Homework and its nuisances are faced by every parent and student together. No one is spared of the problems that homework creates at home and the way it degrades the learning atmosphere. Often enough many parents must have questioned does homework help students? If so how? Because obviously the troubles associated with homework are many. I mean, can you blame them? You must have encountered similar problems when you were a kid. You must have felt the same way about homework just the way they feel after enduring six to eight hours of school and other activities. You can’t exactly blame them for creating a ruckus about not wanting to work on their assignments.
Does homework help students?
One of the favourite questions among students, parents and even teachers nowadays is that whether assigning homework actually helps the students out. While many might anticipate that the conclusion drawn from a research conducted upon this would provide with a straight forward answer, however, the truth is far from that. From a research conducted by Journal of Educational Psychology to assess whether homework as a learning technique has any effect or not, results were found that some of the effects were positive, while some had no effect and others were drawn to be inconclusive.
This is because there variety of homework that is assigned each day. It’s a generalized assignment that might benefit one and might not benefit the other. However, it is irresponsible to say that they do not affect the learning of the students for the better at all.
‘Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called tomorrow.’
How does homework help students?
By now many students and parents might be wondering about the possible effects of homework. How exactly does it help the students cope with the syllabus and develop their learning ability? How does it help them to improve their life and be better at it? And more importantly, how does it help them to score better in future test or assignments? Well, listed below are some of the ways that homework benefits the students and help them out.
- Allows them to manage time ably
Time management is a skill that students pick up while working upon their assignments. They allocate certain time to each assignment and try to work it into their schedule. They understand the value of time better when they are assigned multiple assignments and are on the clock constantly to get them finished. Some choose to work upon the assignments alone while others prefer to seek help from online websites to hasten the process of completion.
- Makes them more patient
Homework makes them understand how virtuous patience is. Oftentimes, students are forced to keep working at a problem to come to a conclusion and solve it successfully. However, due to various reasons, they fail to work through the problems and arrive at either no conclusion, or at the wrong conclusion. During such times, it is essential to review the question patiently, conduct ample amount of research and proceed to identify the source of the problem.
- Makes them responsible
Homework teaches the students how to be responsible for their own work. The students have to work individually on each aspect of their homework and be diligent to the requirements of the assignments. They need to carefully review the question, analyse what it wants, conduct the research and write down the assignment. Thus, the success or failure of the assignment rests on their shoulders, and they are solely responsible for completing their work successfully.
- Allows them to prioritize
For parents who have been wondering profusely does homework help students, well it really helps them. It allows them prioritize their work. Like for example, if they had to choose between soccer practice and homework, they have to choose homework because they know their marks are dependent upon their completion, no matter how reluctant they might seem.
Moreover, they have to prioritize based upon the requirements of the assignments. Like for example, if the math homework is needed first and they have an assignment on English, geography and history, then they have to start working on the math first and then proceed to the rest. It makes them more practical and efficient.
- Keeps them engaged
It keeps the students occupied with school work and enhances their cognitive ability. The more they work upon the subjects they have learnt in school, their chances of retaining that information for later use is higher. Thus, they are constantly in tune with their studies.
- It allows them to track their progress
Most of the homework are often marked and returned back to the students. Once they get the corrected work, they can assess their weak points and the areas they have made mistakes so that they can improve upon it. This allows them to keep a track of how they are faring with the subject and with the term in general.
Also, when they are working upon their assignments, it gives them a fair idea about how much they know and how much more effort they should put in order to know the subject better. Thus, this allows them to keep a track of their progress: how much syllabus have they completed and how much is still left.
- Ample opportunity to practice
Homework is the best way to practice. You get to apply the concepts that you have learnt in class to problems assigned as homework and solve them. This allows you to figure out whether you have learnt the concept or not. Moreover, the more you practice, the more you ensure that you do better in class.
- Improves communication
Homework gives the students a chance to improve their communication skills. It allows them to communicate their problems, if they have any to their teachers or their parents, so that they can help them resolve it. It bridges any communication gap that might be present between the two parties to enhance effective learning.
Thus, homework benefits and impacts the lives of the students magnanimously. It allows the students to pick up important life skills. However, it is essential that you keep track of how much homework they are being assigned to ensure they are not overburdened. Overburdening can produce counter effects.
‘The secret of getting ahead is getting started.’
