Making Homework more Interactive and Exciting - Research Proposal Example

New Homework Policy: Making Homework more Interactive and Exciting. Affiliation: New Homework Policy: Making Homework more Interactive and Exciting. In developing a school curriculum, it is important to ensure that it is balanced and enables learners to achieve the highest possible quality of education. The national Institute of Education (2006) in its report on development of school curricula suggested that the process should involve extensive consultations and should be based on research by educationists; it should also draw best practices from other curricula that has worked before or are working in other jurisdictions. It should not be over simplified to affect the quality of education but at the same time should be standardized to support progressive. The curriculum should be developed to provide holistic training and offer learners knowledge and skills that are applicable in the present technological world and easily adaptable to any region of the world. The work place in the 21st century has no geographical boundaries and therefore a curriculum should provide a learner with skills that will enable them identify opportunities and develop solutions to any challenge that they may face. In the new technological dispensation and with increasing need to manage time by adopting ways that have maximum output, traditionally accepted modes of learning are being re evaluated to establish if they are beneficial in the learning process. One of these educational practices is homework. This proposal aims to establish the extent to which home work is beneficial to the learner, and to suggest how best to modify it in order to provide learners with adequate time to rest while at the same time achieving all set academic goals. The proposal suggests a new homework policy to be tested at Alliance Dr. Olga Mohan high school. The proposal will establish if the amount of time taken to do homework is directly proportional to academic performance. Conceptual Framework Children learn better in a participatory environment in which they are allowed to contribute ideas and where there ideas are valued than in a lecture type environment in which they have to listen and take notes. I have learned, through interaction with my siblings that children dislike homework and most of the times do not complete it alone (Flinders and Thornton 2013). While getting assistance from a guardian or parent during homework is allowed, children with parents who are rarely home, those who don’t relate well with their children and parents who are not educated, may find it difficult to achieve all the indented benefits of home work. I propose a new system of homework that will require students to be assigned homework that can be completed in less than an hour after which it is submitted online. This system is ideal for the current learning environment where online learning is becoming more and more accessible and convenient to users. Home work is an old practice that has been used to complement school learning in school for many years (Olympia et al 2006). As a child arrives home from school in the evening, he or she might have a different story to tell about how the day was, the new games played, various topics that were taught, but what remains constant is homework; to be done after dinner before retiring to bed. It has become like part of the school extending right into each parents living room. With each parent investing heavily in their children’s education, they expect good grades that will get the children admission to prestigious colleges and for this reason; homework is something they will always welcome. Educations have carried out studies to establish if homework affects performance with results being inconclusive. According to Vatterott & Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (2009), some studies have linked homework to a reduced interest in learning by the student. Shorter homework hours will help change the student attitude towards the important part exercise. To understand the effects of homework to academic achievement, there are a number of specific outcomes that need to be evaluated as suggested by Cooper et al (2008). The first outcome is increasing understanding of concepts as a result of practicing learned concepts. Homework is drawn from recent topics that a teacher handled and is used to evaluate the students understanding of the topic. However, since home work is done when the student has access to reading material and is unsupervised therefore can be done by another person, it is therefore not the best measure of student’s understanding of a topic’s learning objectives or concept. A timed and supervised test that is brief, carried out in the classroom is a better measure of student concept understanding. The second outcome is learning time management and responsibility. Through carrying work home, a child can learn to plan his or her time, so that they can complete the assignment, have time to play and help out with other duties at home. These are vital skills that will help a child in his or her adult life. The proposed homework model will in addition to normal learning, equip the learner with skills in cooperation with others to accomplish common tasks. Review of Critical Literature Curriculum According to John Dewey as cited in Knoll (2009), a curriculum is the course of experience through which children are transformed into adults for the success of the adult society. The curriculum entails the courses and the contents which are offered in a school and should be aimed at producing students who are fit to handle life challenges. Curriculum Theory This is one of the areas of academics that have been devised to bring into form the curriculum of a given Education. A large number of programs have been developed to teach students certain traits and skills lacked in them based on the developmental theory or ecological perspective. Developmental Approach The curriculum model explains the development in children. According to Piagetian principles, the key concepts shared by most of the developmental curriculum models are: The child’s mental abilities is developed sequentially Invariant sequence Later steps in the curriculum model are developed on earlier steps The sequence moves from simple concepts and gradually becomes complex. It defines the unknown concepts based on the known ones. Later stages in the sequence may depend on earlier stages but do not replace them completely. When a school decides to use this model to make curriculum decisions, the students are assessed and their level of development watched closely. The students’ development level is first monitored then an improvement made towards the child’s education. This achieves to help the student growin his level of functioning from where he is by providing activities of higher level that the child will acquire hence create a new challenge. This theory is advantageous in that the educator will have an idea of the sequence of a normal child development and will help him make decisions regarding the methods and ways of teaching and the activities to incorporate in the child’s curriculum that will challenge his thinking. Also, by creating a challenge from what the student already knows, he is able to create an interest and get to see the difference of the new things he has learnt from what he already knew. This theory is disadvantageous in that it teaches students with autism skills that are suited and targets the young children, hence the adults with such a condition do not move forward in education. The Ecological Approach This approach helps the children with autism to function in a variety of activities for example when relaxing, when doing activities at home and also communal activities. It is advantageous because the students with autism are taught functional skills to improve and further their contribution, work and performance in the community as adults. Also, it ensures that the curriculum decisions are made based on the student’s individual performance, the needs of the parents, what they see well and of importance and their goals. The disadvantages are that this it determines the skills instead of concept that require them to be directed or taught what to do; hence the student will be limited in performance to only one environment. Also, this approach does not teach students how to communicate, socialize with people or how to represent themselves in general. Finally, this approach teaches skills that are too complicated for the students to understand. The Interaction Model This model also focuses on looking at the children’s behavior and modes of learning. It is based on the data on how children develop and learn from their interactions to their mothers. This model has advantages such as; it allows the educator to build on and expand on existing skills in an orderly manner. It also encourages the use of naturally occurring phenomena and events for teaching or issuing instructions. Finally, the approach produces students who are good communicators since they are taught to control their actions, speak for themselves and be responsible people instead of doing what they are commanded to do by an adult, Several problems arise in using this approach. For example, it assumes that the students are well acquainted to the environment and are acting to make better their actions while children with autism have minimal response to the environment. Educators who use this approach have the problem of translating the principles to the young and impaired children because few guides exists and are not included the guidelines in this approach to teach the older students. The Behavioral Model This model ensures that instructions are given in a good manner and are of the right quality. The strategies that are emphasized in this approach are: Assessment of the students present level Breaking down of skills into their individual components Giving feedback to the student This approach has benefits also. For example, the feedback or responses given by the students are good. The environment is also created in such a way that the students will do the work or activity assigned to them. The problem related to this approach is the student’s lack of initiative when being taught. Online Academic groups are used by many schools and colleges offering online courses. The success of such programs made me wonder if incorporating online groups in normal full time schools could help improve parent student cooperation in learning. Arendt (2012) studied the effectiveness of academic groups on social media for postgraduate students. They concluded that through formation of groups on social media, the students benefited both academically as well as socially. The groups removed a lot of inconveniences associated with group work at school such as travel by group members to a single venue, requirements of a room to carry out discussions and interference during group discussions if undertaken at a single location (Jones et al 2010). If for whatever reason, one member is not able to take part in the discussion, the member can follow the discussion at a later date by accessing the history on the website. School District Demographics and Participants The Los Angeles Unified School District has the highest number students in the California state with a student population of over a half a million students. In Westminster Comp elementary School, the total student enrolment is 315 for the 2012/2013 academic year. 74% of the students are of Hispanic origin. Other ethnic groups in the school are as shown in the table. RACIAL & ETHNIC HISTORY Year AI/Alsk Asian Filipino Pac Isl Black Hispanic White Total # % # % # % # % # % # % # % 2012-13 3 1.0 5 1.6 1 0.3 3 1.0 48 15.2 227 72.1 28 8.9 315 2011-12 3 0.9 3 0.9 1 0.3 3 0.9 53 15.3 253 73.1 30 8.7 346 2010-11 2 0.6 2 0.6 3 0.8 1 0.3 56 15.8 265 74.9 25 7.1 354 2009-10 0 0.0 5 1.3 0 0.0 1 0.3 54 14.2 293 77.1 27 7.1 380 2008-09 0 0.0 1 0.3 5 1.3 0 0.0 63 16.0 297 75.6 27 6.9 393 Adopted from Guidelines for Evaluating Teaching (2014) To understand the student enrollment in middle schools in the Los Angeles school district, I will take a case of porter middle school. The school has a student population of 1730 students. The ethnic distribution for the past five years is as shown in the table below. RACIAL & ETHNIC HISTORY Year AI/Alsk Asian Filipino Pac Isl Black Hispanic White Total # % # % # % # % # % # % # % 2012-13 5 0.3 152 8.8 84 4.9 4 0.2 55 3.2 1294 74.8 136 7.9 1730 2011-12 7 0.4 176 10.3 97 5.7 6 0.4 53 3.1 1211 71.2 152 8.9 1702 2010-11 5 0.3 175 10.5 99 5.9 6 0.4 39 2.3 1194 71.4 155 9.3 1673 2009-10 7 0.4 283 16.2 19 1.1 4 0.2 53 3.0 1208 69.2 171 9.8 1745 2008-09 7 0.4 170 9.4 94 5.2 5 0.3 57 3.2 1270 70.4 202 11.2 1805 Adopted from Guidelines for Evaluating Teaching (2014) Alliance Dr. Olga Mohan high school is one of the high schools in the LAUSD. The school has equal percentage of male and female students and a total population of 2284 students. There has been a drop in student enrollment with the school enrolling 3130 students in 2008 and 2284 in the year 2012. Hispanic students account for 97% of the total student population, white Americans account for 0.1%, Filipino students make 0.3% of the student population, black Americans account for 2% Asians 1% and pacific islanders and Native Americans having less than one percent. The English language learners is 13% of the student population. In general, Los Angeles unified school district has over 900 elementary schools and a total of 187 charter schools. The county has one of the largest budgetary allocations estimated to be 7 billion USD in the financial year 2013-2013. The student population is composed of majority students of Hispanic with African American and white Americans each accounting to about 10% of the population. The other ethnic groups account for the remaining 7% and include Filipino, students of Asian origin and Native Americans. Despite the large size and the resources, the school district has the highest school dropout rates and poor performance. This has been attributed to the high population of students leading to crowding in schools. A low student-teacher ratio also leads to incompetent school administration and high expulsion rates. The dropout rates are so high that out of five students starting elementary education, only three are likely to complete their studies. The social economic status of students is low with most of them coming from families without stable income sources. 82% of the student population receives free or subsidized lunch. There have been a number of attempts by the school district to change the bad situation of public education. More public schools have been constructed to ease the congestion in schools and those already in operation have been expanded to accommodate more students without affecting the quality of learning. The school district has also embarked on a program to increase the student-teacher ratio by making budgetary allocations to employ more teachers. Development of programs that encourage sharing of knowledge between learning institutions and interschool collaboration programs that promote resource sharing. Students in middle schools from the district have mentorship programs with institutions of higher learning which help the students to nature their career ambitions and reduce dropout rates in early stages of learning. Examples of such programs are; Alliance Young Professionals networks where young people volunteer time and mentor students in the school, as well as teacher training programs organized by universities in LAUSD for middle school and High school teachers. Students to participate in the curriculum program will be selected based on their class attendance record, performance in class and family background. The program is aimed to provide an alternative learning avenue for students who may not be able to do their homework after school because of the environment in which they leave in. it will also involve teachers who will act as facilitators and volunteer parents or guardians who will serve as resource persons. The students selected for the program will be from 7th grade as they will be required to have developed skills for online academic programs. The curriculum program will be implemented in Alliance Dr. Olga Mohan high school in the Los Angeles school district. Proposed project The proposed project targets improving performance in science and mathematics in middle and high schools. It will comprise of students in 7th grade to 12th grade placed in groups of 10. Each group will have students in the same grade and from the same school. The groups will be assigned a facilitator. Every day the group will be required to discuss on a topic for a minimum of 1 hour and the students are to submit a report on the discussion to their subject teachers online. The report should be simple so that it does not take a lot of time to prepare. Their performance will be compared to that of students in other schools who use traditional homework systems that involve long hours. The objectives of this program are; first, to encourage the culture of sharing of information and cooperation among students, when students are assigned homework in groups, they engage in discussion in completing the assignment unlike if given the same assignment individually. They are able to learn more as each individual contributes their knowledge and benefits others. Secondly, group assignments help to promote student interaction and participation in learning, students will learn from one another as they have different strengths and weaknesses. The children will also learn a lot from their peers and develop more interest in education. The third objective is to build a sense of responsibility in students through delegation of duties within the group members. Each student will be required to contribute to the group in completing the home work. They will then write a report that the course instructor will use to assess the progress of individual students. Lastly, the students will benefit not only academically but also socially through networking and socializing with others. Making the learning process exciting is important in reducing the dropout rates in the LAUSD school district. Learning outcomes resulting from the curriculum program includes the ability of students to visualize application of theoretical concepts in actual situations; the students will also learn new concepts in science through group research of available literature (Pierce et al 2009). The student will develop their organizational skills and online searching skills as they research on assignments unlike the traditional homework which promotes direct copying of information from lecture notes. Lastly, the students will have a better understanding of courses taught in class as they will revisit the class notes and use them as the basis for daily group discussions. Implementation The program will be implemented over a period of two years with evaluation of student performance being done after three months of learning. Factors to be used to evaluate impact of program on education will include scores in examinations, school attendance, dropout rates as well as social development of the student. Available Resources The curriculum program will not require a lot of financial resources as it is based on structures that are already developed. Most schools have online student portals that allow students to submit assignments and receive instructions from their course instructors. The students selected for the program will be required to be trained on the use of online academic groups and those without internet connection at their place of residence to be facilitated so as they can access the internet at home and be able to participate in the group discussions. There should be willingness by the school administration to facilitate the program for it to be successful. Selected students should be except from any other form of homework or remedial teaching so as they can have ample time to take part in the program. The school should also provide the coordinators with academic history records for students in order to assess their suitability to participate in the program. Parents should also be requested to participate and ensure the students follow the agreed timelines while in their custody at home. (Department of Education, Training and the Arts: 2012). Effects and Policy Implications The school head is required to ensure the program is in line with the school homework policy as set out in the general provisions of education (2006) part 4, the 23rd section. Teachers are also required to monitor implementation and provide guidance to students who may not be adhering to the program including detention where necessary. Since it is a new system, the parents will be required to approve its implementation and commit to provide any assistance required by the school from them in the course of the program. Formative and Summative Program Evaluation Evaluation of the effect of the proposed program on learning will be done through the assessment of the achievement of the different learning outcomes. Academic performance will be evaluated through continuous assessment tests taken before, during and after the commencing of the program. Results will be used to assess the impact of the program on understanding of academic concepts. After every topic, the students will have a discussion on the key elements and learning objectives. Then later on, they will be assessed on the topic understanding through an examination. The performance of the test will inform the course instructor whether the topic is well understood by majority of the students or if it should be re-taught in order to achieve the learning objectives. Attendance of school for children in the program will also be compared to that of students not included in the program. Their social behavior will also be observed to establish any changes resulting from the program. This will take a longer period to establish any meaningful trend as it has to be taken for over a year for the results to be conclusive. The attitude of the students and the parents to the program will also be evaluated. This will be done through developing a questionnaire with questions that address the effectiveness and challenges of the program. The questions to be asked to the students will include: If the program has been exciting and fulfilling, whether the program participants were supportive to the student, what features of the program were best according to the views of the student, what features of the program should be removed according to the views of the student among other questions. From the questionnaires, it will be possible to develop the program further so that it can be used in improving the quality of education in the Los Angeles Unified school district. References Arendt, H. (2012). Qualitative analysis of academic group and discussion forum on Facebook Cooper, H., Lindsay, J. J., Nye, B., & Greathouse, S. (2008).Relationshipsamong attitudes about homework, amount of homework assigned andcompleted, and student achievement.Journal of Educational Psychology, 90 (1) 70-84 Department of education training and the arts: (2012). Homework in state schools. Web: http://education.qld.gov.au/parents/pdf/homeworkpolicy.pdf Flinders, J.D. & Thornton, J. S. (2013). The Curriculum Studies Reader; Taylor & Francis; 4. 143-197. Guidelines for Evaluating Teaching. (2014) Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT). University of Michigan, Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Jones, N., Blackey, H., Fitzgibbon, K. & Chew, E. (2010). Get out of MySpace! Computers & Education 54, pp 776-782. Knoll, M. (2009). From Kidd to Dewey: The Origin and Meaning of Social Efficiency. Journal of Curriculum Studies 41, No. 3, pp. 361-391. National Institute of Education (U.S.). (2006). Current issues, problems, and concerns in curriculum development: A report and set of recommendations, submitted to the National Council on Educational Research. Washington: NIE. Olympia, D. E., Sheridan, S. M., & Jenson, W. (2006). Homework: A naturalmeans of home-school collaboration. School Psychology Quarterly,9(1), 60–80 Pierce, K. M., Hamm, J. V., & Vandell, D. L. (2009). Experiences of after-school programs and children’s adjustment in class rooms; Child development; 65. 423-487 Vatterott, C. & Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (2009).Rethinking homework: Best practices that support diverse needs. Alexandria, pp 234-246. Read More