Student-designed Summer Projects

Some schools require students to do summer projects to ensure they continue learning during break. Some schools think it should be teacher-designed and some think it should be student-designed. Summer projects should be more student-designed because Students get to chose what their project is on, Students may be more interested in the project, and Students can be more creative.

Students get to chose what their summer projects are on if it is more student-designed. For example, Generic_Name is assigned a summer project by her English teacher; the teacher said to write about anything she wanted. So, she wrote about her vacation trip to Maine and got an A on the project. Since she had more free will over her project she enjoyed writing it and got a good grade. Likewise, Generic_Name is assigned a summer project by her Forensics teacher. She decided to do her project on Ted Bundy and his crime scenes. She liked this project, because she got to examine Ted Bundy's crime scenes and learn more about what he did and why. Because Generic_Name and Generic_Name got to choose what they wrote about, they both enjoyed their summer projects.

Students may be more interested in their summer projects if it is more student-designed. For example, Generic_Name's Journalism teacher told him to write a news article as long as it happened over the summer. Generic_Name wrote about a man who was dressed up as Spider-Man and saved a child who was about to fall out of a building. He saved the child by climbing the side of the building just like Spider-Man. He liked writing about this, because he enjoys the Marvel character Spider-Man. Since Generic_Name got to write about something he was interested in he enjoyed his summer project. Also, Generic_Name's Film studies teacher told him to write a movie review about a movie coming to theaters over the summer. Generic_Name decided to do a movie review on Wonder Woman 1984. Since, Generic_Name is interested in the DC Universe he liked writing about Wonder Woman 1984 and connecting it to the previous Wonder Woman movies and tv shows. Because Generic_Name and Generic_Name were interested in what they were writing about they enjoyed their summer projects.

Students can be more creative on summer projects if it is student-designed. For example, Generic_Name is assigned a summer project by her Science teacher. The project was allowed to be on anything involving science. Generic_Name decides to do her project on energy powered by lemons. She creates a presentation with a poster board and explains how lemons can create energy, she also makes a prototype of lemons making energy. Since she was allowed to do anything and had no restrictions for her science project, she was able to be more creative on her project. Likewise, Generic_Name is assigned a summer project by his History teacher. The teacher said to write about anything as long as it dealt with history. Generic_Name chooses to write about the Holocaust, because he was going to Germany for the summer. Generic_Name made a PowerPoint about his trip and put photos he took of the concentration camps on the slides. Because Generic_Name got to do his project his way; he was more creative. Since the summer projects were student-designed Generic_Name and Generic_Name got more creative on their summer projects.

In conclusion, summer projects should be student-designed instead of teacher-designed because Students get to chose what their project is on, Students may be more interested in their projects, and Students can be more creative. Instead of having summer projects that are topics Students aren't interested in, students have more of a chance of zoning out and not doing their project, and out-lined projects which creates less creativity. Therefore the project just turns into busy work for the Students over the summer. If the projects are more student-designed the students may actually like the project and may want to do it again for the following summer.