay home due to Covid-related issues, she was especially glad of her teacher’s understanding, who helped her devise a plan to complete her essay from home and allowed her an extension given the circumstances.
R, another Year 10 Geography student, has just completed his essay about whether immigration is good for Canada. R felt that he was given enough time to complete his project, and was glad that he could choose his own subject so that he could pick something he was interested in and one he had a personal connection to. When asked what he enjoyed when researching and writing his essay, R replied that “it’s an essay, so not much, really”, however after some thought, he answered that the instructions were clear and easy to follow, and that he especially enjoyed creating his own map as a visual aid for his essay. R enjoyed Geography, and so has mixed feelings about beginning History this week.
M, a Year 10 History student, has just handed in his project. Instead of choosing from the list of topics provided, M discussed his thoughts with his teacher, and chose his own topic, Absolutism in France and Russia. When asked whether he had enough time to complete his project, M was divided. On the one hand, the time allotted by his teacher to work on the project was sufficient, however, like C, M was unable to attend his History classes in the week where his class worked on the project as a result of Covid-related issues. Unlike C, his teacher did not allow him an extension and so as a result, M only had four days to write his 1000 word essay! Like his peers, M enjoyed the freedom he had to choose his own topic and was glad of the opportunity to choose the format and order of paragraphs for his project. However, M disliked the fact that the summative assessment was more of a gathering of smaller assignments than an essay or an exam. In addition, he found it challenging to write his essay without being given a physical research question. Furthermore, as the Year 10 History students were limited to one source of information (their textbooks), M felt that while this may have been helpful to some students to have more guided research, he felt restrained by these limitations. When asked if he was looking forward to starting Geography, he said he “[hopes] it has improved since last year, as [he] didn’t like that the main focus of the curriculum was on physical geography, rather than political geography”. M says that he will miss History, and that he found this project to be interesting, but that it could benefit from some adjustments.
Finally M, another Year 10 History student, has also just completed her final assessment. M chose from a list of eight core topics to write about European Imperialism in Africa. She went in depth with her project and focused on the imperialist territories of Britain, France and Belgium. M was given about two weeks to complete her project, and said she felt this was more than fair. What M most liked about the project was that there were defined objectives for each section of the project, which allowed her to clearly structure her writing and ideas. However, when the project was first introduced, she found the instructions confusing and was unsure about the format of the project, whether it was a formal essay or just a collection of paragraphs. M’s feedback is that the instructions for this project could definitely be clearer for the next cohort of students.
To conclude, there were mixed feelings about the Year 9 and 10 ULP projects for History and Geography, however all of the students agreed that they were more enjoyable and definitely less stressful than exams.
