Ambition in focus

When students start working together, it is valuable to express their ambitions and expectations beforehand. This exercise helps students gain clarity about their own goals and those of their group members. This insight creates a strong foundation for effective collaboration. This exercise is ideal to use at the beginning of a project.

1. Ask each student to write down what final result they aim to achieve for the project. This could be a specific grade (e.g., a 10, a 7, or a 5.5) or a general ambition (sufficient, good, excellent). 2. Have each student share their grade and motivation with the group. Why do they have this ambition? Important: During this round, other group members do not respond yet. Everyone first gets the opportunity to express their own goal. 3. After all ambitions have been shared, students discuss how they will approach the project based on these different motivations. This conversation can be challenging, especially if ambitions vary widely. As an instructor, you can: • Guide the discussion to help the group reach collective agreements. • Clarify differences, explaining what they mean for collaboration. • Encourage students to find common ground and make compromises. 4. Once the group has reached an agreement, they make concrete arrangements: • What does our ambition mean in terms of behavior? • What working methods align with our goals? Example Agreements: If everyone aims for a passing grade (e.g., a 6), their agreements might be: • We work as efficiently as possible. • We meet for a maximum of one hour after school. • We divide the tasks and complete them individually. If the ambition is higher (e.g., a 9 or 10), the agreements might be: • We take extra time to improve the project. • We critically review each other’s work and provide feedback. • We ensure the final result meets high-quality standards.