Title: Eliminating the left-brain/right-brain conflict present in the traditional Critical Path Method

Authors: John Paxton

Addresses: Wayne State College, Wayne, NE 68787, USA

Abstract: In presenting Critical Path Method in the traditional manner, students experience a left-brain/right-brain conflict as they switch back and forth between the network diagram and the table ultimately used to calculate the slack values. For some students, this is not a problem; however, for many students, this is confusing to the point that these students refuse to use one or the other of these two essential tools. I have devised a presentation scheme that eliminates this conflict while simultaneously retaining all of the information content. This paper presents this scheme along with empirical evidence of its efficacy.

Keywords: CPM learning; left-brain/right-brain conflict; PERT; PERT/CPM; critical path method; information content; operations management education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIOME.2007.015285

International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education, 2007 Vol.2 No.2, pp.211 - 220

Published online: 01 Oct 2007 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article