PLAYING THE PROJECT GAME

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Abstract
The effects of assessment on student attitudes to project work were explored by means of interviewing a class of final year students in a British university. The findings of the study suggest that, for these students, a hidden curriculum had marked effects on their approach to project work. They appeared to have a largely instrumental orientation to project work in that much of their effort was directed towards obtaining a good grade for their project rather than using the project as a learning experience. Some of the strategies used by the students to exploit the assessment system are described and these strategies are summarised in the form of a set of rules for playing the ‘project game’. On the basis of their interview responses to key questions, students were classified in terms of their participation in the ‘project game’ as ‘non‐players’, ‘players’ or ‘aficionados’. It was found that there was no statistically significant relationship between this classification and the grade each student received for project work. The significance of this finding is discussed.

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