When are homework and activities too much for students?
Is Your Student too Overwhelmed to Actually Learn?
Teachers assign homework and other school activities to help students learn and further understand the lecture. These activities aim to teach them to manage their time, become more organized, and look beyond the classroom’s four corners. It is imperative for a student that has developed good habits doing homework to acquire high grades.
However, when the amount of homework and student activities across all of their subjects pile up, it can get overwhelming. Some students have no choice but to seek help from other students in exchange for cash or order customized essays online.
There are other ways to engrave knowledge into the students that do not involve adding stress or causing them to miss out on other healthy activities.
The Problem With Homework and School Activities
Homework and school activities play a fundamental role in the success of every student. This practice reminds the students to bring what they have learned in the real world, outside the classroom setting.
Yet, when they spend hours trying to finish their homework, they are often forced to spend less time with friends and family. On top of that, it can be overwhelming and exhausting to deal with schoolwork after being in class all day. Too much homework and student activities can turn the students away from school, chipping away their motivation to work hard and succeed.
Giving the students a time of freedom to relax and spend their time with their loved ones allows them to enjoy their youth. It raises their morale to think more positively about school and become more motivated to learn. Otherwise, the stress can get to them, affecting their productivity and emotional well-being. More often than not, the cost of their mental health is to cheat their way through school.
Are There Any Alternatives?
Assigning students with excessive homework and school activities hinder them from learning what they need. Instead of absorbing the material, they are simply complying for the sake of maintaining their grades. The teachers and schools should promote active class participation, encouraging students to apply what they learned in real-life scenarios. While limiting homework can help them spend more time with family and friends, active learning promotes collaboration with classmates and friends. Students become more at ease working alongside other people while learning to apply their education in the real world.
Here are some learning alternatives that encourage information absorption without compromising the well-being of students.
Focusing on One Project at a Time
Ideally, schools need to assign a specific project in a month to give students an entire month to digest the material. Although one project might seem too easy, it should be composed of multiple activities related to the subject itself. This type of homework encourages students a look at the problem from various angles and further understand its essence. In other words, students can get to apply what they learned in a particular situation to another in a different context. This learning extension can occur within a month, allowing students to apply what they have learned to one problem after another. Plus, it gives them the time to explore and associate their newfound knowledge to different scenarios beyond their classes.
While this method’s primary purpose is to give all the students the time to understand the material fully, they are also encouraged to apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills outside of the classroom setting. Teachers and schools must change how they view the system. The ultimate goal of several classes was not for students to pass the tests. It encourages students to memorize the material without having to comprehend even the gist of it fully. With that in mind, it is integral to motivate the students to develop a broad perspective towards certain subjects that helps them understand the world around them today and in the future.
Maximizing Learning Potential
Another way to encourage students to absorb information well is to help them utilize their learning experiences in real-life situations. In this way, students can relate what they learned to problems that mean something to them, transferring learning into their long-term memories. Further tackling certain topics that students already have initial knowledge of enhances the likelihood of them genuinely understanding the concept itself.
Consistent Practice
Teachers often carry the pressure of covering the entire curriculum for the whole school year. They have to discuss all the topics potentially included in annual standardized tests. As a result, they have little time to impart sufficient knowledge to the students. However, fostering conditions where students can continue to learn despite encountering new material consistently helps them grow to be independent problem solvers. Consistent practice is needed not only to increase their understanding but also to encourage information absorption. Consistent practice should involve active monitoring of their progress and providing regular feedback. Teachers should not expect students to understand the lecture fully at the moment it gets lectured. Teachers and parents must give them room to improve and learn from mistakes.
For instance, students can learn the qualities of a successful presentation if they have a chance to showcase their skills in small groups. Instead of presenting in front of the class, compressed groups can provide more valuable feedback giving them time to revise and improve.
Offering Simulations
Teachers should offer simulations to encourage students to apply what they learned in other contexts. In simulations, students can play different roles that they will likely play outside the school and in the future. For instance, you can prepare the students for tedious job interviews by having them play interviewer and interviewee roles.
They can experience being in another person’s shoes and learn appropriate interview responses and behavior. Additionally, computer simulations are implemented in schools to introduce situations beyond what they see in the classroom.
Encouraging Students to be Collaborative
Fostering student engagement is the key to motivating them to learn and become productive. Extracurricular events, organizations, and sports clubs allow students to relax and enjoy for a little while. Sharing these precious moments with their friends can also hone their interpersonal and communication skills. As a result, they become less stressed and more collaborative, making it easier to share work with other people.
A frequent question students ask is, “why are we even learning this?”. They are often worried that they will not even need the lectures in the classroom. Schools may even hear this sentiment less if they encourage students to retain their learnings in their teaching efforts.
These alternative approaches are what drove Thinking Cap to develop their learn to code program in a way that makes an impact on students. It leverages real-world examples as activities, focuses on one project at a time, provides consistent practice, and delivers results.
