Let's Get Real™

Abstract

The authors describe a nationwide program that exemplifies problem- based learning and allows secondary students to achieve authentic outcomes in the context of a business/school partnership. AMERICAN businesses regularly lament entry-level employees' lack of preparation for solving everyday business problems. One response to such criticism is Let's Get Real (LGR), a competitive problem-solving program now in its fifth year. LGR challenges teams of secondary students to solve actual business problems posed by corporate co- sponsors. It seeks to prepare students for employment and to furnish the co-sponsors with an untapped resource for problem solving. Teams of students submit written solutions to be judged by corporate executives, scientists, and engineers, and finalists present their solutions in person at corporate headquarters. Thus LGR exemplifies problem-based learning and allows students to achieve authentic outcomes in the context of a business/school partnership.1 There is no shortage of competitions for students in middle and high schools. But LGR involves real problems, posed by real corporations, not the contrived or highly abstract problems found in many other competitions. Although the teams are strongly encouraged to be creative, the main criterion of success is the cost/benefit ratio of the solution: it must be practical in the real world. The corporate co- sponsors play an active, hands-on role in the planning and operation of the competition, and the finalist teams meet face to face with those who posed the problem. This interaction is one of the most valuable aspects of LGR. Background Let's Get Real was created by Dan Holt, who was then a member of the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education (PAGE), a founding co-sponsor of the competition. Having a nonprofit, education-related co-sponsor gave the corporate co-sponsors significant tax benefits, liaisons with school districts, and opportunities to consult with teachers in the selection and appropriate wording of the problems posed. Criteria for choosing corporate co-sponsors have included name recognition, history of involvement in educational endeavors, and local access to decision makers. The methods of recruiting co-sponsors are varied. For example, in the early years, a senior vice president of one corporation was the initial contact. A PAGE member on the legal staff of another corporation expressed interest after hearing a presentation at a PAGE conference. In subsequent years, co-sponsors have contacted other potential co- sponsors directly. One strict rule in the recruitment of co-sponsors is that direct competitors are not to be involved. For the first year of the competition in Pennsylvania, the co-sponsors were Hershey Foods Corporation and PPL Corp. These two co-sponsors have remained with the competition and have been joined by AMP, Inc., Procter & Gamble, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Corporation, Commonwealth Telephone, StudyAbroad.com, and McCarls. Since the competition has expanded nationwide, the following Ohio corporations have signed on as co- sponsors: FirstEnergy, BookMasters, Gorman Rupp, and the Mansfield News-Journal. The roles of various participants are clearly defined. Let's Get Real, the nonprofit organization, provides the overall coordinator for the competition, who disseminates information through mailings and presentations at various meetings and through direct interaction with corporate co-sponsors. Student teams with questions not addressed by the problem packet are directed to contact the competition coordinator, who acts as an intermediary between the teams and the corporations. This prevents the corporations from being asked the same questions repeatedly and helps ensure uniformity in responses, since one person corresponds with all teams. Entries are sent to this coordinator, who then compiles a database and sends them on to the appropriate corporations. …