I feel like this project was the first time that students were presented with a very challenging task and allowed to really struggle. It seemed to be most challenging for students who were consistently late or absent because they couldn't get involved in the beginning of class where we, as a class, discussed any issues coming up and student solutions, in addition to the energy of the students knowing that they were going to solve this huge problem. The other area students struggled in was their explanations. I suggest using peer review--I did this informally after reading some of their explanations--and requiring rewriting. I had a few very high achieving students who solved the problem after the first day and turned in what they thought was a finished product after the first weekend. I gave them suggestions and asked questions, but don't feel like it really improved their writing.

A few suggestions I would make to help this project go smoothly:
Â* have benchmarks due throughout the project so that students stay on track
Â* share good examples throughout the project or have students do peer reviews so they get ideas of what kind of explanations make sense
Â* comment on rough and final drafts and have students make revisions (I didn't get a chance to do this because of time constraints)