You're not alone in this one! So many teachers struggle with managing projects and, as a result, end up just not including them as a learning option. The problem with that is, project-based learning actually works on so many levels and can develop various learning and life skills in students. Here's something to consider from the Buck Institute for Education about project-based instruction:
Project Based Learning can be transformative for students. By presenting students with a mix of choice and responsibility, cognitive concepts and practical activities, within an environment of real-world authenticity, projects engage students in learning that is deep and long-lasting.
So, rather than prescribe the direction of the learning, within a project-based approach, students can make their own choices and learn directly from those (even if their choices at times are not the most efficient ones). This builds responsibility of one's own learning process and places the student in the middle of the process. This is, in fact, a life skill for all students as they continue to learn.
In a 2008 article I wrote for T.H.E. Journal, I noted:
Points of Inquiry
Content can also now be presented as launching pads for inquiry. This stimulates critical thinking and immediate application of knowledge in terms of connection, summary, and inquiry.
Also, in relation to planning with the end in mind (PBL), working backward, instructors then decide which supporting questions should be posed, resources made available, and assessments created to facilitate this process. Finally, the starting point of the course becomes the ending outcome: engaged learning.
Therefore, the huge benefit of PBL is to plan the instructional projects from the end, back to the beginning, allowing students to make their own way, supported by input and guidance from the teacher, and interactive engagement with the content.
So, rather than a simple and linear flow from teacher to student, the student is in the center of his/her own learning process and interacting with and choosing from the various inputs and sources towards the end result or goal of the project.
TIP: Don't get "into the weeds" with your students in the project work. Keep your eye on the goal/end result and support the students towards that. You plan but let them do the work!
Coming up next, "Students don't like projects!" Stay tuned...