student homework beliefs over time
Once my data collection was complete for the implementation of optional homework I compared student responses for whether or not they would do the optional homework to their subsequent actions over the course of the 4 weeks. I was interested in observing whether the students who said they would do the homework would actually do the homework and if students choose to do some assignments what content material is the assignment covering? Additionally, I wondered whether students’ homework habits would change over time when homework was optional?
After analyzing student responses to optional homework before, during, and after implementation (Artifact 13) I found that student beliefs about homework remained the same or became more positive about the benefits of homework towards learning or doing well on assessments. Students whose beliefs about homework remained the same throughout my inquiry were either very against the idea of homework or very pro homework as a means for learning. As shown in Artifact 13B (Student #s that are in red), there were 7 students in 2nd period and 4 students in 7th period who did not participate in my study because they are frequently absent from school or cutting class. Therefore, 26 out of 37 students responded to “Now that we are in another optional homework week would you do anything differently….”
It is significant that every student who wrote he or she would do the optional homework if they needed help or more practice did not actually do the optional homework. Why did these students not do the homework? Did they understand everything already? Was the lack of a grade demotivating? Did they forget about the homework? Were they being lazy? There are so many reasons students may not have done their homework, and the lack of responses made it difficult to pinpoint reasons my students did not do the optional homework. Moreover, time constraints forced me to collect weekly data for optional and graded homework, but I am wondering how my results may have been different if I had started implementing optional homework earlier in the year. Longer experimental studies may have made the distinction between optional and graded homework more clear.
Something I had not explicitly considered as I made changes to homework is “Typical homework practices are only successful for the completers” (Fisher, Lapp, & Frey, 2011, p. 71), and “When work goes home, teachers have little understanding of the mistakes that students have made on the material and little control over who does the work” (Noll, 2004, p. 333). Therefore, if I wanted to analyze the effect of optional versus graded homework for student learning I should have also surveyed students about the completion of their homework. Did they actually take the time to do the homework? Did they copy it? Did they just write something for the sake of having work to show? If few students are actually diligently completing the homework then perhaps the current value of homework is very low or nonexistent. What would this mean for determining whether homework should be eliminated?
After analyzing student responses to optional homework before, during, and after implementation (Artifact 13) I found that student beliefs about homework remained the same or became more positive about the benefits of homework towards learning or doing well on assessments. Students whose beliefs about homework remained the same throughout my inquiry were either very against the idea of homework or very pro homework as a means for learning. As shown in Artifact 13B (Student #s that are in red), there were 7 students in 2nd period and 4 students in 7th period who did not participate in my study because they are frequently absent from school or cutting class. Therefore, 26 out of 37 students responded to “Now that we are in another optional homework week would you do anything differently….”
It is significant that every student who wrote he or she would do the optional homework if they needed help or more practice did not actually do the optional homework. Why did these students not do the homework? Did they understand everything already? Was the lack of a grade demotivating? Did they forget about the homework? Were they being lazy? There are so many reasons students may not have done their homework, and the lack of responses made it difficult to pinpoint reasons my students did not do the optional homework. Moreover, time constraints forced me to collect weekly data for optional and graded homework, but I am wondering how my results may have been different if I had started implementing optional homework earlier in the year. Longer experimental studies may have made the distinction between optional and graded homework more clear.
Something I had not explicitly considered as I made changes to homework is “Typical homework practices are only successful for the completers” (Fisher, Lapp, & Frey, 2011, p. 71), and “When work goes home, teachers have little understanding of the mistakes that students have made on the material and little control over who does the work” (Noll, 2004, p. 333). Therefore, if I wanted to analyze the effect of optional versus graded homework for student learning I should have also surveyed students about the completion of their homework. Did they actually take the time to do the homework? Did they copy it? Did they just write something for the sake of having work to show? If few students are actually diligently completing the homework then perhaps the current value of homework is very low or nonexistent. What would this mean for determining whether homework should be eliminated?