parent complaints By Doni

As far as projects go, research has shown that children who use information to make something wholly their own retain about 80% of the information, whereas children who are lectured to and memorize for a test only retain about 50% of what they learn (Learning Focused Schools). Children who teach what they have learned to other students have a near 100% retention rate (Georgia Council for Social Studies).

I have a graph showing how different activities result in different retention rates and I send it home at the beginning of the year with my letter showing why I use projects heavily in my class. You might want to check out the Learning Focused SChools website and see if they have that chart on their site (you will have to do a search, my link is on my other computer - sorry). Even still, I have students and parents complain about projects - even though all of ours are completed in class. Projects require more thinking and planning than tests, so there will always be someone who would rather cram for a test.