Discovery

The Problem of Homework

Anne Wignall

When I started secondary teaching 15 years ago, every student was issued with a text book at the start of the year. That book was used in class and also supplied homework exercises. Today most junior science classes do not have text books issued to them. We have a wide range of books available for use in class, but nothing to take home. For many teachers, setting homework has become a big problem.

Does homework matter any more? Teachers hate setting, kids hate doing it and parents hate supervising it -- why not make everyone's life a little easier and forget it?

I believe in homework. I believe that students who "review" their work a few hours later will recall more of it the following day. In theory, they take their exercise book home and read over the day's work -- but what 14-year-old does that without direct instruction (or even with it)! Regular homework is the most effective tool we have for creating that "review".

Homework also provides opportunities for parents to get involved in their child's learning, and for students to learn some of those "independent learning" skills mentioned in the Curriculum Framework.

On a purely pragmatic level, a student who does regular homework is probably spending about 30-40 hours longer per year in learning science than one who doesn't. Since the total in-class time is about 130 hours per year, that's a significant increase. Our students may choose not to do the homework we set, but if we do not set homework, they are missing out.

How do you set regular homework without an issued text book? There isn't time to write exercises on the board and have the students copy them into their book to be answered later. Photocopy budgets don't stretch far enough to give out a sheet of paper per day, just for the homework.

However, it is often feasible to give out one sheet per week with homework tasks on it. The job of writing those tasks can often be shared around the department. I used to prepare sheets containing sufficient exercises for a whole unit. (Unfortunately I usually found most of the class has lost the sheet by the third week.)

Some schools have made up homework books, which generally consist of photocopied exercises from old text books. These books are sold to the students at the beginning of the year and used as an item bank of questions for use in class or at home. Apart from the copyright issue, such books are less than ideal because they concentrate on knowledge-based tasks, whereas the new curriculum is much more skills-based. However they do ensure that the students get regular homework. A few lucky schools use homework books written by members of their science staff and tailored to their students' particular needs.

In the last year or so, several different commercial homework books for junior science have been produced. Costs range from around $5 to $20 per copy. Each one provides exercises for a whole year of science homework. While more expensive than the "homemade" versions, they are also considerably more durable and more user-friendly. They are also written specifically for the current science curriculum and contain a good collection of skills-based tasks. When you consider that most of our students spend that sort of money on junk food in a week, these books represent good value for money.

Is it really necessary to insist the kids pay for yet another school expense? Well, no, it isn't necessary. But if your students cannot afford the cost of a commercial book, do not deny them the learning opportunities that homework provides. There are a variety of solutions to the problem of homework. It is our responsibility as teachers to choose one.

Anne Wignall is the author of a number of homework books published by Longmans (Year 9 Science Assignments, Year 10 Science Assignments, Year 11 Science Assignments.

Anne Wignall teaches science at Sacred Heart College in Lower Hutt and has authored a number of homework books published by Longmans.