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Investor Pitch for an early 20th century invention
374 Plays1 month ago
Jason Vander Meulen (Waterloo Collegiate Institute, Waterloo, Ontario)
Finalist of the 2024 Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Teaching
For more information about the award visit CanadasHistory.ca/TeachingAward
In Jason Vander Meulen’s grade 10 history project, students developed an Investor Pitch for an early 20th century invention. The Investor Pitch was used as a creative medium to communicate historical findings because of connections to the recent, regional history of Waterloo. The area is the home of the BlackBerry and many start-up incubators; the tech sector has long been an important engine of the community. After exploring this regional history of innovation and learning the components of the start-up pitch, Vander Meulen introduced the concept of disruptive technologies and explored some modern examples. Students researched an invention or innovation from the first half of the last century. The inquiry coincided with a focus on ways of life and on social history, positioning the students for an immersive approach to the assignment. In their teams, students developed a historical persona and their pitch decks while incorporating the findings of their research.
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Announcement
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of the Teaching Canada's History podcast. I'm your host, Brooke Campbell, and today we are speaking with the finalists of the 2024 Governor General's History Award for Excellence in Teaching.
00:00:17
Speaker
Created in 1996, the award recognizes innovative and impactful approaches to teaching Canadian history.
Interview with Jason VanderMeulen
00:00:23
Speaker
For more information, visit canadashistory.ca slash teaching award.
00:00:28
Speaker
Today I'm speaking with Jason VanderMeulen, a high school history teacher in Waterloo, Ontario. Welcome, Jason. Hey, Brooke, thanks for having me.
Innovative Teaching Project Overview
00:00:36
Speaker
Will you provide us you know an overview of the project that you have designed for your your students to to do?
00:00:44
Speaker
Yeah, sure. So my project is pitching an early 20th century invention. For the students, the investor pitch is a different medium of communication. And the project requires a historical inquiry that gets pretty immersive.
00:00:58
Speaker
So they get really into the social history of their subject. um It's a shift from the essay, of course, and I recognize how inauthentic the essay actually is. Generally, there's very little use of the essay beyond academia.
00:01:14
Speaker
I still see tremendous value in it and I'm going to keep teaching it because of the inherent logical structure of the essay. But I chose this startup investor pitch as a creative medium to communicate historical
Connecting Project to Waterloo's History
00:01:26
Speaker
findings. It makes really good connections to the recent regional history of Waterloo.
00:01:31
Speaker
We're home of the BlackBerry. We have many startup incubators. The tech sector has long been an important engine in our community. Our school, Waterloo Collegiate, is nestled between two universities. So innovation and the startup culture, it's all part of our regional ecosystem here.
Learning Through Disruptive Technology & Canadian History
00:01:48
Speaker
Most high school students, of course, they're quite removed from this world. So we need to explore this regional history of innovation and we need to learn the components of the startup pitch.
00:01:59
Speaker
So we introduce the concept of disruptive technologies, and new innovations and explore some modern examples. Students usually cite things like cell phones or ah vaccinations or renewable energy and students then move on. They conduct research of an invention or an innovation from the first half of the last century.
00:02:21
Speaker
And the inquiry coincides the focus on the ways of life on social history. This positions the students really well for an immersive approach to the assignment and in their teams, they develop a historical persona, they develop their pitch decks and they incorporate their findings of their research while they're doing all of this. oh Eventually, ah it it all um comes together as a presentation.
00:02:47
Speaker
that they can they can deliver in a variety of ways, often kind of suitable to their own comfort levels and and what they would like to do, ideally in a classroom setting, sometimes as a video and sometimes just with me as ah an audience.
00:03:04
Speaker
There's bridging of a lot of different themes and ideas going on in this project.
Exploring Canadian Innovations
00:03:08
Speaker
Can you speak more to how your students are able to utilize the historical thinking concepts and and deepen their historical thinking throughout this work?
00:03:19
Speaker
Yeah, sure. um The focus on disruptive technology is a focus on historical significance. It's a real shift. for students to think about disruption as something that upends older ways of life so that to result in a more innovative way of doing things.
00:03:37
Speaker
Students have been told for much of their young lives not to be disruptive, right? So we tend to measure significance in a number of ways as historians, but here it's the historical impact. In other words, the disruption that's central.
00:03:52
Speaker
When students articulate the problem and the solution components of their pitch, they're sharing the results of this and historical inquiry. These are nineteen twenty s solutions, for example, to nineteen twenty s problems. And it's neat to see the students sort of wrap their heads around that.
00:04:11
Speaker
A guiding question for the project is how were the ways of life for Canadians changed by their chosen inventions? Students are pitching innovations like insulin or monopoly traffic lights or even instant cake mix, right? So in some cases, the impact is revolutionary.
00:04:29
Speaker
In others, you can describe the impact as being more localized, something specific to a 1940s homemaker, for example, or maybe a field soldier in the Second World War.
00:04:41
Speaker
The historical perspective is part of this focus on impact. It especially comes out in the exploration of social history and the focus on Canadians' ways of life. Students begin to learn how disruptive technology has always been part of the historical discussion.
00:04:56
Speaker
We can think about the agricultural revolution. We can think about bronze or iron. We can think about the ways that early European newcomers were reliant on Indigenous technology in order to survive in these lands.
00:05:08
Speaker
So as historians, we gravitate to these defining moments. And when something old gives way to something new and life changing, um the students in the pitch, they try to share these historical perspectives when they present their pitches in role as their historical persona.
Supporting Learning with Community Resources
00:05:27
Speaker
been thinking about this project, and but also your classroom in general and going beyond this work. What resources do you use to support teaching and and learning history and and how do you use them?
00:05:42
Speaker
Yeah, there are a lot of in-class options that I provide to the students. I really like the old Canadiana scrapbooks. They're still a wonderful source of early 20th century advertisements and they give wonderful accounts of new innovation.
00:05:56
Speaker
have an in-class library of old Canadian history textbooks. And I like to start there because once you open it up to online research, the spines of those books will not get cracked at all.
00:06:08
Speaker
There's a few online sources that I do curate for the students for the purpose of the assignment. um I find that what students get into the most, they get really excited about the twentieth century slang. um And it's because they are presenting in role.
00:06:23
Speaker
They can't wait to incorporate this into their scripts, get a lot of bees knees and cats pajamas coming out in in those presentations. But the most valuable resources I think I've developed are those in conjunction with community partnerships.
Future Plans for Community Involvement
00:06:39
Speaker
So I'm no expert in the worlds of venture capitalism or angel investing or startup culture. Luckily, there are lots in this community who are and for the components of the pitch, I've consulted with Dural Communications. It's a local company that specializes in pitch coaching.
00:06:56
Speaker
And after a few conversations with them, I'm able to instruct my students about the most important parts of a pitch deck. And my hope for future classes is to bring in these community experts as guests to conduct a ah pitch deck 101 session for or my students.
00:07:15
Speaker
That sounds like it be lots of fun. um And speaking of, you know, working with experts and and consultation and and kind of thinking, i feel like the bigger picture here, you know, what impact do you see that this project has had on your students' learning? And and perhaps what are some of the outcomes that you've seen in the community?
Project Popularity & Conclusion
00:07:37
Speaker
Yeah, this is the kind of activity that students often enjoy. There's a lot of creativity and a lot of play involved. Many students like to see themselves in a modern dragon's dance scenario and they can really have fun with it.
00:07:52
Speaker
The historical immersion required by the assignment really adds a layer to the educational experience. For most, it's a pretty memorable part of the course. Again,
00:08:02
Speaker
I think because of the play, the interaction, and um they have to feed off each other as well. And and and they can really run with some some pretty unique and original things that that they're doing.
00:08:16
Speaker
What's happening is we undertake the part the process of this assignment. Students are learning the structure of a modern, formal medium of communication.
00:08:27
Speaker
There's a rationale behind each component of the pitch, the value proposition, the problem, the solution. So just like each part of the the essay, there's a rationale behind all of those. It's a logical structure.
00:08:42
Speaker
um But I think the pitch has more authenticity than the essay. For the students, it can have potential connections to a professional world. And I really like how it makes connections to the recent regional history of Waterloo as well.
00:08:58
Speaker
This connection to the community, it grabs the students in some pretty interesting ways, but I like how they become more aware of their community and they they see it in a new light.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah, that would be really special, I think. new A new lens on the community. um Thank you so much for speaking with me today, Jason, and for sharing more about the project that you have been leading in your classroom.
00:09:21
Speaker
Yes, my pleasure, Brooke. Thank you again for having me on here.