The task is the test

What does cheating mean to kids whose understanding of learning is that it is a cooperative endeavor? This year during STEM week, 6-7's at Parker will design and build a bridge over a creek on our school property.  Their multi-layered task is not unlike the type of problem-solving that UCLA students did when their professor challenged them to think differently about taking a test.  In Cheating to Learn, a fascinating article about the typical competitive, grade-based culture of many schools - where cooperation equals cheating - professor Peter Nonacs says, "The test itself becomes a learning experience – where the very act of taking it leads to a deeper understanding of the subject."  With project-based learning, the task is the test.