homework reinforces information taught in class

27 Top Homework Pros and Cons

There are both pros and cons of homework. This makes whether schools should assign homework a great debating topic for students.

On the side of the pros, homework is beneficial because it can be great for helping students get through their required coursework and reinforce required knowledge. But it also interferes with life outside of school.

Key arguments for homework include the fact it gives students structure, improves their learning, and improves parent-teacher relationships.

Arguments for the cons of homework include the fact it interferes with playtime and causes stress to children, leading to arguments that homework should be banned .

Pros and Cons of Homework (Table Summary)

Pros of homework, 1. homework teaches discipline and habit.

Discipline and habit are two soft skills that children need to develop so they can succeed in life.

Regular daily homework is a simple way that discipline and habit are reinforced. Teachers can talk to students about what they do when they get home from school.

They might develop a habit like getting changed into a new set of clothes, having an afternoon snack, then getting out their homework.

Teachers can also help students visualize these habits and disciplines by talking about where they will do their homework (kitchen table?) and when .

2. Homework helps parents know what’s being learned in class

Parents often appreciate being kept in the loop about what is going on in their child’s classroom. Homework is great for this!

Teachers can set homework based on the current unit of work in the classroom. If the students are learning about dinosaurs, the homework can be a task on dinosaurs.

This helps the teachers to show the parents the valuable learning that’s taking place, and allows parents to feel comfortable that the teacher is doing a great job.

3. Homework teaches time management

Children often have a wide range of after school activities to undertake. They need to develop the skill of managing all these activities to fit homework in.

At school, children’s time is closely managed and controlled. Every lesson ends and begins with a bell or a teacher command.

At some point, children need to learn to manage their own time. Homework is an easy way to start refining this important soft skill.

4. Homework gives students self-paced learning time

At school, a lesson has a clear beginning and end. Students who are struggling may be interrupted and need more time. Homework allows them to work on these tasks at their own pace.

When I was studying math in high school, I never got my work done in time. I understood concepts slower than my peers, and I needed more time to reinforce concepts.

Homework was my chance to keep up, by studying at my own pace.

5. Homework can reduce screen time

Paper-based homework can take students away from their afternoon cartoons and video games and get them working on something of more value.

Screen time is one of the biggest concerns for educators and parents in the 21 st Century. Children spend approximately 5 to 7 hours in front of screens per day.

While screens aren’t all bad, children generally spend more time at screens than is necessary. Homework tasks such as collecting things from the yard or interviewing grandparents gets kids away from screens and into more active activities.

6. Homework gives students productive afternoon activities

Too often, children get home from school and switch off their brains by watching cartoons or playing video games. Homework can be more productive.

Good homework should get students actively thinking. A teacher can set homework that involves creating a product, conducting interviews with family, or writing a story based on things being learned in class.

But even homework that involves repetition of math and spelling tasks can be far more productive than simply watching television.

7. Homework reinforces information taught in class

For difficult tasks, students often need to be exposed to content over and over again until they reach mastery of the topic .

To do this, sometimes you need to do old-fashioned repetition of tasks. Take, for example, algebra. Students will need to repeat the process over and over again so that they will instinctively know how to complete the task when they sit their standardized test.

Of course, the teacher needs to teach and reinforce these foundational skills at school before independent homework practice takes place.

8. Homework helps motivated students to get ahead

Many students who have set themselves the goal of coming first in their class want to do homework to get an advantage over their peers.

Students who want to excel should not be stopped from doing this. If they enjoy homework and it makes them smarter or better at a task, then they should be allowed to do this.

9. Homework gives parents and children time together

When a parent helps their child with homework (by educating and quizzing them, not cheating!), they get a chance to bond.

Working together to complete a task can be good for the relationship between the parent and the child. The parents can also feel good that they’re supporting the child to become more educated.

10. Homework improves parent-teacher relationships

Parents get an inside look at what’s happening at school to improve their trust with the teacher, while also helping the teacher do their job.

Trust between parents and teachers is very important. Parents want to know the teacher is working hard to support students and help them learn. By looking at their children’s homework, they get a good idea of what’s going on in the classroom.

The parent can also feel good about helping the teacher’s mission by sitting with the child during homework and helping to reinforce what’s been learned at school.

11. Homework helps teachers get through the crowded curriculum

Teachers are increasingly asked to teach more and more content each year. Homework can be helpful in making sure it all gets done.

Decades ago, teachers had time to dedicate lessons to repeating and practicing content learned. Today, they’re under pressure to teach one thing then quickly move onto the next. We call this phenomenon the “crowded curriculum”.

Today, teachers may need to teach the core skills in class then ask students to go home and practice what’s been taught to fast-track learning.

12. Homework provides spaced repetition for long-term memorization

Spaced repetition is a strategy that involves quizzing students intermittently on things learned in previous weeks and months.

For example, if students learned division in January, they may forget about it by June. But if the teacher provides division questions for homework in January, March, and May, then the students always keep that knowledge of how to do division in their mind.

Spaced repetition theory states that regularly requiring students to recall information that’s been pushed to the back of their mind can help, over time, commit that information to their long-term memory and prevent long-term forgetting.

13. Homework supports a flipped learning model to make the most of time with the teacher

Flipped learning is a model of education where students do preparation before class so they get to class prepared to learn.

Examples of flipped learning include pre-teaching vocabulary (e.g. giving children new words to learn for homework that they will use in a future in-class lesson), and asking students to watch preparatory videos before class.

This model of homework isn’t about reinforcing things learned in class, but learning things before class to be more prepared for lessons.

14. Homework improves student achievement

An influential review of the literature on homework by Mazano and Pickering (2007) found that homework does improve student achievement.

Another review of the literature by Cooper, Robinson and Patall (2006) similarly found that homework improves achievement. In this review, the authors highlighted that homework appeared more beneficial for high school students’ grades than elementary school students’ grades.

Several progressive education critics , especially Alfie Kohn , have claimed that homework does not help student grades. We have not found the critics’ evidence to be as compelling.

15. Homework helps the education system keep up with other countries’ systems

All nations are competing with one another to have the best education system (measured by standardized tests ). If other countries are assigning homework and your country isn’t, your country will be at a disadvantage.

The main way education systems are compared is the OECD ranking of education systems. This ranking compared standardized test scores on major subjects.

Western nations have been slipping behind Asian nations for several decades. Many Asian education systems have a culture of assigning a lot of homework. To keep up, America may also need to assign homework and encourage their kids to do more homework.

See Also: Homework Statistics List

Cons of Homework

1. homework interferes with play time.

Play-based learning is some of the best learning that can possibly occurs. When children go home from school, the play they do before sunset is hugely beneficial for their development.

Homework can prevent children from playing. Instead, they’re stuck inside repeating tasks on standardized homework sheets.

Of course, if there is no homework, parents would have to make sure children are engaging in beneficial play as well, rather than simply watching TV.

2. Homework interferes with extracurricular activities

After school, many children want to participate in extracurricular activities like sporting and community events.

However, if too much homework is assigned to learners, their parents may not be able to sign them up to co-curricular activities in the school or extracurricular activities outside of the school. This can prevent students from having well-rounded holistic development.

3. Homework discourages students from going outside and getting exercise

Homework is usually an indoors activity. Usually, teachers will assign spelling, math, or science tasks to be repeated through the week on paper or a computer.

But children need time to go outside and get exercise. The CDC recommends children ages 6 to 17 need 60 minutes of moderate to intense exercise per day.

Unfortunately, being stuck indoors may prevent children from getting that much needed exercise for well-rounded development.

4. Homework leads to unsupervised and unsupportive learning

When students get stuck on a task at school, the teacher is there to help. But when students are stuck on a homework task, no support is available.

This leads to a situation where students’ learning and development is harmed. Furthermore, those students who do understand the task can go ahead and get more homework practice done while struggling students can’t progress because the teacher isn’t there to help them through their hurdles.

Often, it’s down to parents to pick up the challenge of teaching their children during homework time. Unfortunately, not all students have parents nearby to help them during homework time.

5. Homework can encourage cheating

When children study without supervision, they have the opportunity to cheat without suffering consequences.

They could, for example, copy their sibling’s homework or use the internet to find answers.

Worse, some parents may help their child to cheat or do the homework for the child. In these cases, homework has no benefit of the child but may teach them bad and unethical habits.

6. Homework contributes to a culture of poor work-life balance

Homework instils a corporate attitude that prioritizes work above everything else. It prepares students for a social norm where you do work for your job even when you’re off the clock.

Students will grow up thinking it’s normal to clock off from their job, go home, and continue to check emails and complete work they didn’t get done during the day.

This sort of culture is bad for society. It interferes with family and recreation time and encourages bosses to behave like they’re in charge of your whole life.

7. Homework discourages children from taking up hobbies

There is an argument to be made that children need spare time so they can learn about what they like and don’t like.

If students have spare time after school, they could fill it up with hobbies. The student can think about what they enjoy (playing with dolls, riding bikes, singing, writing stories).

Downtime encourages people to develop hobbies. Students need this downtime, and homework can interfere with this.

8. Homework creates unfairness between children with parents helping and those who don’t

At school, students generally have a level playing field. They are all in the same classroom with the same resources and the same teacher. At home, it’s a different story.

Some children have parents, siblings, and internet to rely upon. Meanwhile, others have nothing but themselves and a pen.

Those children who are lucky enough to have parents helping out can get a significant advantage over their peers, causing unfairness and inequalities that are not of their own making.

9. Homework causes stress and anxiety

In a study by Galloway, Connor and Pope (2013), they found that 56% of students identified homework as the greatest cause of stress in their lives.

Stress among young people can impact their happiness and mental health. Furthermore, there is an argument to “let kids be kids”. We have a whole life of work and pressure ahead of us. Childhood is a time to be enjoyed without the pressures of life.

10. Homework is often poor-quality work

Teachers will often assign homework that is the less important work and doesn’t have a clear goal.

Good teachers know that a lesson needs to be planned-out with a beginning, middle and end. There usually should be formative assessment as well, which is assessment of students as they learn (rather than just at the end).

But homework doesn’t have the structure of a good lesson. It’s repetition of information already learned, which is a behaviorist learning model that is now outdated for many tasks.

11. Homework is solitary learning

Most education theorists today believe that the best learning occurs in social situations.

Sociocultural learning requires students to express their thoughts and opinions and listen to other people’s ideas. This helps them improve and refine their own thinking through dialogue.

But homework usually takes place alone at the kitchen table. Students don’t have anyone to talk with about what they’re doing, meaning their learning is limited.

12. Homework widens social inequality

Homework can advantage wealthier students and disadvantage poorer students.

In Kralovec and Buell’s (2001) book The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning , the authors argue that poorer students are less likely to have the resources to complete their homework properly.

For example, they might not have the pens, paper, and drawing implements to complete a paper task. Similarly, they might not have the computer, internet connection, or even books to do appropriate research at home.

Parents in poorer households also often work shift work and multiple jobs meaning they have less time to help their children with their homework.

Homework can be both good and bad – there are both advantages and disadvantages of homework. In general, it’s often the case that it depends on the type of homework that is assigned. Well-planned homework used in moderation and agreed upon by teachers, parents and students can be helpful. But other homework can cause serious stress, inequality, and lifestyle imbalance for students.

Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E. A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research, 1987–2003.  Review of educational research ,  76 (1), 1-62.

Galloway, M., Conner, J., & Pope, D. (2013). Nonacademic effects of homework in privileged, high-performing high schools.  The journal of experimental education ,  81 (4), 490-510. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2012.745469

Kralovec, E., & Buell, J. (2001).  The end of homework: How homework disrupts families, overburdens children, and limits learning . Beacon Press.

Pressman, R. M., Sugarman, D. B., Nemon, M. L., Desjarlais, J., Owens, J. A., & Schettini-Evans, A. (2015). Homework and family stress: With consideration of parents’ self confidence, educational level, and cultural background.  The American Journal of Family Therapy ,  43 (4), 297-313. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2015.1061407

Ren, H., Zhou, Z., Liu, W., Wang, X., & Yin, Z. (2017). Excessive homework, inadequate sleep, physical inactivity and screen viewing time are major contributors to high paediatric obesity.  Acta Paediatrica ,  106 (1), 120-127. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.13640

Yeo, S. C., Tan, J., Lo, J. C., Chee, M. W., & Gooley, J. J. (2020). Associations of time spent on homework or studying with nocturnal sleep behavior and depression symptoms in adolescents from Singapore.  Sleep Health ,  6 (6), 758-766. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2020.04.011

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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i love this it helped me a lot in class and it can be used more around the United States of amarica

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Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

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There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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The role of homework

Homework seems to be an accepted part of teachers’ and students’ routines, but there is little mention of it in ELT literature.

The role of homework is hardly mentioned in the majority of general ELT texts or training courses, suggesting that there is little question as to its value even if the resulting workload is time-consuming. However, there is clearly room for discussion of homework policies and practices particularly now that technology has made so many more resources available to learners outside the classroom.

Reasons for homework

• Attitudes to homework
• Effective homework
• Types of homework
• Homework is expected by students, teachers, parents and institutions.
• Homework reinforces and helps learners to retain information taught in the classroom as well as increasing their general understanding of the language.
• Homework develops study habits and independent learning. It also encourages learners to acquire resources such as dictionaries and grammar reference books. Research shows that homework also benefits factual knowledge, self-discipline, attitudes to learning and problem-solving skills.
• Homework offers opportunities for extensive activities in the receptive skills which there may not be time for in the classroom. It may also be an integral part of ongoing learning such as project work and the use of a graded reader.
• Homework provides continuity between lessons. It may be used to consolidate classwork, but also for preparation for the next lesson.
• Homework may be used to shift repetitive, mechanical, time-consuming tasks out of the classroom.
• Homework bridges the gap between school and home. Students, teachers and parents can monitor progress. The institution can involve parents in the learning process.
• Homework can be a useful assessment tool, as part of continual or portfolio assessment.

Attitudes to homework Teachers tend to have mixed feelings about homework. While recognising the advantages, they observe negative attitudes and poor performance from students. Marking and giving useful feedback on homework can take up a large proportion of a teacher’s time, often after school hours.

• Students themselves complain that the homework they are given is boring or pointless, referring to homework tasks that consist of studying for tests, doing workbook exercises, finishing incomplete classwork, memorising lists of vocabulary and writing compositions. Where this is actually the case, the negative effects of homework can be observed, typified by loss of interest and a view of homework as a form of punishment.
• Other negative effects of poorly managed homework include lack of necessary leisure time and an increased differential between high and low achievers. These problems are often the cause of avoidance techniques such as completing homework tasks in class, collaborating and copying or simply not doing the required tasks. In turn, conflict may arise between learners, teachers, parents and the institution.

Effective homework In order for homework to be effective, certain principles should be observed.

• Students should see the usefulness of homework. Teachers should explain the purpose both of homework in general and of individual tasks.
• Tasks should be relevant, interesting and varied.
• Good classroom practice also applies to homework. Tasks should be manageable but achievable.
• Different tasks may be assigned to different ability groups. Individual learning styles should be taken into account.
• Homework should be manageable in terms of time as well as level of difficulty. Teachers should remember that students are often given homework in other subjects and that there is a need for coordination to avoid overload. A homework diary, kept by the learner but checked by teachers and parents is a useful tool in this respect.
• Homework is rarely co-ordinated within the curriculum as a whole, but should at least be incorporated into an overall scheme of work and be considered in lesson planning.
• Homework tends to focus on a written product. There is no reason why this should be the case, other than that there is visible evidence that the task has been done.
• Learner involvement and motivation may be increased by encouraging students to contribute ideas for homework and possibly design their own tasks. The teacher also needs to know how much time the students have, what facilities they have at home, and what their preferences are. A simple questionnaire will provide this data.
• While homework should consolidate classwork, it should not replicate it. Home is the outside world and tasks which are nearer to real-life use of language are appropriate.
• If homework is set, it must be assessed in some way, and feedback given. While marking by the teacher is sometimes necessary, peer and self-assessment can encourage learner independence as well as reducing the teacher’s workload. Motivating students to do homework is an ongoing process, and encouragement may be given by commenting and asking questions either verbally or in written form in order to demonstrate interest on the teacher’s part, particularly in the case of self-study and project work.

Types of homework There are a number of categories of useful and practicable homework tasks.

• Workbook-based tasks Most published course materials include a workbook or practice book, mainly including consolidation exercises, short reading texts and an answer key. Most workbooks claim to be suitable for both class and self-study use, but are better used at home in order to achieve a separation of what is done in class and at home. Mechanical practice is thus shifted out of class hours, while this kind of exercise is particularly suited to peer- or self-checking and correction.
• Preparation tasks Rarely do teachers ask learners to read through the next unit of a coursebook, though there are advantages in involving students in the lesson plan and having them know what is coming. More motivating, however, is asking students to find and bring materials such as photographs and pictures, magazine articles and realia which are relevant to the next topic, particularly where personalisation or relevance to the local context requires adaptation of course materials.
• Extensive tasks Much can be gained from the use of graded readers, which now often have accompanying audio material, radio and TV broadcasts, podcasts and songs. Sometimes tasks need to be set as guidance, but learners also need to be encouraged to read, listen and watch for pleasure. What is important is that learners share their experiences in class. Extensive reading and listening may be accompanied by dictionary work and a thematic or personalised vocabulary notebook, whereby learners can collect language which they feel is useful.
• Guided discovery tasks Whereas classroom teaching often involves eliciting language patterns and rules from learners, there is also the option of asking learners to notice language and make deductions for themselves at home. This leads to the sharing of knowledge and even peer teaching in the classroom.
• Real-world tasks These involve seeing, hearing and putting language to use in realistic contexts. Reading magazines, watching TV, going to the cinema and listening to songs are obvious examples, offering the option of writing summaries and reviews as follow-up activities. Technology facilitates chat and friendship networks, while even in monolingual environments, walking down a shopping street noticing shop and brand names will reveal a lot of language. As with extensive tasks, it is important for learners to share their experiences, and perhaps to collect them in a formal or informal portfolio.
• Project work It is a good idea to have a class or individual projects running over a period of time. Projects may be based on topics from a coursebook, the locality, interests and hobbies or selected individually. Project work needs to be guided in terms of where to find resources and monitored regularly, the outcome being a substantial piece of work at the end of a course or term of which the learner can claim ownership.

Conclusion Finally, a word about the Internet. The Web appears to offer a wealth of opportunity for self-study. Certainly reference resources make project work easier and more enjoyable, but cutting and pasting can also be seen as an easy option, requiring little originality or understanding. Conferring over homework tasks by email can be positive or negative, though chatting with an English-speaking friend is to be encouraged, as is searching for visual materials. Both teachers and learners are guilty of trawling the Net for practice exercises, some of which are untried, untested and dubious in terms of quality. Learners need guidance, and a starting point is to provide a short list of reliable sites such as the British Council's  LearnEnglish  and the BBC's Learning English  which provide a huge variety of exercises and activities as well as links to other reliable sources. Further reading Cooper, H. Synthesis of Research on Homework . Educational Leadership 47/3, 1989 North, S. and Pillay, H. Homework: re-examining the routin e. ELT Journal 56/2, April 2002 Painter, L. Homework . English Teaching Professional, Issue 10, 1999 Painter, L. Homework . OUP Resource Books for Teachers, 2003

First published in October 2007

Mr. Steve Darn I liked your…

Mr. Steve Darn I liked your method of the role of the homework . Well, I am one of those laggard people. Unfortunately, when it comes to homework, I definitely do it. Because, a student or pupil who understands new topics, of course, does his homework to know how much he understands the new topic. I also completely agree with all of Steve Darn's points above. However, sometimes teachers give a lot of riff-raff homework, just like homework is a human obligation. This is a plus. But in my opinion, first of all, it is necessary to divide the time properly, and then to do many tasks at home. Only then will you become an "excellent student" in the eyes of the teacher. Although we live in the age of technology, there are still some people who do not know how to send homework via email. Some foreign teachers ask to send tasks by email. Constant email updates require time and, in rare cases, a fee. My above points have been the cause of constant discussions.

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Should Kids Get Homework?

Homework gives elementary students a way to practice concepts, but too much can be harmful, experts say.

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Effective homework reinforces math, reading, writing or spelling skills, but in a way that's meaningful.

How much homework students should get has long been a source of debate among parents and educators. In recent years, some districts have even implemented no-homework policies, as students juggle sports, music and other activities after school.

Parents of elementary school students, in particular, have argued that after-school hours should be spent with family or playing outside rather than completing assignments. And there is little research to show that homework improves academic achievement for elementary students.

But some experts say there's value in homework, even for younger students. When done well, it can help students practice core concepts and develop study habits and time management skills. The key to effective homework, they say, is keeping assignments related to classroom learning, and tailoring the amount by age: Many experts suggest no homework for kindergartners, and little to none in first and second grade.

Value of Homework

Homework provides a chance to solidify what is being taught in the classroom that day, week or unit. Practice matters, says Janine Bempechat, clinical professor at Boston University 's Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

"There really is no other domain of human ability where anybody would say you don't need to practice," she adds. "We have children practicing piano and we have children going to sports practice several days a week after school. You name the domain of ability and practice is in there."

Homework is also the place where schools and families most frequently intersect.

"The children are bringing things from the school into the home," says Paula S. Fass, professor emerita of history at the University of California—Berkeley and the author of "The End of American Childhood." "Before the pandemic, (homework) was the only real sense that parents had to what was going on in schools."

Harris Cooper, professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University and author of "The Battle Over Homework," examined more than 60 research studies on homework between 1987 and 2003 and found that — when designed properly — homework can lead to greater student success. Too much, however, is harmful. And homework has a greater positive effect on students in secondary school (grades 7-12) than those in elementary.

"Every child should be doing homework, but the amount and type that they're doing should be appropriate for their developmental level," he says. "For teachers, it's a balancing act. Doing away with homework completely is not in the best interest of children and families. But overburdening families with homework is also not in the child's or a family's best interest."

Negative Homework Assignments

Not all homework for elementary students involves completing a worksheet. Assignments can be fun, says Cooper, like having students visit educational locations, keep statistics on their favorite sports teams, read for pleasure or even help their parents grocery shop. The point is to show students that activities done outside of school can relate to subjects learned in the classroom.

But assignments that are just busy work, that force students to learn new concepts at home, or that are overly time-consuming can be counterproductive, experts say.

Homework that's just busy work.

Effective homework reinforces math, reading, writing or spelling skills, but in a way that's meaningful, experts say. Assignments that look more like busy work – projects or worksheets that don't require teacher feedback and aren't related to topics learned in the classroom – can be frustrating for students and create burdens for families.

"The mental health piece has definitely played a role here over the last couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the last thing we want to do is frustrate students with busy work or homework that makes no sense," says Dave Steckler, principal of Red Trail Elementary School in Mandan, North Dakota.

Homework on material that kids haven't learned yet.

With the pressure to cover all topics on standardized tests and limited time during the school day, some teachers assign homework that has not yet been taught in the classroom.

Not only does this create stress, but it also causes equity challenges. Some parents speak languages other than English or work several jobs, and they aren't able to help teach their children new concepts.

" It just becomes agony for both parents and the kids to get through this worksheet, and the goal becomes getting to the bottom of (the) worksheet with answers filled in without any understanding of what any of it matters for," says professor Susan R. Goldman, co-director of the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois—Chicago .

Homework that's overly time-consuming.

The standard homework guideline recommended by the National Parent Teacher Association and the National Education Association is the "10-minute rule" – 10 minutes of nightly homework per grade level. A fourth grader, for instance, would receive a total of 40 minutes of homework per night.

But this does not always happen, especially since not every student learns the same. A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that primary school children actually received three times the recommended amount of homework — and that family stress increased along with the homework load.

Young children can only remain attentive for short periods, so large amounts of homework, especially lengthy projects, can negatively affect students' views on school. Some individual long-term projects – like having to build a replica city, for example – typically become an assignment for parents rather than students, Fass says.

"It's one thing to assign a project like that in which several kids are working on it together," she adds. "In (that) case, the kids do normally work on it. It's another to send it home to the families, where it becomes a burden and doesn't really accomplish very much."

Private vs. Public Schools

Do private schools assign more homework than public schools? There's little research on the issue, but experts say private school parents may be more accepting of homework, seeing it as a sign of academic rigor.

Of course, not all private schools are the same – some focus on college preparation and traditional academics, while others stress alternative approaches to education.

"I think in the academically oriented private schools, there's more support for homework from parents," says Gerald K. LeTendre, chair of educational administration at Pennsylvania State University—University Park . "I don't know if there's any research to show there's more homework, but it's less of a contentious issue."

How to Address Homework Overload

First, assess if the workload takes as long as it appears. Sometimes children may start working on a homework assignment, wander away and come back later, Cooper says.

"Parents don't see it, but they know that their child has started doing their homework four hours ago and still not done it," he adds. "They don't see that there are those four hours where their child was doing lots of other things. So the homework assignment itself actually is not four hours long. It's the way the child is approaching it."

But if homework is becoming stressful or workload is excessive, experts suggest parents first approach the teacher, followed by a school administrator.

"Many times, we can solve a lot of issues by having conversations," Steckler says, including by "sitting down, talking about the amount of homework, and what's appropriate and not appropriate."

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TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE HOMEWORK…That is the question!

The amount of homework students are given differs greatly across grade levels and states. Some students are given hours of work while other students are assigned little or no work to be done at home.

So what’s appropriate? What is the purpose of homework? What are the advantages and disadvantages of homework? How much homework should be assigned? How important is the quality of the assignments? And most importantly: Does homework increase student achievement?

These questions represent the ongoing debate surrounding homework for the past two decades. According to a survey by the University of Michigan , homework has doubled over the last twenty years, especially in the younger grades, due to the school’s requirement to meet higher-than-ever achievement goals for children. Although homework has academic and non-academic advantages and disadvantages, the majority of studies conducted reveal inconclusive evidence that assigning homework increases student achievement. Most studies show positive effects for certain students, others suggest no effects, and some even suggest negative effects according to research by Alfie Kohn , an independent scholar (2006).

Let’s begin with the purpose of homework…

Educators assign homework for different reasons and purposes. Homework is assigned either as practice , preparation , extension , or integration of grade-level skills and concepts.

PRACTICE HOMEWORK reinforces learning from the skills and concepts already taught in the classroom. Practice homework promotes retention and automaticity of the concept , skill, and content taught. Examples include practicing multiplication facts or writing simple sentences in order to commit theses skills and concepts to long-term memory .

PREPARATION HOMEWORK is assigned to introduce content that will be addressed in future lessons. However, research suggests that homework is less effective if it is used to teach new or complex skills. For these types of assignments, students typically become stressed which can create a negative perspective towards learning and school.

EXTENSION HOMEWORK requires students to use previously taught skills and concepts and apply them to new situations or projects. For instance, students may use the concept of area and perimeter to build a flowerbed.

INTEGRATION HOMEWORK requires the student to apply learned skills and concepts to produce a single project like reading a book and writing a report on it.

Homework also serves other purposes not directly related to instruction. Homework can help establish communication between parents and children; it can be used as a form of discipline; and it can inform parents about school topics and activities.

The Homework Debate

The homework debate often focuses on how and why homework affects student learning and achievement. Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology, and colleagues (2006) found there are both positive and negative consequences of homework.

The Benefits

Homework provides practice with content, concepts, and skills taught at school by the teacher. It can foster retention and understanding of the academic content. Some studies suggest that homework correlates with student achievement. Cooper, Robinson, and Patall (2006) discovered a positive correlation between the amount of the homework students do and their achievement at the secondary level. Some studies also suggest that assigning homework improves the achievement of low-performing students and students in low-performing schools. However, the correlation between student achievement and homework given to elementary students is inconclusive. Most research only supports homework for middle and high school students (Cooper 1989a; Kohn 2006).

There are also non-academic reasons for assigning homework. Corno and Xu (2004) discovered that homework fosters independence, develops time-management skills, and teaches responsibility. Assigning homework to primary age students can establish better study habits and skills for secondary education (Bempechat, 2004). Homework promotes a positive attitude towards school and keeps families informed about their child’s learning.

The Potential Harm

Homework also has negative associations. It can lead to boredom if the student has already mastered the skills, and it can lead to loss of interest in school due to burnout.  Cheating is involved with homework by either copying another student’s work or when help is received from adults in an attempt to finish all the assignments.  Also, assigning excessive amounts of homework may result in unneeded stress and pressure on the child, which affects the student’s emotions, behaviors, thinking ability, and physical health.

The correlation between homework and student achievement is inconsistent. In The Battle Over Homework , Cooper determined that the average correlation between the time primary children spent on homework and achievement was around zero. Not to mention, the amount of homework completed had no effect on test scores.  David Baker and Gerald  LeTendre, professors of education at Penn State , found that countries that assign minimal amounts of homework, like Japan, were the most successful school systems compared to Greece and Iran school systems where students are given a lot of work.

Another concern surrounding homework is its interference with the student’s time to relax and take their minds off work as well as family time. Students are spending too much time completing homework assignments instead of playing outside or enjoying leisure activities, which teach and enhance important life skills.

In addition, homework decreases the time spent with family. As Alfie Kohn states in The Homework Myth , “ Why should children be asked to work a second shift? It’s unconscionable to send children to work for nearly eight hours a day, then have them go home and work for 2-5 more hours. Secondly, it reduces the amount of time that children could be spending with their families. Family time is especially important to a growing child and without it social problems can crop up and a family unit can be compromised by a lack of time being spent together .”

The Amount of Homework

The frequency and duration of each assignment does not necessarily suggest a correlation between homework and student achievement. “ We found that for kids in elementary school there was hardly any relationship between how much homework young children did and how well they were doing in school, but in middle school the relationship is positive and increases until the kids were doing between an hour to two hours a night, which is right where the 10-minute rule says it’s going to be optimal,” stated Harris Cooper. The 10-minute rule was created by the National PTA which suggests 10 minutes per a grade should be assigned (e.g., 70 minutes for 7 th grade). “After that it didn’t go up anymore. Kids that reported doing more than two hours of homework in middle school weren’t doing any better in school than kids who were doing between an hour to two hours ,” said Harris Cooper.

Quantity Versus Quality

Effective homework is homework with a purpose. According to Cooper, some teachers assign ‘shotgun homework’ : blanket drills, questions, and problems. Students are given homework that is not furthering the concepts and skills. The homework is assigned because it has been drilled into our collective mind that homework produces higher performing students. However, homework is most effective when it covers material already taught, is given for review, or is used to reinforce skills previously learned. Students should not be assigned homework on concepts and skills they do not grasp.

DataWORKS Educational Research recommends assigning homework to provide additional repetitions of the content to promote retention and automaticity . The reason for homework is to practice the content, NOT to learn the content.  Students learn the content (skills and concepts) from the lesson taught at school. Students need to be able to complete the work at home without assistance because some students do not have an English-speaking parents or guardians to help them.

In conclusion, research is inconsistent in determining if homework increases student achievement. As educators, the amount, frequency, and the purpose should be considered prior to assigning homework. Homework should be used effectively! Instead of the quantity of homework, educators should improve the quality of the assignments. Homework assignments must be well-designed.  So, when assigning homework, please consider the effectiveness of it, homework should positively impact the student learning. Otherwise, the debate about homework will continue without an answer – to give or not to give !

Kohn, Alfie (2007). Rethinking Homework .

Kohn, Alfie.   The Homework Myth:  Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing  (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2006).

Cooper, H. (1989).  Homework.  White Plains, NY: Longman.

Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E. A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research .  1987–2003.  Review of Educational Research, 76 (1), 1–62.

What is your stance on homework? What do you think is an appropriate amount of homework? Why do you assign homework? Please share your experiences in the comment section below.

Author:  patricia bogdanovich.

Patricia has held various positions with DataWORKS since 2002. She currently works as a Curriculum Specialist. Patricia helped develop and create many of the early resources and workshops designed by DataWORKS, and she is an expert in analysis of standards. Patricia plans to blog about curriculum and assessments for CCSS and NGSS, classroom strategies, and news and research from the world of education.

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How Is Homework Helping Students Learn?

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Practice, or reinforcement of a skill, is part of the educational process. Practice in classwork and homework is an important part of guaranteeing students are learning what is being taught. Skilled, targeted practice is what is planned but the art of practice is both complex and simple.

In sports, theatre, and music programs, a model for how to develop expertise lives right in front of us. To acquire a skill, practice is necessary. Yet, when practice is unsupervised and lacks immediate feedback, frustration can arise, motivation can wane, and bad form can be embedded. Learning is either limited or non-existent without the practice feedback loop ongoing. In sports, a targeted skill is focused on and the coach gives consistent feedback as the player practices that one skill. In the arts the same is true. Skills are identified, modeled, and the students or players or actors, or musicians are given feedback on the skill(s) identified so that practice becomes both targeted and informed. Feedback is key. Encouragement is essential.

Homework is the best example of how educators can improve the use of practice. No matter whether as an educator or a parent, homework as practice remains a standard that might serves many purposes. Teachers use homework to offer students a chance to reinforce what they have learned and what they complete contributes, most often, to a grade. Parents use homework to see what their children are learning and some use it to become partners in the learning experience. Interesting, if it happens that way. Homework has the intention of reinforcement but often lacks the narrow focus for practice. In addition it sends children home without the teacher’s knowledge or confidence that the practice is based on knowledge attained. It can become reinforcement of doubt, frustration, or worse, reinforcement of incorrect information or skills. Doing something over and over is good if it is targeted and informed; if feedback is timely and consistent.

How Teachers Are Taught

After teachers gain their degrees and certification, they rely on professional development opportunities throughout their careers to continue their learning. Often these opportunities have been what has become known as ‘one and done’ professional development opportunities. These were usually selected to impact the broadest sweep of faculty at once. However, the follow-up, reinforcement, and support varies depending on the amount of attention school leaders give following the ‘one and done’. Other ways teachers continue learning is individual. They apply to go to a conference or training, are approved, attend, and return. Whether what is learned is embedded in their future practice is often left up to the teacher. After all, how many new things can a leader keep track of, follow up, and support?

Ericcson and Pool argue that “deliberate practice requires a teacher who can provide practice activities designed to help a student improve his or her performance” (p.98). Deliberate practice is informed practice, guided by “the best performers’ accomplishments and by understanding of what these expert performers do to excel” (p.98).

How do we know for certain, that all homework, particularly in the early grades, teaches what we want it to and what Ericcson and Pool describe? Some might say it teaches responsibility. But for those students who left the classroom without an adequate grasp of the material, it may undermine its intention. Instead it develops frustration and kills motivation. It has the potential of reinforcing the wrong way to do something, or even a belief that ‘I can’t do this’. These happening in the early years can stop students from pushing forward, developing grit, and finding success.

Change the Environment for Teachers’ Learning

Change how we work with teachers so they can change the way they work with their students. No matter the behavior or skill targeted, might we be able to change the environment to be one of learning, continuous learning, for the adults in which targeted practice and feedback are valued and excellence is recognized? The shift in thinking that this can put in motion requires that the leader remain constant in their role that focuses on the agreed upon skills and behaviors that are being practiced. It required consistency and dedication. It invites the development of professional collegiality where those learning new skills practice together and give feedback to each other.

Before shifting the manner in which teachers plan for practice for their students, consider implementing it with the teachers first. Teaching and learning is not an exact science, like playing an instrument or playing tennis. However, we, in education do know the complicated factors that affect learning. Taking that into consideration, isn’t there a way to use deliberate practice where it applies? Rather than assigning independent work because we always have, assign it with the knowledge that the practice will be correct and effective and supported with immediate feedback. Discussions and feedback about what is being implemented and how it will affect the practice of the teacher are essential. Changing the way teachers receive feedback and are asked to practice new, targeted skills offers the model for what you ask them to do with their students. Consider being a model of the change.

A nn Myers and Jill Berkowicz are the authors of The STEM Shift (2015, Corwin) a book about leading the shift into 21st century schools. Ann and Jill welcome connecting through Twitter & Email .

Resource: Ericsson, A. & Pool, R. (2016). Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

The opinions expressed in Leadership 360 are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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Help Students Retain, Organize and Integrate Knowledge

Why Is It Important?

A fundamental goal of education is to promote enduring learning that equips students with the skills, knowledge, and beliefs that can be applied to solve problems in novel settings or explore issues in original ways. To support students’ acquisition of concepts and skills, and to develop their understanding of how and when to apply them, there are three key learning processes to reinforce in your teaching:

• Retention refers to long-term storage of concepts and skills in memory. Students forget rapidly when concepts and skills are not activated and applied after initial learning (Fisher & Radvansky, 2018). By integrating learning activities that promote long-term retention, you can help make concepts available for students to apply later in the semester, outside of the class context, and beyond.
• Organization refers to developing a rich, interconnected, cognitive network of concepts that allows us to connect new learning to prior knowledge, categorize similar pieces of information, and access relevant concepts when needed. By including learning activities that promote organization in memory, you increase the likelihood that students will access and recall relevant information from long-term memory when it is needed.
• Integration refers to the application, interpretation, and/or synthesis of information from disparate contexts and perspectives (Barber, 2012) to reveal new insights, clarified meanings, or broader perspectives (AAC&U, 2009). Designing learning activities that promote integration enables interdisciplinary learning and supports students’ development of innovative solutions to problems or perspectives on complex issues.

To promote enduring learning, we should design teaching practices and learning activities to help students retain, organize, and integrate key concepts and skills identified in the intended learning outcomes to endure and extend beyond the class context. 

Teaching Practices That Support Students’ Enduring Learning

Learning strategies that promote long-term retention, organization, and integration require students to actively engage with concepts and skills through deliberate practice of relevant tasks. Each learning strategy below involves students in the construction of knowledge, sometimes in collaboration with peers, and falls into the category of active learning (Freeman et al., 2014). 

Prior knowledge

Retrieval practice, self-explanation, space practice, inter-leaving, ascertain and leverage students’ prior knowledge.

Prior knowledge can bolster retention, organization, and integration of new learning by enabling connections to robust, interconnected networks of concepts in memory. By adopting teaching practices that activate accurate prior knowledge, you not only bolster student learning but also gather key information that helps you to adapt your teaching to leverage students’ knowledge more effectively. However, prior knowledge can also get in the way of new learning if it is inaccurate, insufficient, or inappropriate (Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman, 2010). See Caveats and Misconceptions (and how to address them) .

The following activities offer a purposeful route into learning for students as they transition into or out of the classroom context and inform how you can adapt class sessions to meet students where they are, address gaps or misconceptions in their knowledge, and guide their practice to help them reach intended learning outcomes . You can also analyze common errors to discuss with the class, correct misconceptions, and normalize students’ struggles with confusing concepts.

Prior Knowledge

Engage students in retrieval of previously learned information.

When you pose a question about a recently learned concept to students in a class session or on a quiz, students engage in retrieval practice whenever they pull information out of long-term memory to produce an answer. Robust research demonstrates that actively retrieving information, compared to simply restudying or reviewing it, improves students’ long-term retention (i.e., the testing effect; Roediger & Karpicke, 2006; Carpenter, Pan, & Butler, 2022) and their ability to apply information in novel contexts (i.e., transfer of learning; Carpenter, 2012). Retrieval practice also helps students evaluate what they do and don’t know, which can guide their studying or help-seeking behaviors (e.g., asking clarification questions in office hours).

Retrieval Practice

• Polling Software. You can integrate brief learning activities during a class session with direct concept questions with a single correct answer (such as short-answer or multiple-choice questions). Polling software (e.g., Poll Everywhere, Slido) and clicker response systems provide a way to invite responses from all students and see how students respond. In addition to posing concept questions with a single correct answer, consider also using open-ended questions to engage students in active retrieval.
• Two Things. Ask students to recall two things using any of the following prompts: they learned so far today; they learned yesterday, last class, last week; key points from this unit; or they’d like to learn more about (Agarwal & Bain, 2019).
• 3-2-1. Ask students to write down 3 previously learned concepts that were reinforced in today’s lessons, 2 new concepts or ideas, and 1 question they have. These open-ended questions could be integrated at the beginning of class (to recall concepts from the last class session or the reading), during class, or at the end of class. To improve students’ awareness of their own learning processes (that is, metacognition ), ask students to pair up with a classmate after answering one of the questions to discuss their responses and address the following questions: What do you have in common? Look back at notes or text. What did you miss? Why do you think you remembered what you did?
• Quizzes. Frequent, low-stake quizzes are a traditional way to incorporate retrieval practice, regardless of whether they occur in or out of class. Questions can be open-ended or free-response, multiple choice, or any other format. Feedback on whether an answer is correct or incorrect can be provided automatically in online quizzes or by the instructor or peers.

To help students get the most learning benefits from retrieval practice, prompt students to call to mind previously learned concepts and skills through frequent, “low stakes” opportunities (i.e., as formative assessments ). By including opportunities for students to practice retrieval without a grade, you emphasize retrieval as a learning opportunity, reduce pressure and student anxiety (Khanna, 2015), and encourage them to attempt retrieval even when they don’t think they know the answer.

Promote deep understanding through self-explanation

Self-explanation practices deepen conceptual understanding by making connections with related concepts and elaborating on learned concepts by asking why or how questions. For example, when learning about a circuit model of a neuron, a student could deepen their understanding by going beyond solving a problem to consider the meaning of one part of the equation for the biological system, as illustrated in this video of an MIT student describing how they study.

Research by Smith, Holliday, and Austin (2010) demonstrated that engaging with explanatory questioning (e.g., after learning the fact, “Saliva must mix with food to initiate digestion,” students explained why it was true) improved retention of both learned concepts as well as related ideas. Moreover, Wong, Lawson, and Keeves (2002) found that prompting students to explain concepts to themselves during initial learning also helped them apply their learning to new problems (see also Chi, Bassok, Lewis, Reimann, & Glaser, 1989). Explanatory questions also encourage students to retrieve relevant prior knowledge, thereby allowing for more effective organization and integration of new learning with previously learned concepts.

Self-Explanation

You can integrate brief (<5 minutes) activities to engage students in explanatory questioning about concepts, such as:

• Pausing and asking students to explain a particular concept, process, or their reasoning for a step in problem solving. You can also ask them to explain the relationship between two concepts. Students can either write down their explanation or say it aloud to a classmate.
• After polling students with a multiple-choice question about a concept, follow up by asking students to explain why the answer is correct and/or why alternatives are incorrect.
• Write down the most important thing they learned that day and why it matters to them or to society.
• List one way in which the day’s course content manifests itself on campus or in their home lives.
• Identify a television show, film, or book that somehow illustrates a course concept from class.
• Describe how today’s course material connects to last week’s.
• For a more robust learning activity that takes more time, students can work individually or in small groups to build a concept map or apply other advanced organizers that involve generating and explaining relationships among concepts.

Encourage explanatory questioning about assigned readings or problem sets .

• Explain key concepts in their own words.
• Elaborate on why a particular fact is true or the meaning of a scientific result.
• Break down a system, process, or equation into its component parts and explain their relationships to the whole.

When students consider these questions, they build connections among concepts and/or elaborate on concepts with everyday examples to support organization and integration of knowledge.

When to Implement These Strategies

The teaching practices above focus on how students practice with concepts and skills in the course. Another key consideration in how you support students’ retention, organization, and integration of key concepts and skills concerns when students practice with them.

Space out students’ engagement with concepts across the semester

Spacing out repeated exposure and engagement with concepts, practice problems, or skills over time bolsters retention, especially when compared to reviewing concepts (i.e., cramming) or repeatedly working on the same types of problems in succession (Carpenter et al., 2022; Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted, & Rohrer, 2006). The standard practice in many college courses of not revisiting concepts once they are covered in class undermines the benefits of spacing. When you space out students’ engagement with concepts across the semester, you intentionally revisit concepts for problems from previous units and signal that the information continues to be useful and relevant.

Interleave students’ engagement with different concepts

Mixing up or interleaving different types of material (e.g., distinct concepts, types of problem sets, or content from different units or disciplines) goes a step further than spacing to improve retention, organization, and integration of concepts (Rohrer & Taylor, 2007).

Spacing and interleaving often co-occur. For example, in a math course, a student might work on various types of problems all mixed up, so that practice with any one type of problem is spaced out (an example of spacing), with other types of problems occurring between examples of the same type (an example of interleaving). Rohrer and Taylor (2007) argue that interleaving helps students not only to recognize how to solve a problem but also to determine which type of strategy is appropriate for each kind of problem.

Spaced & Interleave Practice

Mit worked examples.

5.111 Principles of Chemical Science

In a class of 300+ students, Professor Cathy Drennan regularly poses multiple-choice concept questions using an electronic clicker system. By encouraging all students to answer the clicker question and explain the correct answer, this learning activity engages students in both retrieval practice of recently learned concepts and explanatory questioning by explaining why a particular answer turned out to be correct.

In this example, the clicker question occurs after introducing how to calculate electron ionization energies. Student responses reveal a misconception held by a majority of the students. After revealing the correct answer, Professor Drennan instructs students to pair up with a classmate to identify and discuss “the trick” in the clicker question. After a few minutes of discussion in pairs, a student volunteer explains the correct answer, and Professor Drennan points out the trick. Professor Drennan motivates students to explain their reasoning in front of the class by offering a small prize (here, an MIT chemistry t-shirt). You can see more examples of Professor Drennan’s use of clicker questions as well as her explanation of her process and reasoning for these learning activities here .

8.581J Systems Biology

6.073 / CMS.611J Creating Video Games

In a small, interdisciplinary course, students work in teams to design, develop, and test video games that help policymakers consider the value of spending resources to prepare for disasters. In this example activity facilitated by instructor Rik Eberhardt, students brainstorm in small groups to generate ideas for video games on various potential topics (e.g., cholera outbreak, heat wave). This brainstorming activity is designed to both ascertain prior knowledge about the potential topics before they complete relevant readings on the topics and to encourage students to retrieve and apply previously learned concepts and skills to develop a game using iterative design processes.

Caveats and Misconceptions (and how to address them)

Robust research in cognitive and educational psychology supports the powerful benefits to students when active learning strategies draw on retrieval and explanatory questioning, and are spaced out and/or interleaved with other topics (Agarwal & Bain, 2019; Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014; Roediger & Pyc, 2012). However, the effectiveness of these strategies depends on how they are implemented to engage all students with the concepts and skills at the appropriate level of difficulty. Two key implementation strategies are introduced below.

How to design learning activities to engage all students

The benefits of these learning activities depend on students’ active engagement with concepts; accordingly, these learning activities should be designed to encourage and demand participation from all students, not just those who readily raise their hands.

• Integrating opportunities for all students to share their responses with the class through polling software (e.g., Poll Everywhere or Slido ) or with neighboring students by working in pairs or small groups (e.g., think-pair-share ) can encourage equitable participation.
• Structuring active learning activities to broaden participation by encouraging, demanding, and actively managing who participates rather than relying on student volunteers. One such strategy involves asking for multiple hands and multiple voices to respond to any posed question by saying that you will begin calling on students when there are at least five hands in the air. This approach works particularly well to invite a range of different ideas and perspectives on an open-ended question and to broaden participation beyond the most frequent contributors. Tanner (2013).

How to design learning activities for the appropriate level of difficulty

The difficulty of learning activities through retrieval, explanatory questioning, or interleaving may be undesirable if the questions are too challenging. Vygotsky (1978) described the ideal level of difficulty as the skills or concepts that students can master but only with guidance and support from a skilled partner.

There are several key strategies that can be used to inform the design of learning tasks that are appropriately difficult:

• Ascertain students’ prior knowledge (as described in implementation strategies),
• Design learning tasks that align with intended learning outcomes.
• Scaffold learning activities by breaking down large tasks into smaller chunks and deliberately drawing on skills and concepts that students already know.

How to address common concerns and misconceptions

There are several common concerns and misconceptions about these learning activities, which can be addressed through deliberate design and transparent framing of the learning activities.

Students might generate errors during learning activities that may result in retention of incorrect information.

One common concern is that retrieval of inaccurate prior knowledge, an incorrect response, or problematic explanations of processes may actually harm learning by strengthening the retention of incorrect information. In contrast, much of the cognitive research suggests that generating errors during retrieval practice and explanatory questioning improves learning of correct information (for a review, see Metcalfe, 2017), particularly when corrective feedback is provided (Roediger & Butler, 2011). Accordingly, learning activities that activate prior knowledge, engage retrieval, or encourage elaboration should be consistently followed by feedback with the correct response and, ideally, an explanation of why the answer is correct. Finn, Thomas, and Rawson (2018) found that elaborating on correct answer feedback by providing concrete examples of concepts enhanced the retention and application of key concepts.

Feedback can take many different forms, as long as student misconceptions are addressed. With multiple-choice or short-answer questions, a correct response and brief explanation could be provided either by the instructor or by a student after polling the class. For more open-ended questions (e.g., what are two things you recall from last class?), the instructor can share the outline or learning outcomes from the prior class, prompt students to review their notes, or have students pair up with a classmate to provide feedback (see also, How to Give Feedback ).

In sum, research suggests that learning activities improve retention (and, in some cases, application) of concepts even when students generate incorrect responses and underscores the importance of providing feedback with the correct answer or elaborated explanations.

Students may be less likely to engage in challenging learning activities with a risk of failure.

Many of the learning strategies that promote enduring learning also introduce challenges that can make learning feel slow and frustrating for students. Indeed, students overwhelmingly choose more passive (and less effective) learning strategies, such as cramming over spacing (Kornell & Bjork, 2007) or re-reading over retrieval practice (Karpicke, Butler, & Roediger, 2009). As a result, students may resist or disengage from challenging learning activities implemented in class.

Bjork (1994) describes challenging learning activities such as spacing, interleaving, and retrieval practice as “desirable difficulties” because they often produce superior long-term retention and application of learning compared to more passive learning activities, such as rereading. Zepeda, Martin, and Butler (2020) proposed motivational strategies to engage students in desirable difficulties by helping them recognize the value of learning and by reducing the cost of engaging .

• Clearly communicate the value of the learning activities in the class (e.g., how they help students reach intended learning outcomes) , in the discipline or major, and, as relevant, in life and career contexts (Canning & Harackiewicz, 2015).
• Explain the benefits of these strategies, drawing on the research explained in this post to help students recognize that the difficulties are desirable for learning and to encourage them to adapt similar strategies to their own studying. You can draw on supporting resources developed by learning scientists from retrievalpractice.org or learningscientists.org . See supporting resources below for more information.
• Explain all instructions verbally AND display them written visually to clarify instructions and to minimize confusion about the task.
• Direct students to supporting resources and invite students to ask for help (e.g., raising hand to ask an instructor or TA, visiting office hours, or hyperlinks to relevant information or supporting resources).
• Encourage students to take risks and make mistakes, emphasizing the value of errors for learning (Metcalfe, 2017), to support a growth mindset (Dweck, 2006).
• Acknowledge that learning activities may feel challenging and express confidence that students will be able to succeed (Yaeger et al., 2016).

Supporting Resources

Agarwal, Roediger, McDaniel, & McDermott (2020). How to use retrieval practice to improve learning. (See other guides on Metacognition , Spaced Retrieval , and Applying Knowledge )

Carpenter, Pan, & Butler, 2022 https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-022-00089-1

Dunlosky (2013). Strengthening the student toolbox: Study strategies to boost learning.

Weinstein, Smith, & Caviglioli. Six Strategies for Effective Learning: Materials for teachers and students. Free downloads of bookmarks, posters, and presentation slides summarizing six strategies for effective learning.

Agarwal, P. & P. Bain. (2019). Powerful teaching: Unleash the science of learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works. John Wiley & Sons.

Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2009). Integrative and Applied Learning VALUE rubric. https://www.aacu.org/initiatives/value-initiative/value-rubrics/value-rubrics-integrative-and-applied-learning

Barber, J. P. (2012). Integration of learning: A grounded theory analysis of college students’ learning. American Educational Research Journal , 49 (3) 590-617. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831212437854

Bjork, R.A. (1994). Memory and metamemory considerations in the training of human beings. In J. Metcalfe & A. Shimamura (Eds.), Metacognition: Knowing about knowing (pp. 185– 205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Canning, E. A., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2015). Teach it, don’t preach it: The differential effects of directly-communicated and self-generated utility–value information. Motivation Science , 1(1), 47 – 71. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000015

Carpenter, S. K. (2012). Testing enhances the transfer of learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science , 21, 279 – 283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412452728

Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin , 132(3), 354–380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354

Chi, M. T. H., Bassok, M., Lewis, M. W., Reimann, P. & Glaser, R. (1989). Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems. Cognitive Science , 13 (2), 148-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/0364-0213(89)90002-5

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New psychology of success . Random House.

Finn, B., Thomas, R., & Rawson, K. A. (2018). Learning more from feedback: Elaborating feedback with examples enhances concept learning. Learning and Instruction , 54, 104-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.08.007

Fisher, J. S., & Radvansky, G. A. (2018). Patterns of forgetting. Journal of Memory and Language , 102, 130-141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2018.05.008

Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 111(23), 8410-8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.131903011

Karpicke, J. D., Butler, A. C., & Roediger III, H. L. (2009). Metacognitive strategies in student learning: do students practise retrieval when they study on their own? Memory , 17(4), 471-479. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658210802647009

Khanna, M. M. (2015). Ungraded Pop Quizzes: Test-Enhanced Learning Without All the Anxiety. Teaching of Psychology , 42(2), 174–178. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628315573144

Kornell, N., & Bjork, R. A. (2007). The promise and perils of self-regulated study. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review , 14(2), 219-224. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194055

Lang, J. M. (Feb. 8, 2016). Small changes in teaching: Making connections. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Small-Changes-in-Teaching-/235230

Metcalfe, J. (2017). Learning from errors. Annual Review of Psychology , 68(6), 1 – 25. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044022

Roediger III, H. L., & Butler, A. C. (2011). The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences , 15(1), 20-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2010.09.003

Roediger, H. L. III, & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science , 17(3), 249–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x

Rohrer, D., & Taylor, K. (2007). The shuffling of mathematics practice problems boosts learning. Instructional Science , 35, 481–498.

Smith, B. L., Holliday, W. G., & Austin, H. W. (2010). Students’ comprehension of science textbooks using a question-based reading strategy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching , 47, 363–379.

Tanner, K. D. (2013). Structure matters: twenty-one teaching strategies to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity. CBE—Life Sciences Education , 12(3), 322-331.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wong, R. M. F., Lawson, M. J., & Keeves, J. (2002). The effects of self-explanation training on students’ problem solving in high-school mathematics. Learning and Instruction , 12, 233–262.

Yeager, D. S., Walton, G. M., Brady, S. T., Akcinar, E. N., Paunesku, D., Keane, L., et al. (2016). Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 113(24), E3341–8. http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1524360113

Zepeda, C. D., Martin, R. S., & Butler, A. C. (2020). Motivational strategies to engage learners in desirable difficulties. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition , 9(4), 468–474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2020.08.007

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SfC Home > Education > Getting Good Grades >

• Purpose of Homework

by Ron Kurtus (updated 28 February 2022)

Teachers often give assignments consisting of reading, problem solving, or writing that the students must do after class—usually at home.

Ideally, the purpose of homework is to help reinforce what was taught in class. Sometimes its purpose is to gather extra information beyond what was taught in class.

Unfortunately, there are some teachers who just don't understand the meaning of homework and give it as something to keep the students busy.

Questions you may have include:

• How does homework reinforce knowledge?
• What homework goes beyond what was taught in class?
• What is meaningless homework?

This lesson will answer those questions.

Reinforcing knowledge

Although your teacher can provide information and explain the subject in class, you typically will only remember about 50% of the information you get by seeing and hearing the explanations.

Problem solving assignments

Although, you can ask your teacher questions if you do not completely understand the principles or facts involved, you still need to apply the information to learn the subject and turn it into knowledge. That is a major reason for homework assignments.

In class, Megan's teacher explained how to solve a certain type of math problem. But after Megan went home, she didn't bother doing her math homework or try to solve any math problems herself. By the next day, she had already forgotten what had been taught the previous day.

Reading assignments

Likewise, your teacher may explain the reasons for the action of people in an historical event. When you later read about the event, you can understand what really happened and why.

Going beyond what is taught in class

Sometimes teachers will only give an overview of material and then assign reading for the students to get the major part of the information. Then the next day, the teacher will answer any questions students may have or perhaps verbally quiz them on the material.

History, English Literature and Sociology are examples of classes that require extensive reading outside of class.

Jerry was glad he was able to speed-read, because he had so many reading assignments in his History class. Some of the slow readers were just left behind in the class.

Besides assigning reading, the students may be required to write an essay or answer questions in the book on what was read. This homework will be graded to verify that the student did the assignment and understood the material.

The advantage of outside reading is that much more material can be covered than what could be covered in class. The disadvantages to you are that questions you have may not be answered and there is no reinforcement to enhance understanding what was read.

Meaningless homework

The worst type of homework is the type that is meaningless or just "busy-work".

Repetitive problems

One example of this type of homework is having to do repetitive problems or solving puzzles that really don't add to your knowledge. Unfortunately, you may have to do this sort of nonsense to get a good grade in the class.

Making it meaningless

It is popular for teachers to assign students to look up some subject on the Internet and put together an essay on it. Many students will find a number of resources and copy and paste the material without really reading or understanding it.

All this amounts to is an exercise in using Google to find things, as opposed to actually learning something. It is also plagiarism, if the material is not written in your own words.

The purpose of homework is to help you learn what was taught in class or to gain information by reading and answering questions.

One type of homework reinforces what was taught in class. Another type consists of studying beyond what was explained in class. A third type of homework is simply meant to keep the students busy.

In any case, it is necessary to do your homework—and do it well—in order to get a good grade in the class.

You learn by doing

Resources and references

Ron Kurtus' Credentials

Homework Helper - Lists of homework webistes for all levels from CollegeScholarships.org

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The battle of homework: weighing the pros and cons for students’ success.

The Pros and Cons of Homework: Educating for SuccessHomework has been a part of the education system for centuries, providing students with additional practice and reinforcing learning outside of the classroom. However, the effectiveness and necessity of homework have been widely debated.

In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of homework, shedding light on the various perspectives and considerations. By understanding the different viewpoints, we aim to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of this educational practice.

Pros of Homework:

1. Homework teaches discipline and habit:

– Regular completion of homework tasks instills discipline and the habit of meeting deadlines.

Students learn to manage their time effectively and prioritize their responsibilities, setting them up for success in future endeavors. 2.

Homework helps parents know what’s being learned in class:

– For parents, homework serves as a window into their child’s educational journey. It allows them to stay informed about the topics covered in class and the progress their child is making, fostering active involvement and partnership in their education.

3. Homework teaches time management:

– By juggling multiple assignments and deadlines, students develop vital time management skills.

They learn to plan their schedules, allocate time for different tasks, and avoid procrastination, preparing them for the demands of college and the workforce. 4.

Homework gives students self-paced learning time:

– Homework provides an opportunity for self-paced learning, allowing students to engage with the material at their own speed. This flexibility caters to individual learning styles and preferences, facilitating a deeper understanding and retention of knowledge.

5. Homework can reduce screen time:

– In a digital age dominated by screens, homework can serve as an antidote to excessive screen time.

By engaging in offline tasks, such as reading books or solving problems, students can cultivate a balanced lifestyle and develop skills beyond the realm of technology. 6.

Homework gives students productive afternoon activities:

– Rather than wasting time after school, homework offers students productive activities to occupy their afternoons. It keeps their minds active, prevents idleness, and promotes intellectual growth, all while fostering a sense of achievement.

7. Homework reinforces information taught in class:

– Through homework, students reinforce and consolidate the concepts taught in class.

Repetition enhances memory retention, deepening their understanding of the subject matter and enhancing their overall academic performance. 8.

Homework helps motivated students to get ahead:

– Motivated students can use homework as a tool to excel academically. They can delve deeper into topics, conduct additional research, and challenge themselves beyond the scope of regular classroom instruction, fostering a love for continuous learning.

9. Homework gives parents and children time together:

– Completing homework together allows parents and children to spend quality time, fostering parent-child bonding.

This shared experience not only strengthens their relationship but also creates a supportive environment for learning and personal growth. 10.

Homework improves parent-teacher relationships:

– Homework serves as a bridge between parents and teachers, opening avenues for communication and collaboration. Parents gain insights into their child’s progress, allowing them to coordinate with teachers and provide necessary support, which ultimately enhances the overall educational experience.

11. Homework helps teachers get through the crowded curriculum:

– In an era of overcrowded academic standards and curriculum, homework provides teachers with an essential tool.

It allows them to reinforce concepts, assess student understanding, and tailor instruction to meet individual needs, ensuring comprehensive learning. 12.

Homework provides spaced repetition for long-term memorization:

– Spaced repetition is a well-established technique for long-term memorization. Homework harnesses this method by reinforcing material over time, enabling students to store information in their long-term memory banks, improving retention and recall.

13. Homework supports a flipped learning model to make the most of time with the teacher:

– Flipped learning models rely on independent study outside the classroom, with homework playing a critical role.

Students come to class prepared, allowing teachers to focus on active learning, collaboration, and problem-solving, maximizing the effectiveness of face-to-face interaction. 14.

Homework improves student achievement:

– Numerous studies have shown a positive correlation between homework completion and academic achievement. Homework provides a platform for additional practice and consolidation, empowering students to achieve higher grades and academic success.

15. Homework helps the national education system keep up with other country’s systems:

– In an increasingly competitive global landscape, homework can help national education systems keep pace with other countries.

By promoting critical thinking, time management, and self-directed learning, homework prepares students to thrive in a rapidly evolving world. Cons of Homework:

Homework interferes with playtime:

– The growing amount of homework can limit children’s opportunities for unstructured play, essential for healthy development. Play fosters creativity, problem-solving skills, and social interaction, which may be compromised by excessive homework.

2. Homework interferes with extracurricular activities:

– The time commitment required for homework can encroach upon extracurricular pursuits, such as sports, clubs, and hobbies.

Students may face difficult choices and trade-offs, potentially missing out on valuable opportunities for personal growth and exploration. 3.

Homework discourages students from going outside and getting exercise:

– Extended periods spent on homework restrict children’s outdoor activities and physical exercise, contributing to sedentary lifestyles. The lack of exercise can impact mental and physical health, leading to decreased energy levels and potential weight gain.

4. Homework leads to unsupervised and unsupportive learning:

– Homework relies on students working independently, which can be challenging for those who need guidance or support.

Without access to immediate resources or assistance, students may struggle to comprehend complex concepts, leading to frustration and disengagement. 5.

Homework can encourage cheating:

– Homework assignments completed outside of the controlled classroom environment may present opportunities for dishonest behavior. Students may be tempted to seek help from external sources or plagiarize, compromising their moral values and academic integrity.

6. Homework contributes to a culture of poor work-life balance:

– The increasing workload of homework can lead to a culture of poor work-life balance, promoting stress and mental health issues.

Excessive homework can result in reduced leisure time, disrupted sleep patterns, and increased pressure to meet unrealistic expectations. 7.

Homework discourages children from taking up hobbies:

– With limited free time, students may be less inclined to pursue hobbies or develop skills outside of the academic realm. Lack of exposure to varied interests can hinder personal growth, creativity, and the exploration of alternative career paths.

8. Homework creates unfairness between children with parents helping and those who don’t:

– Homework may exacerbate disparities among students, as those with parents who have the resources and time to assist them have an advantage.

This inequality can have long-term implications for educational achievement and socioeconomic mobility. 9.

Homework causes stress and anxiety:

– Excessive homework burdens can create significant levels of stress and anxiety in students. The pressure to complete numerous assignments within tight deadlines can lead to sleep disturbances, decreased mental well-being, and even burnout.

10. Homework is often poor-quality work:

– Due to time constraints and fatigue, some students may submit subpar or rushed homework, compromising the quality of their learning.

Quantity over quality can lead to missed learning opportunities and shallow comprehension of the subject matter. 11.

Homework is solitary learning:

– Homework predominantly involves individual work, limiting collaborative learning experiences. Social interaction and group problem-solving, vital in real-world contexts, may be under-emphasized, hindering the development of teamwork and communication skills.

12. Homework widens social inequality:

– Socioeconomic disparities can manifest in unequal access to educational resources and support systems required to complete homework effectively.

Limited resources at home, such as quiet study spaces or internet access, can perpetuate educational inequalities for disadvantaged students. In conclusion, the debate surrounding homework is multifaceted and complex.

While proponents argue that homework teaches discipline, reinforces learning, and fosters valuable skills, critics highlight its potential negative impacts on free time, mental health, and fairness. Considering the pros and cons can help inform educators, administrators, and parents in making informed decisions about the implementation and quantity of homework assigned.

Ultimately, the goal should be to strike a balance that supports holistic growth, effective learning, and student well-being.

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How Parental Involvement in Children's Homework Teaches Some Valuable Life Lessons?

The Federal Department of Education encourages parents to help their kids with homework as it supports children's learning. Many experts also found that parents helping with homework cultivates positive learning behaviors, reinforces class material, and reminds children that education is indeed important, per  The Conversation .

Parental involvement in schoolwork allows children to learn that asking for help with difficult tasks enables them to improve and teaches them that mistakes are all part of the process. Kids also learn that perseverance and practice both strengthen skills and broaden their horizons. It also helps them to develop positive study skills and habits that will be helpful throughout their lives. It encourages them to consume time positively, learn independently, and take accountability for their work.

Moreover, parental involvement with homework is associated with higher academic performance, better social skills and behavior, and also increased self-confidence. When parents help their children with homework, it allows kids more time to expand upon subjects as learning can be accelerated in the classroom.

Read Also:  Flying With a Baby or Child: Everything Parents Need To Know

How important is parental involvement to the child's learning?

Angran Li, a sociologist, says that the evidence suggests that the involvement of parents in a child's learning can make a difference through warm encouragement and a positive outlook, as well as by communicating high expectations to children. The impact of parental involvement can also be seen in the quality of homework.

The efficacy of homework help appears to increase when parents nurture independent learning behaviors. When parents assist their kids in doing homework, they should avoid trying to handle the process and also resist the temptation to complete and finish the assignment for kids. Instead, try letting the child figure out answers on their own while giving them helpful hints and positive feedback when needed.

Kids would feel more motivated when parents are involved in the learning process. As a result, their grades, self-esteem, and attitudes in class would improve. Research from the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education states that regardless of income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to be stellar in the classroom as they attend school regularly and have better social skills, per  Rasmussen University .

How homework promotes learning conversation?

According to a study, "Parental Involvement Across Middle and High School: Exploring Contributions of Individual and Neighborhood Characteristics," parents should gradually lessen homework help as the child grow older and seek advice from teachers and even from school staff on how to make homework support both engaging and attuned to their kid's learning needs.

Parents should step in to help when they see their kids struggling in school as difficult subjects, as well as topics, can distress children. On the other hand, homework helps kids take control of their workload and increase their time management skills considering that homework is all set with a deadline; thus, it allows them to think independently and develop problem-solving skills.

In addition, homework reinforces learners to retain information taught in the classroom and increases their general understanding of the language, which promotes learning conversation, per  Teaching English .

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Do Kids Need Homework?

January 19, 2023, brian s. mcgrath.

We knew this question would spark lively debate among readers. School is a big part of life, not just for kids but for their families and for educators, too. Everyone has an opinion about what’s best for students. And they don’t always agree.

Do kids need homework? The answer is . . . (drumroll): It depends. Some of our readers insist that the extra work reinforces what they learn in class. And it helps teachers identify where students need more help. Others say homework adds to students’ stress and takes time away from exercise or learning something new. Readers also wondered what kind of homework kids should do. And how much kids need. Here’s what they said.

Pradyun Senthilkumar, 9

Los Angeles, California

Kids need homework. When they learn something new in school, reviewing it at home helps them remember it. At my school, teachers give math and language arts homework. That’s because there’s a lot we need to learn. In math, we’re learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In language arts, we’re learning spelling, reading, and writing. And we’re also learning how to speak. Our homework gives our teachers valuable information. It tells them how much students are paying attention in class and who needs extra help. Homework is important at every stage of learning.

Olivia Lin, 9

Minnetonka, Minnesota

In my opinion, giving students homework is a bad idea. Kids need time after school for experiences that build a healthy mind and body. Homework is not supposed to stress kids out. It’s meant to help them grow. But when homework heaps up, students get stressed. And the quality of homework that a stressed-out mind produces is low. Doing homework poorly is worse than doing no homework. As long as students are working hard in class, it’s best not to give them extra work. That’s for the sake of their mental and physical health. And their happiness.

Isla Dhaliwal-Grizzell, 8

Spokane, Washington

Kids need homework. But the amount should vary by age. Middle and high school students are ready for added responsibility. So they can do much more homework. At my school, elementary students get homework, but not too much. My teacher might assign us spelling words to learn at home, and each week we’ll be given a test. But other assignments can require families to work with kids at home, if they need extra help. That’s why we do most of our learning in class. Sometimes, elementary students at my school will have an optional homework assignment to do for a special prize.

Isaac McKee, 11

Durham, North Carolina

Kids don’t need homework. They’re learning for six hours a day at school, focusing on subjects from math and science to history and reading. Adding another hour of work for kids to do at home is just having them repeat what they’ve been doing all day. Plus, homework takes time away from activities like team sports, hobbies, exercise, and playing. These are just as important as schoolwork, because they keep kids active. Kids don’t need more time staring at a piece of paper or a computer screen. Homework just covers what they already learned in class. It’s pointless.

Jolynn Xiao, 9

Corpus Christi, Texas

Here’s why I think kids should have homework. If you can’t solve a math problem, or if you answer a question incorrectly on a homework assignment, your teacher knows exactly what to help you with. Parents also have a chance to help. They can work you through a math problem or clarify a question. I’m not arguing for homework because I want kids to feel a lot of pressure at school. I just think it’s a way to let teachers, parents, and even you know where you might need some improvement or extra help. It’s that simple. Considering the benefits, why wouldn’t we want kids to have homework?

Nathaniel Kim, 11

South Pasadena, California

Many people believe that homework is essential. They say it can teach kids how to complete tasks on a deadline. I don’t deny that homework teaches students positive work habits. But it takes time away from learning material that wasn’t covered in class. And there’s no guarantee that time spent on homework will be more effective than time spent in the classroom, if students are paying attention and taking notes. Homework should not be done away with completely. But it should be reduced so students have more time for creative activities.

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ST CECILIA'S

Aspire - Endeavour - Achieve

Homework and home study are essential elements of academic success at all Key Stages.

Homework reinforces and helps pupils to retain information taught in the classroom as well as increasing their general understanding of the language. Homework develops study habits and independent learning with research showing that homework also benefits factual knowledge, self-discipline, attitudes to learning and problem-solving skills. These are some of the skills we want every St. Cecilia’s pupil to develop and so we place great importance on completing homework to a high standard.

We encourage all pupils to follow the homework guidelines below to ensure that they achieve of their best.

Record all homework given neatly and accurately making careful note of the date it is due to be completed.

Complete homework in a quiet place free from distraction

Plan each week to ensure that work is completed on time and to the highest standard.

Use the school Homework Club / Study support facility available after school (Monday – Thursday 3pm – 4.15pm)

Take pride in the work completed at home

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Three reasons to keep homework in education

• May 17, 2018

There has been some debate in educational circles recently about the importance of homework. Some experts have suggested that homework is unnecessary and it would be much better to take the time that is spent doing homework and concentrate on pursuits such as outdoor activity and family togetherness or that these activities themselves should be considered on the same level as academic homework.

I disagree with this point of view and in my experience as a student and an educator I believe that homework is absolutely essential to a student being successful in their education.

These are many reasons why, for me, the benefits of homework are compelling. For the purposes of this blog today I will only list the top three.

• Homework reinforces skills, concepts and information learned in class. This point does not require much elaboration. This is why studying for a test works better than just hope! It has also been found that when revision occurs the night after the learning in class, concepts are better consolidated. To maximise the benefit the concepts then need to be revisited periodically.

• Homework teaches students to work independently and develop self-discipline. The habit of self-discipline and the ability to delay self-gratification in the pursuit of something greater is the main predictor of a student’s success in later life after school. This virtue is above achievement grades and talent.
• Homework allows parents to have an active role in their child’s education and helps them to evaluate their child’s progress. As mentioned in the second point, self discipline is the main predictor of success after school. However, it is the extent to which parents demonstrate how much they value education that is the main predictor of student success within school.

Children of all ages need to see a clear demonstration that education is highly valued in the home for students to do well. Sending your children to a College like ours is a good start because this is already a powerful demonstration of how much you value education so congratulations for making that decision. Unfortunately, it is not enough. When parents insist on a consistent routine for homework every evening amongst all the busyness of family life it is a powerful demonstrator that education has a high priority in the family. This is particularly true when the TV and music are switched off. You are showing your children that homework is more valuable than TV and music.

Homework is important for all school children of all ages, whether it be home readers, spelling lists and times tables in the younger year levels or essays, assignments and revision tasks in the older years.

It’s not always easy helping your child with homework so next I will be addressing that challenge.

Open Day is here!

I’m really looking forward to this year’s Open Day and hope to see you there. It is a valuable opportunity to see your child’s classroom/s, find out what they have been learning and explore all the prospects open to them at Glasshouse Christian College.

This year we have more performances than ever before and you will be amazed at the quality of the items. It’s going to be a beautiful sunny day so the band and dance performances will be on the lawn outside the library. Inside the library there will be English monologues and story telling and in the OLA N Block you’ll find our primary singing groups and French Club. All the details are in the Official Open Day Program.

Musical – ‘The Little Mermaid’

Tickets can only be purchased online through the Events Centre here: https://theeventscentre.com.au/product/glasshouse-christian-college-the-little-mermaid/

I would encourage you to book as soon as possible as there is a good chance that all three performances will be sold out.

Mike Curtis, Principal

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How does homework reinforce learning.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Homework plays an important role in reinforcing what has been learned in the classroom. By devoting additional time studying these topics, it allows students to reinforce and gain a deeper understanding of key concepts, lessons and themes. Homework can be beneficial for building long-term knowledge retention by providing effective learning opportunities to demonstrate mastery of subject matter outside the classroom setting.

Definition of Homework

Homework is a set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers, to be completed outside of regular classroom hours. It generally involves practice or repetition of material taught in class, but may also require research and provide an opportunity for intentional independent study and learning. Homework reinforces the concepts learnt during class time and helps improve student performance by allowing them more time and space to work on topics that require deeper understanding. Studies have shown that completing homework leads to improved academic performance, better long-term retention of concepts taught, improved self-motivation amongst students, and higher satisfaction with school overall.

Benefits of Homework

Doing homework can help students reinforce what they are learning in school. It reinforces important academic skills, gives students extra practice on topics and helps them to prepare for upcoming lectures and tests. Homework also encourages good study habits that will come in handy as the student progresses through their studies. By completing assignments, students develop strong research capabilities as well as develop problem-solving skills which can be beneficial throughout their educational career and beyond. Additionally, it instills discipline by practicing self-management and deadlines which is essential for success both inside the classroom and out. Lastly, when teachers give consistent feedback on assignments done at home or school, it provides an insight into a child’s abilities that may not always appear during classroom instruction alone.

Examples of Homework Assignments

Homework assignments can provide students with significant learning advantages in a number of ways. Examples of effective homework assignments include essay-style writing activities, worksheets that require research and problem solving, and close readings or analyses of texts designed to enrich critical thinking skills. Creative projects involving the application of newly acquired knowledge are also an effective means for reinforcing student learning: creating models or videos demonstrating particular concepts, completing art or craft projects related to scientific principles and exploring music theory, just to name a few examples. Homework can help solidify classroom instruction by giving students the chance to apply what they learn in real life scenarios as well as providing an opportunity for synthesis and mastery.

Homework and Academic Performance

Homework is an important part of school life, as it provides a great opportunity for students to review and reinforce material learned in the classroom. Studies have shown that completing homework can be directly linked to improved academic performance. Specifically, research indicates that doing regular homework assignments leads to higher grades, increased test scores, and better overall educational outcomes. Additionally, long-term benefits include improved critical thinking skills, self-discipline and independence in learning. Homework also helps parents become involved in their children’s education by providing opportunities for them to monitor their progress and offer guidance when needed. Finally, teachers benefit from assigning appropriate homework tasks since these activities can stimulate student engagement with the course content. Therefore, doing regular homework is essential for successful academic performance at all levels of education.

Homework Quality vs. Quantity

Homework is an important part of each student’s educational journey. While the amount of homework given to students varies from school-to-school, it is important for students to be mindful of both quality and quantity when completing their assignments. Quality homework allows students to focus on deeper learning, encourages greater participation in lesson discussions, and can help teachers identify areas where extra support might be needed. On the other hand, too much homework without any real enrichment or purpose has diminishing returns; it often causes stress that detracts from academic performance and leads to feelings of resentment towards lessons being taught. Balancing good quality assignments with a manageable amount of work can help ensure that all students are fully engaged in their own education while still providing them with ample time for leisure activities or other enrichment opportunities.

Parental Involvement & Homework

Homework is an important part of the learning process, and parental involvement can play a huge role in its effectiveness. Engaging parents with their children’s homework encourages development of independent study skills, helps to reinforce concept understanding and develops good working habits. Additionally, when parents are actively involved in their child’s education by helping them with assignments or other school-related activities, it gives them the chance to develop a greater connection with what their children are learning while also strengthening family bonds. It also allows parents to monitor academic achievement and identify areas where there could be room for improvement sooner rather than later. Furthermore, as students see that both school staff and home support networks view education as important, they become more likely to take schoolwork seriously which leads them on a path of long-term success.

Homework and Study Habits

Homework is a critical component of learning and reinforcement that helps students cement the knowledge they have acquired in class. It gives them an opportunity to practice applying newly-acquired ideas and concepts to real-world scenarios. Once students understand how to apply what they learned, it improves their confidence when faced with similar real-life problems or tasks. Studying at regular intervals provides further reinforcement through repetition so that habits are embedded in the long term memory rather than just “forgetting” information after some time. Moreover, it encourages critical thinking skills which can help them develop problem solving abilities along with testing their analytical skills. Additionally, homework serves as an indicator of student progress over time – this allows teachers, parents and guardians to ensure efficient growth without letting any child fall behind academically.

Challenges With Too Much Homework

Homework can be an effective way to reinforce learning, but assigning too much homework can create challenges for students and educators. Classroom time is already limited and the one-size-fits-all approach of excessive homework does not take into account individual differences in abilities or learning styles. Students who struggle with anxiety or have difficulty focusing may find themselves overwhelmed by large volumes of work that must be completed outside of school time. Rather than spending class time teaching new material, teachers may also spend more energy trying to make sure all previous assignments were submitted on time. For these reasons, it is important that educators consider the amount and type of homework they assign – making sure each assignment has a clear purpose which supports instructional goals without overburdening the student.

Homework & Learning Styles

Homework helps reinforce learning by allowing students to practice the material they have studied in class. While there is a wide range of differences among learners, homework activities can be tailored to suit individual needs and styles. For auditory learners, this could involve creating spoken recordings while reading through their notes; visual learners may prefer using pictures or diagrams; kinaesthetic or tactile learners might find success with physically manipulating objects that represent concepts being learned. By customizing homework assignments according to learning style, students are able to more effectively process and remember new information for future use. In this way, homework indirectly reinforces learning by giving each learner an opportunity to interact with the material on his/her own terms.

Homework Alternatives

Homework alternatives offer students a chance to demonstrate their learning in ways other than through traditional written assignments. These educational activities enable teachers to track progress and achievement while still allowing students creative freedom. Alternatives may include interactive projects, research papers, presentations, or art pieces. By encouraging exploration and expression of the material being studied, homework alternatives provide an enjoyable way for students to enhance their knowledge and skills in a given subject area. They also allow for more specific evaluation of student understanding as compared to summarize written responses that often fail unnoticed when graded quickly by tired teachers at the end of the day. Finally, homework alternatives can break up the monotony of completing written tasks week after week which provides much needed variety in academics as well as motivation- boosting benefits for both student and teacher alike!

Homework provides an effective method for reinforcing learning and knowledge acquisition. Students by completing outside research, practice tasks and home-based lessons are able to gain in-depth insights relevant to the topics being taught in class. This can help students develop their understanding of key concepts more quickly as well as retain information at a higher level for longer periods of time. An extra benefit is that it also supports their ability to apply those same concepts throughout their own lives more effectively too. Overall, homework has been proven to be one of the most efficient reinforcements for building a high quality education experience.

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