During summer break, many students are busy on vacation or are preoccupied with other activities. Because of this, students are not reinforcing what they have previously learned or preparing for the upcoming school year. Summer projects are an efficient way to get students familiar with and exposed to concepts they will learn in school and bolster their knowledge. However, the decision of making summer projects either teacher-designed or student-designed creates a debate of the effectiveness of both types of projects. Summer projects should be teacher-designed as teachers are more knowledgeable with the curriculum which will allow them to prepare an assignment that is more effective for the student, teacher-assigned projects will provide a guide for what the students will or should learn, and students will most likely feel more prepared for school with an assignment created by the teacher.

Since teachers know more about the subject they teach more than the students, having teachers create their own assignment for their students will be more effective. They know what the students need to learn based on the curriculum, so it is ideal for them to decide what they should study over the break. Students will get more out of the assignment if the teacher prepares an assignment that relates directly to what they will learn in class when school begins. It will also strengthen their knowledge and possibly reinforce what they had learned before.

Teacher-designed projects will be a guide for students during their summer break to study useful information for their classes. Teachers can design projects that is relevant to the curriculum of the class and plan out what is necessary and useful to know versus what is not. In addition, teachers usually expose basic ideas and important concepts that will help students to make connections to what they learned through the summer assignment. These teacher-designed also provides some insight for the student on what to expect in the courses that they take.

Having teachers make their own summer projects will expose the material that students need to know when they go back to school. It will help students to feel more comfortable coming to class and ready to begin learning. Through these projects, students have studied and have a better understanding of the curriculum of the class as the teacher directed the students on content they need to know. These projects also help students to gradually feel familiar with concepts they learn in the beginning of the school year rather than jumping straight ahead to learning something new.

Not only do teacher-designed projects enforce learning and help students to get more comfortable with the content of the class, but they also prepare students before the upcoming school year begins. It is ideal for teachers to design such projects as they know most about the curriculum of the class, and it allows them to prepare a useful tool for students to study to get familiar with concepts and important ideas of the class. These projects are a small exposure of what students are expected or need to know and will help them to be more successful when they begin learning in their classes.