Hi, this is Ray.

I want to start with a specific realization I had a few years ago about my most successful learning periods. I was reviewing my learning history (the projects I'd committed to, the subjects I'd studied, the skills I'd developed) and I noticed a specific pattern. The learning that had actually produced durable capability was almost always structured around building something concrete. Not abstract study of the topic. Actual projects with actual outputs. Meanwhile, the learning that had produced very little was almost always structured around consuming information without building anything.

This wasn't a small difference. Looking back honestly, the difference in outcomes between project-structured learning and consumption-structured learning was categorical. Project-based learning produced skills I could actually use. Consumption-based learning produced awareness of topics I couldn't actually apply. Same time investment. Wildly different returns depending on the underlying structure.

At the time, I noticed this pattern without fully understanding it. I've written before in this newsletter about the generation effect… the specific research showing that producing things dramatically outperforms consuming things for retention and understanding. That research explains part of what I was observing. But there's a more specific framework worth understanding: project-based learning. This isn't just "make things while you learn." It's a specific approach to structuring your entire learning around building projects that has been studied extensively in educational research, and the findings are more striking than most learners realize.

Today's newsletter is about that. What the research actually shows about project-based learning as a framework, why structuring your learning around building projects produces categorically better outcomes than structuring it around consuming information, and how to actually apply this framework to your own learning life. This is genuinely one of the highest-leverage shifts available to any serious adult learner. Let's get into it.

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Let me start with what the science actually shows, because the evidence is more concrete than most learners realize.

According to a 2026 mixed-methods study, the findings revealed that PBL has a significant positive impact on academic achievement based on Hedges' g value effect size of 1.11. The experimental implementation of PBL in mathematics instruction also yielded a moderate effect (g = 0.66). Read that number. A Hedges' g effect size of 1.11 is genuinely large. To put this in context: in educational research, effect sizes above 0.4 are considered educationally meaningful. An effect size above 1.0 is substantial. This means the average student using project-based learning approaches significantly outperforms the average student using traditional consumption-based approaches, to a degree that shows up clearly in outcome measurements.

The meta-analytic evidence is worth understanding. According to a comprehensive meta-analysis of 66 experimental studies, the results of the study showed that compared with the traditional teaching model, project-based learning significantly improved students' learning outcomes and positively contributed to academic achievement, affective attitudes, and thinking skills, especially academic achievement. Read this carefully. Sixty-six studies. Twenty years of research. Consistent finding: project-based approaches outperform traditional approaches across academic achievement, attitudes toward learning, and thinking skills. This isn't one study that could be a fluke. This is a consistent pattern across a large body of research.

The recent research from Lucas Education adds more evidence. According to their summary, four newly released peer-reviewed research studies show that using rigorous project-based learning in U.S. public schools has strong and positive effects on student outcomes across grades and subjects. Project-based learning (PBL) is an inquiry-based approach in which students explore real-world problems through individual and group projects. With PBL, students make sense of why content is useful and how it might be applied. The mechanism worth noting: students make sense of why content is useful and how it might be applied. This is the specific advantage of project-based structuring. The information you're learning gets tied to actual use, which produces both better retention and better transfer to real situations.

The specific parameters that produce the strongest effects are worth knowing. According to the meta-analytic research, project-based learning promotes student learning effects more significantly in engineering and technology subjects, and is better applied in laboratory classes than in theory classes; project-based learning is more suitable for small group teaching, in which the group size is 4-5 people teaching the best results; 9-18 weeks is more appropriate and has more obvious advantages. Read this. The strongest effects appear in hands-on domains, with small groups, over 9-18 week timeframes. This has direct implications for how you should structure your own project-based learning as an adult.

Let me name the specific mechanisms by which project-based learning produces categorically different outcomes than consumption-based learning.

Concrete application forces genuine understanding. When you're just consuming information, you can maintain the illusion of understanding by nodding along without ever testing whether you actually get it. When you're building something, the specific components of your understanding get tested continuously. If your understanding is incomplete, the project reveals exactly where. This produces the specific corrective feedback that consumption alone doesn't provide.

Motivation stays higher through completion. Abstract learning goals ("I want to understand X") often produce declining motivation as time passes. Project goals ("I want to build Y") produce more sustained motivation because you can see progress toward the specific concrete output. In Studio Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart, Shizuku doesn't grow as a writer through abstract study of craft… she grows by committing to actually writing a specific novel with a deadline. The concrete project produces the growth that abstract aspiration wouldn't have sustained.

Information gets organized around use. Consumption-based learning tends to organize information by topic ("here's everything I've read about X"). Project-based learning organizes information by application ("here's what I needed to build Y"). The second organization is more useful because it maps to how you'll actually need to access the information later.

Skills develop through practice rather than theory. Many things you might want to learn are ultimately skills, not just knowledge. Skills develop through practice, not through study. Project-based learning inherently includes the practice component that skill development requires. Consumption-based approaches often omit this component entirely, which is why you can study a skill for years and still not be able to do it.

Feedback loops become tight and specific. When you're building something, feedback is constant. It works or it doesn't. It looks right or it doesn't. It solves the problem or it doesn't. This tight feedback loop lets you rapidly refine your understanding based on what actually works. Consumption-based learning has much longer feedback loops that produce less refinement per hour of effort.

Integration happens naturally. Complex projects require integrating knowledge from multiple areas. This integration is often the hardest part of expertise… being able to bring together things you learned separately and apply them together. Consumption-based learning rarely produces this integration because there's no forcing function. Project-based learning produces it constantly because the project doesn't respect the boundaries between topics.

Okay, the practical part. Here's how to actually apply project-based learning to your own learning life as an adult.

Choose your projects strategically. The best learning projects have several specific characteristics. They should be genuinely difficult enough to require you to learn things you don't yet know. They should be concrete enough that you can tell whether you've completed them. They should produce something you actually want to have or use. They should be scoped to fit a 9-18 week timeframe based on the research. And they should have some external audience or evaluator, even if it's just yourself using the output.

Examples across different domains:

The specific pattern: define what you're building. Build it. Learn what you need along the way.

Reverse-engineer the learning from the project. Start with the project you want to build. Work backward to identify what you need to learn to complete it. This produces a learning agenda that's specifically shaped by real requirements rather than by abstract completeness. You learn what you need for the project, in the order the project requires you to need it.

Accept that you'll learn things out of order. Traditional education teaches things in a specific pedagogical order… prerequisites first, then advanced material. Project-based learning often requires you to encounter advanced material before you have full prerequisites, and to circle back to fill in fundamentals as you need them. This feels wrong but produces better learning because everything you learn is tied to specific use rather than abstract sequence.

Build in specific milestones and deliverables. Even long projects should have milestones. Every 2-3 weeks, produce something concrete. This maintains momentum, provides checkpoints where you can assess progress, and creates natural points for adjustment if something isn't working.

Get external input on your output. The research showed that PBL works best with some external evaluation. Show your work to people who can give real feedback. This might mean posting your code for review, showing your writing to editors, playing your music for other musicians, teaching what you've learned to actual students. External input catches things your own perspective misses.

Choose collaborators strategically. The research suggested group sizes of 4-5 produce the strongest effects. For most adult learners, this translates to identifying one to four other people working on adjacent things you can learn alongside. Not exactly the same project… but adjacent enough that your work can inform each other's.

Give projects enough time to matter. The 9-18 week timeframe from the research isn't arbitrary. Shorter projects don't require enough learning to produce significant capability. Longer projects often lose momentum before completion. Somewhere in that range hits the sweet spot for adult learning projects.

Reflect on what the project revealed about your learning. After completing a project, spend time explicitly reflecting on what you learned… both about the subject matter and about yourself as a learner. What did you struggle with? What came easily? What did you notice about your learning process? This meta-learning compounds across projects.

Some honest caveats about when this framework works less well.

For pure knowledge learning with no application. Some things you're learning purely for their intrinsic interest without any application intent. Reading history for pleasure. Understanding a field you're just curious about. These don't necessarily benefit from being forced into project structure. Sometimes consumption is genuinely the right mode.

When you're truly a beginner. Very early in a new field, you often don't know enough to even design a reasonable project. Some initial consumption-based learning may be necessary before project-based approaches can work well. But get to projects sooner than feels comfortable… the temptation is to spend too long in the preparation phase before starting to build.

When the domain doesn't lend itself to concrete projects. Some abstract or theoretical areas don't have natural project structures. In these cases, you might need to invent project-like structures (writing papers, giving presentations, teaching others) that create the equivalent of project structure even for abstract material.

When you don't have time for extended projects. Some learning has to happen quickly. A test coming up in two weeks doesn't allow for a full project approach. In these situations, techniques from previous newsletters (spaced repetition, active recall) may serve better than trying to force project structure.

When collaboration isn't available. The research suggests group approaches often work better than solo. Some adults have limited access to collaborators. This doesn't invalidate project-based approaches, but it does mean solo learners need to be more deliberate about getting external input somehow.

Here's what I want you to take from all this. The framing of learning as primarily consumption (read the book, watch the course, absorb the information) captures only part of how learning actually works, and it's often the less effective part. Structuring learning around building things produces categorically better outcomes because it addresses the specific mechanisms that produce durable learning: application, integration, tight feedback, sustained motivation, and skill development through practice.

If you've been in the "study then apply" pattern for your learning and finding that the application phase never quite arrives or that when you try to apply what you studied you discover you didn't really understand it, please consider that the structure might be the issue. Reversing the pattern (starting with what you want to build and learning what you need along the way) often produces dramatically better results than the study-first approach.

The specific practical move I'd suggest: for your next significant learning project, define the specific thing you want to build before you decide what you'll study. Work backward from the project to identify what you need to learn. Give yourself 9-18 weeks. Include some form of external evaluation. Notice how different the learning feels when it's structured around a concrete output rather than around abstract mastery of a topic.

In Hollow Knight, the Knight doesn't grow stronger by reading about combat in the abstract… each new area demands specific capabilities the Knight has to develop through actual attempts against actual challenges. The learning is always in service of concrete progress through specific terrain, which is what makes each new ability stick and become usable in later situations. Your adult learning can work the same way. The projects don't just consume the learning you've done… they generate the learning you need. Build first. Learn as you go. The capability that emerges will be more useful, more durable, and more genuine than what pure study would ever produce.

Keep learning (and keep building),

Ray