"Too much homework can be counterproductive"

[Andrew Green]

http://physorg.com/news4333.html

"Instead of improving educational achievement in countries around the world, increases in homework may actually undercut teaching effectiveness and worsen disparities in student learning, according to two Penn State researchers. "

 

[TonyM.]

I dissagree with their entire premice. Maybe too much importance is put on grading homework.

 

[Sam]

hehehe!

I KNEW IT!


thats it, proof that homework should now be made illegal.

 

[hemi]

On the issue of home work I have to take a stand for the kids. My oldest daughter was in the 6th grade this past year. The amount of home work and the difficulty of the projects that she was asked to do were to me more like punishment than educational.



One such project the class was required to complete was to make a working model of a device that shows, and uses one or more of Newton’s laws. I am a building engineer; I maintain a 40 story high rise in down town Dallas. I and two other engineers build a model that showed all three laws it took us five hours to build. To make a long story short she got an A but she didn’t do anything but take what we build to school. How was a 6th grade child going to build something like this on their own?



Also every day my daughter would bring home between two and three hours of home work. This is crazy let kids be kids, they need time to play and unwind. I wrote a letter to the teacher once to ask her what my daughter does for the eight hours a day spent at school. I never did get an answer.



The other big issue that drives me crazy as far as school goes would be the emphasis on the TAX test. It used to be called the TAAS test but in TX passing this test is required to advance from 3rd to 4th grade then again from 6th to 7th I think then again at 9th to 10th and finally at 12th grade to graduate. The school spends so much time teaching this test that many, many things get left out.

 

[Andrew Green]

aka - Homework for the sake of homework...


Lots of teachers seem to live by that code.

 

[Sam]

what we like to call ******** work.

or, more commonly known as busy work.

 

[ginshun]

I wish somebody would have given this to my dynamics professor in college.

 

[Rynocerous]

I disagree, I think it is very important in the preparation for university workloads. When I was in high school I would have agreed, but now that I'm in university, I think it was important, and wish I took it a little more seriously.


Cheers,

Rynocerous

 

[Andrew Green]

I disagree, I think it is very important in the preparation for university workloads. When I was in high school I would have agreed, but now that I'm in university, I think it was important, and wish I took it a little more seriously.

University work had a point to it. In Grade school there is a lot of repetition to the point of insanity for those that "get it" and pointless "busy work" that has no function other then to make you work.

Besides, preperation for University should not begin in younger grades. Kids need free time, creativity, play, sports, etc. Not Mindless repetition and "busy work".

 

[Rynocerous]

University work had a point to it. In Grade school there is a lot of repetition to the point of insanity for those that "get it" and pointless "busy work" that has no function other then to make you work.

Besides, preperation for University should not begin in younger grades. Kids need free time, creativity, play, sports, etc. Not Mindless repetition and "busy work".

Yes, I understand but repetition is how you learn, and point in fact necessary. The ages that your brain grows and soaks up the most information is between the ages of 2-8. After this point it is more difficult to retain information, and is necessary to pound in the routine when they are young, and their brains are sponges.

Cheers,

Rynocerous

 

[Andrew Green]

Yes, I understand but repetition is how you learn, and point in fact necessary.

To some extent. But different people learn things differently. Straight repetition might work for some, but for others it is mindnumbingly dull and counterproductive.

The problem is that this is often the only learning approach that schools work towards. And it only works for a small group of the students. And expecting everyone to do the exact same repetitions and busy work is not going to hurt those that could have excelled well beyond that.

Instead they will get bored, loose interest and maybe even have thier grades drop.

There are a lot of very smart people that do very poorly in school.

The ages that your brain grows and soaks up the most information is between the ages of 2-8.

Yup, and how many 2-8 year olds 'naturally' will sit and do math repetitions?

At this age they develop problem solving, creativity, immagination, etc. Not "cubicle worker" skills...

 

[Corporal Hicks]

Hey you think thats bad? You should see the amount of damn stuff I actually have to learn!

I'm studying for exams now! I hate this education system in England, its not learning, its not examinations, well it is, its one damn exam only, its a memory test, one big *** memory test. I remember doing homework in lower years and grades and that was as you say roughly four hours each night. Not work set but work that took four hours in total! Amazingly fustrating!

 

[hammer]

Well I wouldn't know never did it, but I thought that might be the case.lol
Cheers.

 

[hardheadjarhead]

Ah, homework. How I hated it.


My wife, a teacher, rarely assigns homework unless the class is advanced or gifted and talented. The problem with gifted and talented programs (my wife's being the exception) is that teachers merely load on the homework...mostly busy-work...without challenging the children intellectually. When a twelve year old is staying up till one a.m. on a school night, that's counterproductive.

She and I know a number of children who simply can't do homework...they have no place safe enough to do it. For them, going home is going on "survival mode." One child I know is the surrogate parent for her siblings. Another lives in a motel room with her five family members. Still another is a latchkey kid who generally goes home to a mostly empty house, and gets 2/3rds (if not all) of his meals through school meal programs. Yet another, who came to live with me, had to face similar challenges as all of these with the added burden of an abusive father. Some children have a schizophrenic or bi-polar parent. Others have one or more parents who are addicted to alcohol or drugs.

How does one do homework adequately when boiling with rage or trembling with fear? How does a twelve year old sit down patiently with his assignments when mom has stuck a loaded gun in his face as soon as he walks in the door and threatened to pop him?

And we find here in Bloomington teachers assigning homework to children such as these, insisting that they "type" or word process their papers. When or how isn't specified, the only computer accessible to the child being at the local library two miles from home. Getting the construction paper and colored paper for that poster assignment might be a tad daunting when one's parents are on food stamps. True, the child could present the problem to the teacher and thereby getting the materials from the school--but this burdens the child with the admission of poverty. Some don't even know they have a right to ask.

So...homework. How does one assign it to a class with children such as these?


Regards,


Steve

 

[arnisador]

More homework can't hurt their abilities if they do it. It might hurt their motivation to do any at all, though--too much can make them not bother even trying it.

Repetition has its place, esp. early on, but often you want to make them think. Still, I see a lot of value in drill in my area (math.).

 

[Simon Curran]

My father-in-law and I quite often have pretty heated discussions about this matter (he is a mathematics teacher).
I pretty much hated school in general and especially homework, as has already been stated, their needs to be time for kids to be kids, and if they can't learn what they need to learn in the classroom, what are they there for?
Not all kids will go on to a university education, and not all (probably not many in fact) will go on to a career which requires work to be taken home.
Just my thoughts

 

[Jonathan Randall]

http://physorg.com/news4333.html

"Instead of improving educational achievement in countries around the world, increases in homework may actually undercut teaching effectiveness and worsen disparities in student learning, according to two Penn State researchers. "

I think there has to be a balance there. No homework bad, too much homework bad. Moderate homework in the lowere grades - good.

I couldn't agree more with the posters who state that it needs to have a point to it rather than just being "busy work". Also, in the later grades, some of these honor students are freakin' killing themselves for that extra grade point or AP class. True, it might nurture a future Nobel Laureate, but many thousands more are losing out on the socialization that is such a necessary part of education.

 

[Shu2jack]

And people complain because we are starting to put a large number of children on drugs for "ADD" and other behavior problems, even when they may not truely need it.

Sounds like too much repetition, busy work, and homework to me. Young kids learn by play, not by sitting on their butts for hours looking over the same thing again, and again, and again, and again. Maybe that is why we are having so many obese children too. Too much time spent indoors on school work and not enough time to go out, have fun, be creative, and explore life.

I have to get going, but I guess my point is that perhaps educators are looking at the wrong methods to help prepare kids for not only college, but for life in general. I will elborate furthere if anyone cares later.

 

[Andrew Green]

Too much time spent indoors on school work and not enough time to go out, have fun, be creative, and explore life.

From the history archives of things that used to get said:

"Mom, I'm going to the park to play"

"Be back before dark"