MORE TIME FOR HOMEWORK & ANALYSIS OF STUDENT HOMEWORK VS. QUIZ GRADES
Based on Artifact 2 I decided that the one homework factor that I could easily modify is time for completing assignments. Many students responded that they would do more homework if they were given more time for assignments. I decided to provide more time for a homework sheet, “Extra Electron Configuration Practice Homework (Artifact 3A),” that provided students with more practice for writing electron configurations. In an attempt to make it clear to students that I was changing part of my practice, I made a new addition, "DUE:______", to the handout heading to help remind students that the homework was not due the next day. By providing space for students to write down the due date rather than just listen for the due date, I thought that it would help them remember the due date better, and if they came across their paper they could see the due date on the sheet. I also made sure that I reminded students about the homework assignment over the next few days of class until its due date.
After turning in the homework, students filled out a survey (Artifact 3B) about the homework assignment (Artifact 3A). I wanted to gauge student comfort with writing electron configurations, and I wanted feedback for the implementation of providing more time on the homework. As I analyzed student responses, I realized that I should have been more explicit about my intentions for student questions. For example, for the first question “On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you in your ability to write electron configurations,” I should have explicitly specified that 1 indicates “not confident” and 10 indicates “very confident” to avoid any misinterpretation.
Out of 19 students who completed a survey, 3 students did not find more time on the homework assignment to be more beneficial. Since the majority of the surveyed class liked more time for completing homework assignments I continued to implement this practice, however, I was not sure how much time was “enough” time. For this particular assignment, students were given six days, which is more than I would have liked to give but due to the snow days and professional development I decided to make the assignment due on the day of their quiz review.
After turning in the homework, students filled out a survey (Artifact 3B) about the homework assignment (Artifact 3A). I wanted to gauge student comfort with writing electron configurations, and I wanted feedback for the implementation of providing more time on the homework. As I analyzed student responses, I realized that I should have been more explicit about my intentions for student questions. For example, for the first question “On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you in your ability to write electron configurations,” I should have explicitly specified that 1 indicates “not confident” and 10 indicates “very confident” to avoid any misinterpretation.
Out of 19 students who completed a survey, 3 students did not find more time on the homework assignment to be more beneficial. Since the majority of the surveyed class liked more time for completing homework assignments I continued to implement this practice, however, I was not sure how much time was “enough” time. For this particular assignment, students were given six days, which is more than I would have liked to give but due to the snow days and professional development I decided to make the assignment due on the day of their quiz review.