(The Homework Never Ends) How Much Homework Is Too Much?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- Educational research sheds new light on the efficacy and application of homework.
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If you ask five plumbers why they always install drain pipes with a gradient of at least 1.65%, they’ll all tell you that it's the minimum safe ‘fall’ to prevent wastewater backflow.
If you ask five pro tennis players why they commonly change racquets during a match, they’ll all tell you that it helps maintain consistent string tension.
If you ask five teachers why they regularly assign homework, they’ll all likely tell you something very different -- from providing practice opportunities, to flipping classroom learning, to engaging parents in the learning process, and so on.
Despite this lack of consensus, the popular justifications for homework generally appear to be reasonable and logical. However, upon further review, it turns out that many of these justifications reflect personal preference rather than a robust base of evidence.
In Australia, a country with around 10,000 schools, students this year will collectively complete approximately 400 million hours of homework. That’s more than 45,000 years’ worth of time!
And this, by the way, is in a country where over 90% of 13 to 17-year-olds fail to meet the minimum basic physical activity guidelines (according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare).
This is not to suggest that kids should necessarily be running around instead of doing homework -- although a compelling argument could be made for this. Instead, it's meant to emphasize that with such a massive investment of time and energy, it’s reasonable to assume we must have very clear answers to questions like:
Is homework actually effective at improving student learning and performance? How much homework is ideal? How frequently should it be assigned? For which age groups is it best suited?
Unfortunately, for most schools and parents, these answers are elusive and/or irrelevant in the face of the well-worn “homework is important because we’ve always done it” argument (although, to be fair, in recent years the blind cult of homework has faced more rigorous scrutiny across the globe).
In this video, I examine a research study that can help us better answer some of the aforementioned questions about homework:
Adolescents’ Homework Performance in Mathematics and Science: Personal Factors and Teaching Practices. (Fernández-Alonso, et al | 2015)
Here are some of the questions I tackle in this installment:
-- What is the PISA, and how has it led many schools astray when it comes to their general homework philosophy/policy?
-- Is the relationship between homework and student performance a linear function, or is homework subject to diminishing returns?
-- According to research, approximately how much homework supports peak learning and academic performance?
-- What are some key takeaways for teachers regarding how we might think about and approach homework going forward?
Give it a watch, and let me know what you think in the comments.
And, as always, if you find this video valuable, interesting and/or entertaining, you can support our channel by liking, sharing and subscribing ;)
#Homework #DoesHomeworkReallyHelp #IsHomeworkHarmfulOrHelpful
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JARED COONEY HORVATH | PhD, MEd
Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath is an award-winning cognitive neuroscientist, best-selling author and renowned keynote speaker with an expertise in human learning, memory, and brain stimulation.
Dr. Horvath has published 4 books, over 30 research articles, and currently serves as an honorary researcher at the University of Melbourne and St. Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne.
His research has been featured in popular publications including The New York Times, WIRED, BBC, The Economist, PBS's Nova and ABC’s Catalyst.
www.lmeglobal....
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LME GLOBAL
LME Global is a mission-driven company aiming to serve teachers, students and educators through applied brain science.
Join me LIVE on Zoom later this month (July 22-26th, 2024) as I teach a metacognition course for teens (13-19). Give your teenager a mental advantage that will help them succeed in school and beyond as they discover how to step into the driver's seat of their own mind. Sign up here: www.lmeglobal.net/summer-academy
I feel like this video should be shown to all school administrations and school boards, so many good points and presented in such a simple and easily digestible way. I'm really impressed!
This research seems very compelling! As an elementary Tech Integration Specialist, I see the negative impact on all stakeholders when there is homework. Parents and students become frustrated and teachers have more feedback to give....I do believe we need to stop this cycle in elementary schools...and now I have the research to back it up. Thanks Jared!
I love it! And you're spot on: elementary school homework is super-questionable. TO be fair, if parents are available, supportive, and helpful, it might be beneficial - but not every student has parents who are available, supportive, and helpful.
Homework benefits absolutely no one, and only gives us the joy of anxiety and mental stress
This is cool, looks like you have...done your homework 😎
I actually heard the CSI: Miami scream while reading that.
The findings of this research make absolute sense. The problem in schools is that each discipline thinks students should be doing an hour on their particular subject every night and often students then prioritize the homework of the teacher who has the strictest response to students not completing their homework. The other problem is that parents see students doing homework as proof that their children are getting a 'proper' education. Teachers who see preparation and reviewing as the primary function of home study (I call it this to try to mark a difference), are viewed with suspicion by both parents and other teachers. I have tried in the past to get Heads of Year Levels to map the homework being given by each subject across a two week cycle to see how it is tracking. I suspect I might have to start my own school to see any major change in that area. All that I see currently happening is that the students who are already competent get through it quite quickly and are rarely the ones to receive 'consequences' and those students who are not as confident either avoid it altogether or sit at home stuck and wondering why they are so 'stupid'. As for homework at Year 7! How about we let them find their feet and deal with all the changed dynamics for at least a semester. Anyhoo, end of rant. Thank you for your time and work on our behalf. Very much appreciated.
Hi all. My new book '10 Things Schools Get Wrong' is now available. David Bott (my co-author) and I are hosting 3 free 'book launch' webinars starting Feb 17th. The first one will deal with Digital and Distance Learning. You can register at -- LME(dot)global/webinars -- I hope you can join us ... they will be a lot of fun!
@@wnekt1 YAY!!!!!!!
Thanks! I guess this goes in line with spaced repetition.
Do you struggle with your child's Math homework?
Apparently it's a problem in five out of every four homes.
There are two types of people in this world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data
I try to manage my time and take breaks but I’m at my last strike of truancy and I’m trying more harder to finish my homework even though I have 12 hours of doing my homework but the worse thing is that I have too much illnesses but I just need to hang in there for two or 3 more years and I’ll be finish with school!
Just to say thanks for sharing on TH-cam.
Thank you sir!
Hi Jared, thanks for your videos, always enjoy learning from them. Just wondering how this fits in with the concept of flipped learning? The idea that students prepare for a topic and at least understanding the basic knowledge so that in class time can be spent on skills with the teacher on hand?
Hey Shane - good question. Unfortunately, flipped learning doesnt work like most people think. When kids learn the basics then use class time to 'go deeper' - this rarely ever works. Flipped learning only has a consistent positive effect when students learn on their own, then go through the same material in class - essentially learning twice! Under this guise, the same constraints remain - once students do home learning for more than a certain amount of time, it becomes largely meaningless (as the effort required surpasses their cognitive reserves). I could write a wholr chapter on this - lol! Maybe the next book!