- Title: Homework Works if Homework Quality Is High: Using Multilevel
Modeling to Predict the Development of Achievement in Mathematics - Authors: Dettmers et al
- Access the original paper here
- Listen to a deep-dive podcast:
Paper summary
This study investigates the relationship between homework quality and academic achievement in mathematics. Researchers used multilevel modeling to analyze longitudinal data from a large sample of German high school students, examining two aspects of homework quality: task selection and cognitive challenge. The findings reveal that well-selected homework assignments positively correlate with student motivation and behavior, while challenging assignments show a complex relationship with achievement, benefiting students at the class level but not necessarily at the individual level. The study highlights the importance of considering both student-level and class-level factors when assessing the impact of homework on learning. Methodological limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.
What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?
The sources describe a study on homework quality and its effects on student achievement in mathematics. Here are some key implications for teachers in the classroom:
- Teachers should carefully select homework assignments that are interesting and well-integrated into the lessons to enhance student understanding. Students who perceived that their homework was well-selected reported higher levels of motivation and effort, and showed greater achievement gains.
- Teachers should aim for a balance between assigning adequately difficult tasks to improve motivation and effort, and challenging but well-structured tasks to foster performance. While cognitively demanding tasks can be effective for learning, they may also negatively affect students’ confidence and effort if they feel overtaxed.
- Teachers may consider offering individualized homework tasks that challenge but do not overwhelm individual students, taking into account their prior knowledge and cognitive abilities. However, the sources acknowledge that such individualized assignments are rare in the German school system and require significant time and resources.
- Another approach is to assign tasks that can be solved using various methods with differing levels of complexity. This approach allows students to choose an approach that matches their skill level while still being challenged.
- Teachers should focus on optimizing the quality of homework assignments to improve the effectiveness of their instruction. This can be integrated into teacher training.
The sources emphasize that optimizing homework quality can improve students’ motivation, effort, and achievement in mathematics.
Quote
Our study provides strong evidence that interesting and well-selected homework assignments are associated with higher expectancy and value beliefs and with higher homework effort and that they are effective for learning. Teachers may thus be able to improve the effectiveness of their instruction by optimizing the homework assignments they set, and it may well be worth focusing more on the quality of homework assignments in teacher training.
