[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-590304-105":59,"doc-detail-590304-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","but-money-makes-it-real-problematizing-capitalist-logic-in-project-based-learning","“But Money Makes It Real!” - Problematizing Capitalist Logic in Project-Based Learning","","AERA Open’s January–December 2025 article examines how project-based learning intersects with neoliberal capitalist logic. It analyzes a U.S. school’s BizTown simulation unit, highlighting mechanisms such as individualism, competition, profit maximization, commodification of learner-made artifacts, and market-based solutions to social problems. The paper argues that project-based learning may advance equity only if it adopts Freirian criticality and praxis, otherwise capitalist logic can reinforce real systems of oppression. ",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/but-money-makes-it-real-problematizing-capitalist-logic-in-project-based-learning/590304/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/but-money-makes-it-real-problematizing-capitalist-logic-in-project-based-learning/590304.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Pentious","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-10","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What relationship does the article explore between project-based learning and capitalism?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It explores how project-based learning can reflect neoliberal capitalist logic, even while aiming to improve engagement and develop 21st-century skills.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the BizTown simulation function within the project-based curriculum unit?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Students participate in a full-day adult-like simulation where they work, shop, and vote, earning BizTown dollars to manage overhead and buy goods and services.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What equity-oriented limitation does the article identify in some project-based learning approaches?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It argues that without Freirian emphasis on criticality and praxis, capitalist logic can persist and perpetuate systems of oppression.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},590304,1792171948,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":36,"preview_page_count":4},1374404730887,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","AERA Open  \nJanuary-December 2025, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1–16 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584241309919  \nArticle reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2025. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero)  \n“But Money Makes It Real!”: Problematizing Capitalist Logic in Project-Based Learning  \nSarah M. Fine  \nUniversity of California, San Diego  \nIn an effort to boost engagement while also nurturing 21st century skills such as collaboration and critical thinking, a growing number of U.S. public schools have expanded opportunities for students to engage in applied learning experiences via projects. This conceptual article explores the under-examined relationship between such experiences and the logic of neoliberal capitalism. The author explores how project-based learning, despite its potential as a lever for equity, sometimes takes up neoliberal capitalist tropes such as individualism, competition, profit maximization, the commodification of learner-made artifacts, and market-based solutions to social problems. The article suggests that until the field embraces approaches to project-based learning which include a Freirian emphasis on criticality andpraxis, capitalist logic will persist as a mechanism by which “real world” learning can perpetuate all-too-real systems of oppression.  \nKeywords: Authentic work, capitalism, case studies, critical pedagogy, critical theory, curriculum, descriptive analysis, equity, instructional design/development, observational research, project-based learning, social justice  \nOn a foggy November morning, 60 sixth-grade students arrive early to the campus of their urban public school. The kids are dressed to impress and buzzing with excitement. Today is their field trip to their local Junior Achievement BizTown site, 1 and they have been looking forward to it for months. As the teachers check permissionslips and organize the carpool groups, the kids chatter to each other about the day to come. “I’m gonna use my whole paycheck to buy candy,” one kid announces to his friends.“There better be candy.”  \nThe visit—a full-day simulation experience in which students work, shop, and vote as if they are adults—is the culmination of a project-based curriculum unit whose stated goals involve career exploration, entrepreneurial thinking, and financial literacy. Each week for twelve weeks, drawing on BizTown’s proprietary curriculum resources, the school’s sixth-grade teachers teach lessons on topics such as the virtues of free enterprise, how banks make loans, and how to keep track of money earned versus money spent. Later, the students conduct research into the training requirements and salaries associated with their dream careers. Finally, they write applications for the job that they wanted during their BizTown visit. Some will be bankers; some will work for the local utility company; some will work in healthcare; some will work as managers in fast-food joints. One of them will be the CEO. Another will be the Mayor. In return for executing their jobs well, all students will earn Monopoly-style“BizTown” dollars, to be used to cover their own business’s  \noverhead as well as to buy goods and services at the other businesses in the building.  \nBizTown itself has a mall-like layout. Arranged around an indoor courtyard are realistic storefronts that advertise the names of the businesses and organizations that anchor the simulation, many of which double as the program’s financial sponsors. Once the carloads of kids have arrived, the students and parent volunteers gather for an orientation. A facilitator shares the rules, including an important “no running”rule; any student caught running will have to pay a fine and be lectured by the Mayor. At the end of the orientation, a student participant who has been assigned to the role ofenvironmental specialist stands up and reads off a script.“We wil","cbCaikRWcP6BPqDZ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikRWcP6BPqDZ","pdf",738266,16,"English","# Problematizing Capitalist Logic in Project-Based Learning\n## Context and rationale for project-based learning\n## BizTown simulation as a project-based curriculum unit\n## Goals, training, and financial incentives in BizTown\n## Orientation rules and participant roles\n## Article purpose and theoretical framing","[{\"question\":\"What relationship does the article explore between project-based learning and capitalism?\",\"answer\":\"It explores how project-based learning can reflect neoliberal capitalist logic, even while aiming to improve engagement and develop 21st-century skills.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the BizTown simulation function within the project-based curriculum unit?\",\"answer\":\"Students participate in a full-day adult-like simulation where they work, shop, and vote, earning BizTown dollars to manage overhead and buy goods and services.\"},{\"question\":\"What equity-oriented limitation does the article identify in some project-based learning approaches?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that without Freirian emphasis on criticality and praxis, capitalist logic can persist and perpetuate systems of oppression.\"}]","“But Money Makes It Real!” - Problematizing Capitalist Logic in Project-Based Learning | PDF",1792069291]