Competencies, motivation and innovation are the three magic words of education in the 21st century. They are the fundamental pillars for the comprehensive development of students, and they come hand in hand with new teaching methods that seek creativity, critical thinking and collaboration.

A very valuable tool to motivate students and encourage their participation in entrepreneurship and research projects is participation in educational calls and awards. This is something we have proven with our own experience of years teaching in Secondary Education and High School, and in this article we offer a guide for teachers who seek to involve their students in this type of initiatives.

Why innovate?

Teachers are looking for innovation, or in other words, they are looking for pedagogical novelties to break with traditional education and improve student motivation. But it is not easy.

Education laws insist on greater personalization of learning and more competency-based work, in which learners acquire the tools to understand the world around them, observe it critically and provide solutions. The lecture, in which the teacher speaks and the students listen and take notes, is relegated to the background in favor of active and meaningful methodologies such as project-based learning .

The motivation to participate in a project

But why would a student feel more motivated by doing a project than by taking a lecture? Motivation is a crucial element in the learning process. When students feel inspired and engaged through the development of a project, their curiosity is awakened. This leads them to explore new ideas and develop practical skills to solve them .

In this sense, educational calls based on the conceptualization of a project not only offer a space for students to develop their talent, but also allow them to work in teams, plan projects, face challenges and develop civic and social values.

In addition, cross-cutting elements such as digital ethics and sustainable development goals are addressed . All these elements contribute to establishing the “key competences for lifelong learning” : competence in linguistic communication, mathematics, science, technology and engineering; digital, personal, social and entrepreneurial competences.

Finally, the fact that there are rewards such as financial prizes, school supplies or even a study trip can also contribute to introducing that extra element of motivation among students.

Educational competitions in Spain

In Spain there are numerous educational competitions aimed at secondary and high school students, the following being notable for their relevance in terms of experience and participants:

1. Audicrea Challenge : Teams made up of three students ( challengers ) and a teacher ( driver ) must propose a project that addresses a current social problem. To carry out the project, the team must create a series of deliverables or a final product following the Lombard method , a method of business creativity that is applicable in education.

   After creating the final product, participants must record a video presenting their project. The top ten are invited to the Grand Final, where they share two days of work with experts from various fields and acquire communication skills for the presentation at the final event, held at the Teatro Príncipe Pío in Madrid, where the winner is decided.

   Being able to attend this final is already a real prize, but the winning team also receives an 18-day training trip along the west coast of the United States, ending with a stay in Silicon Valley, the cradle of technological innovation. The competition is currently in its tenth edition, with 586 projects submitted.

2. The Challenge by EduCaixa . Competition for educational projects related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In the 2024 edition, more than 1,950 projects were submitted.

   In this competition, each team, made up of four students and a teacher, must create a project related to a sustainable development goal and present it through a website and a video that are sent to the organization. The organization selects the 100 best projects, which are awarded with a four-day training campus in Barcelona, ​​where workshops, visits, communication dynamics, talks by experts, etc. are held.

   After improving the projects, they are exhibited on the last day of the campus, during which the jury selects a number of them to undertake a 12-day training trip to New York and Boston.

3. National Prize for Initiation to Technological Research . In this prize, which is now in its ninth edition, groups of five students together with a teacher must create a project within one of the following themes: Industrial Design, Renewable Energy, Energy Saving, Robotics, Disability Care, Waste Management, Smart Urbanism, Artificial Intelligence, Mechatronics, Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing, Digital Twin, Cybersecurity or Electric Vehicles. In this case, a project report must be submitted along with an explanatory video. The winning group receives a prize of €1,000.
4. First Lego League . This international robotics competition, in which more than 250,000 young people from 90 countries participate annually, combines programming, robotics and the development of a scientific project related to a theme that changes every year. Unlike the previous ones, registration entails an economic cost for the educational center and the costs of advancing in the different competitions (regional, national and international) are assumed by each participating team.

The four examples presented are just a glimpse of the possibilities that these competitions offer in education, motivating thousands of students and teachers every year. Applying them in the classroom is not an easy task and requires a great effort on the part of the teacher, but the satisfaction of seeing how students get involved and learn is worth it.

Author Bios: Amparo Ferrero Sanchis is a University professor in the Master of Teaching, secondary education teacher and researcher of the DICENTIA group and Carlos Lorente Rubio is an ESO teacher at Compañía de María La Enseñanza in Logroño. University professor of the Masters in Teaching and Educational Technology and Digital Competencies at UNIR. Member of the DICENTIA Research Group at UNIR.both at UNIR – International University of La Rioja