Why homework?
Mokhtar Zaman
Homework is any task or assignment given by teachers to complete outside of school hours on topics that students have been studying in class.
There are various formats of homework—reading, research projects, and writing.
Evolution of homework
The practice of giving homework dates back to ancient Rome and Greece, where scholars advocated self-study as a crucial component of education and learning. However, during the 19thcentury, homework became more formalized when Horace Mann (Father of Modern School system) introduced it to the school system in the United States.
Homework banned!
However, in the early 1900s, New York Times published a series of articles on the negative impact that homework had on children’s health. As a result, California banned homework for children under 15 in 1901. Then, in 1930, the American Child Health Association deemed homework a form of child labour, and it became difficult to justify homework assignments. But later, in the mid-1900s, the US entered the progressive era and homework was inculcated back into the education system.
Types of homework
Practice – To help students master a specific skill.
Example: Solving a series of math problems.
Preparation- To introduce students to the concept they will study in the future.
Example: Reading a chapter before discussion in class.
Extension – When students apply the knowledge they have gained from their lessons.
Example – Solving examples or exercise questions from a book or worksheet.
Integration-To solidify learning, creating tasks that require many different skills.
Example–Including all mathematical operations in a single word problem.
Digitalization of homework
The integration of technology in education has influenced the conventional way of giving homework. There are various digital platforms that can generate worksheets on topics taught, These assignments can be submitted and evaluated electronically as well.
Video streaming and simulating labs are also there for assistance, where a teacher can assign tasks and students can perform virtual experiments in simulating labs.
Cognitive development of students
Homework increases critical thinking and the habit of exploration, which will ultimately develop knowledge, skill, and problem solving. It will also boost memory and retain knowledge for exams and future tests. Let me share an example. I was teaching English in class 2, where I introduced a chapter (Fun with Friends from Mridang, NCERT) in which children were playing with a bicycle. I talked to my students about bicycles and as homework asked them to draw their dream cycle and label its parts. I noticed that every student was very enthusiastic about the bicycle and its workings. About 90% of the students came with their homework the next day.
Importance of homework
Promoting classroom learning – When what is taught in class is practiced again at home as part of homework, it helps students retain what they were taught.
Discipline of practice – It may be tedious and boring, but it strengthens the discipline of practice in students. It’s common to keep repeating work to get better at a skill.
Communication bridge-The student, the teacher, the school, and the parents are all bound by homework. Many parents often get in touch with me to understand the homework so that they can help their children with it.
Tracing homework
Tracing homework is a managerial skill and everyone should acquire this. I created a homework assignment tracker in which each student’s name is written with space in front of the name to check whether he/she has completed their homework. The tracker is hung to the the classroom activity board.
The school is also planning to provide a homework diary to keep a record of homework and to inform parents of the work has been given to students for practicing at home.
Homework board in the classroom
In my classroom there is a board dedicated to homework. It mentions the homework given by different teachers in a day.
Involvement of parents in homework
Helping with homework is an important responsibility as a parent and directly supports the learning process. One of the best predictors of success in school is the learning at home and being involved in children’s education. Parental involvement with homework helps develop self-confidence and motivation in the classroom.
But then what about those parents who are not educated enough to deal with their child’s homework?
Our foundation had very good initiatives for these types of cases.
1} Community learning center.
2} Promoting group study among students of the same village.
Creating homework in interesting and effective ways
There are a few ways in which we can create interesting and effective homework. Like, for instance, instead of giving math homework from their textbooks and asking them to solve it, I develop worksheets with pictures on them. These types of worksheets fascinate students.
The primary aim of education is to prepare students to face real-world problems. Therefore, we assign tasks that help them practice real-world activities. For example- writing something about the food items brought home, or calculating the price of different products, or finding the volume or weight of the products. We also give our students research-based assignments.
Personal experience and performance of students
“Homework in school has been a mixed bag of experiences for me, filled with challenges, learning opportunities, and moments of accomplishment. One aspect that stands out is the varying levels of difficulty and relevance of assignments.” —-Student A
“Perhaps the most memorable aspect of homework was the collaborative efforts to solve problems, exchange ideas, and support one another created a sense of community within the academic environment among classmates. These shared experiences not only enrich the learning process but also create lasting bonds that extend beyond the classroom.” —–Student B
“Performance of students has increased in doing homework.”——Student C
Video documentary on homework
In this documentary, I asked the students of Azim Premji School on what they thought of homework. The aim was to understand the role of homework in their education and its impact on their learning.
Scan the QR code for video streaming.
The author is an educator currently teaching at Azim Premji School in Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and has completed his B.Ed. from the Government College of Teacher Education in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. He can be reached at mokhtarzaman@azimpremjifoundation.org
