While technology has transformed how the "search, copy and paste" generation does research (does anyone still use note cards to copy quotes out of library books for research papers?), homework still takes up a big chunk of teens' time. MetLife and Harris Interactive did a big study of how teachers, parents and students view the current state of homework. Here are some of the highlights I found interesting. I wanted to know more about how tech is changing the way students do their homework...From the press release (there's more, so click through if you're interested):
Substantial numbers of students and parents raise concerns about the quality of homework.
- Although most students say they have enough time for homework, twenty-six percent of all students say homework is just busywork and unrelated to what they are learning in school. Thirty percent of secondary students identify homework as busywork, down from 74 percent in 2002.
- Forty percent of parents say a great deal or some homework assigned is busywork
- One third (33%) of parents say the quality of homework assigned in their schools is fair or poor.
Most students are not getting enough sleep, which has an impact on their ability to get to school and pay attention in class.
- Nearly half of students (46%) think they do not get enough sleep. While this experience is more common among secondary school students (57%), 29% of elementary school students also report they do not get enough sleep.
- Nearly half of elementary school students (48%) get less than nine hours of sleep on a school night, and 60% of secondary school students say they get less than eight hours of sleep.
- Four in ten students (37%) very often or often have trouble waking up in the morning.
- One-third (34%) frequently feel tired during class, three in ten (29%) daydream in class, and seven percent frequently fall asleep during class.
- Teachers seem to underestimate the extent and impact of lack of sleep. On average, teachers report that only 28% of their students do not get enough sleep.
(it's all that texting at 2 a.m.)
Doing homework is a solitary task...but with distractions.
- Nine in ten elementary school students (89%) and eight in ten secondary school students (81%) usually do their homework at home.
- While three in ten elementary school students (31%) report that they do nothing else while working on their homework, only one in nine secondary school students (11%) have this habit. In fact, nine in ten (89%) secondary students are doing other activities, or "multi-tasking," while doing homework, including 70% who listen to music and 51% who watch TV.
- Two in ten students report that they are usually talking on the phone (20%), instant messaging or emailing (20%) or text messaging (17%) while they do their homework.
Posted by anastasia
Comments
I founded and run Tutor.com, the largest online tutoring service. Thanks for highlighting the MetLife study -- just got my copy in the mail today and sifting through all the interesting data.
Regardless of new technologies, some things will be very hard to change:
-- kids will always have homework and some of them will feel like it's too much and of the wrong kind
-- even the most thoughtful homework assignment, reinforcing what was learned in school, will be hard to complete for many kids
-- parents and peers will not be able to help many kids overcome a challenge, especially when you get into algebra and tough sciences
I think about the topic of homework non-stop, as both a CEO of Tutor.com and as a father of 3 (ages 11, 9, and 6). Some thoughts:
-- Homework is necessary to reinforce what was learned in school and to prepare for the next step in learning.
-- Homework is good if:
-- it is truly tied to the instruction that was recently delivered,
-- it really helps the child understand the concepts better, and most importantly,
-- the child has someone to turn to when he or she is stuck.
So often, the child has no one to turn to when he or she is stuck. Parents are not home and when they are, so many parents are not able to help, especially with math and science problems. Teachers are not available in the evenings, and schools do not spend their limited resources to provide homework support consistently. Most families cannot afford private tutoring, and if they can, traditional tutoring has the child waiting a week and saving up all their questions for the next appointment, allowing the teachable moment to go away.
All of these factors add up to loss of confidence, kids falling behind, and parents getting frustrated that their child is struggling, that the can't help, and that homework becomes a point of stress for the entire family.
Tutor.com is not the solution for all of these problems, but we help thousands of kids each night through our Live Homework Help service available through over 1,800 libraries in 42 states (for free to kids), and through Tutor.com Direct, available on a pay as you go basis (with a free trial) to families everywhere at www.tutor.com.
George Cigale
gcigale@tutur.com
More thoughts at my blog -- http://ceotutor.blogspot.com/
Posted by: George Cigale | February 14, 2008 2:49 PM