Students love when the teacher leads them through the learning process. I am trying to motivate them with various interesting projects and a modern approach to presenting materials. 

In my 7th year history classes I implemented "History in Design". Students have once a week to work in groups within or outside the classroom, at their pace and need, developing a theme chosen by them at the beginning of the year. Given the time required to perform the work it is evaluated by the class and teacher. The work involves other teachers, staff and the parents themselves. Some of the contents of the history course go against the themes chosen by the students who later serve as examples, such as the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece.
Another idea is to make a workshop class, putting the students in pairs to build their own knowledge from a theme, for example the Renaissance. Students use manuals or the internet for research and in the next class present their conclusions. 

Students learn what they like, interest, and practical application. Thus, in my example, I could take the concepts of electromagnetic induction and the production of large-scale electricity, contents that are taught in 11th year physics, and ask them to construct a model of a mini-hydro, for example, that to explain this phenomenon, the electromagnetic induction, in the production of the electricity that comes to our homes.
Later this week one of the students told me that I was going to watch the installation of the electrical installation in an uncle's house and that later I would ask about something I did not understand. Pick up the questions that the student can bring and ask the class to help him solve them, and make available to the students laboratory-related electrical materials so they can better explore and explain their ideas.
In digital terms there are also several simulator programs, such as https://phet.colorado.edu/en/, which are an excellent aid when it is not possible to perform in the laboratory. 

 The thing is to  make a connection between what students learn at school and their experience outside. In some curriculum subjets of Portuguese language and literature,  it’s quite evidente, in others it is not so easy. Continuing with my idea of the previous padlet, some literary topics  are very easily linked to the current society. For exemple when I introduce “Auto da Barca do Inferno” or “Farsa de Inês Pereira”, from Gil Vicente, a Portuguese playwright of the sixteenth century, it is very easy to talk about today's subject: inequality, corruption, tolerance, cultural conflicts, the womens' status throughout history, gender violence or hypocrisy. Students can be asked to be attentive to the news, bring news articles, talk about some experience, discuss these subjects…After, students can write articles for the school's online newspaper or even update the play with modern characters and show this adaptation to others or even to parents. They can also record their performances and publish it online. If the subject is grammatical rules, of course it is a little harder to make them appreciate the subjects!In this case, being themselves researching and discovering rules, explaining them to other learners, and creating interactive exercises using apps can be ways to make learning more motivating and empower students to build their learning.