Group projects seem like a great way for students to collaborate and show their creativity. However, in reality group projects are a nightmare. 

Whether the group is assigned or chosen, group projects give some people free grades while others just gain stress and anxiety. Teachers should give individual projects to students instead. Individual projects show students’ knowledge, help them retain information and allow students to be creative.

Some people like group projects because they get to work with their friends. However, that doesn’t always work for the best. A person can have many friends in a class, yet if all their friends have other friends as well in the same class they can be left without a partner for the project. In that case, they would be stuck with a random person in class, contradicting the intent of choosing groups. In other circumstances, people will be asked to work on projects and feel pressured into saying yes. Chosen or assigned, groups are a lose-lose situation.  The statement “choose your group wisely” is engraved in students’ brains; but for many, even if given the option, their group isn’t a choice.

Students usually have fun working with other people; but when they have to depend on them for a grade, problems arise. Nobody wants to do extra work. High schoolers procrastinate enough, so when they have to pick up someone else’s work at the last minute it doesn’t usually work for the better.

Projects are supposed to be an easy summative with effort: no studying, no memorization and fun. The fun is taken out of the project when one person is doing the work of three. The whole idea of a creative project is ruined for the person who is doing the work of multiple people. Though projects are supposed to be a nice break from tests, it doesn’t seem that way when at the last minute someone tells you they can’t do their only part of the project. 

All summative assessments cause stress to students who care about their grades; but when students are relying on others to do their part, that increases stress levels even further. No matter what the project is, learning at midnight that half of the final project is not complete because a group member did not do their part leaves students with no sleep, low quality projects, stress and spite towards collaboration and the class.

However, if everyone would be given individual grades for a project it would ensure each person was doing their work and retaining the information while including the collaboration aspect.    

Individual projects show a student’s application and extent of the material and leave the work to an individual student, therefore, showing what that individual knows. The individual is the only one responsible for completing the project and the only one affected by the grade. 

While group projects are a nightmare for most, it’s a free grade for others. There are better ways to teach students how to collaborate. Individually graded projects decrease stress on students and eliminate students being rewarded for watching their classmates work. No one will ever do equal work on a group project if the project is being graded as a whole.