The projects that dominate today's "project-based learning" pose problems for those I call "left-brainers:" linear, analytical thinkers who struggle with big-picture thinking. The more open-ended the projects, the more they have trouble even knowing where, and how, to begin.
Now research from psychology, as reported in a recent Economist article, suggests that open-endedness may pose problems for all students:
People act in a timely way when given concrete tasks but dawdle when they view them in abstract terms.Researchers led by Sean McCrea, of the University of Konstanz in Germany, compared how speedily students completed such tasks as explaining how they might go about keeping a diary (concrete) vs. asking why someone might want to keep a diary (abstract). The results:
[A]lmost all the students who had been prompted to think in concrete terms completed their tasks by the deadline while up to 56% of students asked to think in abstract terms failed to respond at all.Given this, today's teachers might consider how many of their students are actually completing such assignments as "invent a culture," "make up a game using everything you know about math," or, indeed, "write about why people keep diaries." Perhaps, often, it isn't the student, but a more future-thinking, grade-obsessed parent, who is doing most of the work.