One of the most common questions in the home where children like doing their homework while listening to music is how come they able to concentrate work on hand when they are continuously disturbed by music. Research has proved that listening to music have a positive effect on people who likes doing their homework while listening (Black, 2003). It enables them to focus and secondly prepare them for multi-tasking, one of the main attributes employers look for in their future employees. Similarly with age the student view towards homework also changes.
Numerous research have also shown that this transition more often than not come from personal realization and drive to excel. This paper will shed light on how the students view their homework differently at various stages in school life and what causes this change in view. Profiling Homework Motivation and Preferences In school learning is affected by variables not found in the out-of-school learning situation: The quality of the teacher learner interaction, the dynamics of the classroom group, and other characteristics of the school in which learning takes place.
Similarly, out-of-school learning at home is affected by a myriad of additional and unique factors not found in school: The characteristics of the home environment; the influence of parents, siblings, and friends; and the existence of other activities that compete for the children’s time, attention, and effort. (Long, 2000) In the latest finding among the students preferences regarding their homework show that children in 5th grade are more enthusiastic about their homework then the students in seventh grade. But the 7th graders are much more self motivated compare to the 5th graders who are more tolerant about parental supervision.
(Milgram, 2000) Similarly the peer to peer interaction increases in the higher grade compare lower grade. It reflects the normal sociological behavior where children tend to avoid parental intervention in their affairs once they start growing old while like to have more peer to peer interaction as a substitute. The three core motivational factors which influence the homework pattern as students’ progress from lower grades to higher grades are – Self motivation, parents’ motivation and persistence for homework. (Tomlinson, 1999)
Studies have shown that parents motivated and teachers motivated students score tends to fall compare to the self motivated students as they go in higher classes. This can be attributed to the higher grades self motivated students working more in groups compare to the parents and teacher motivated students. An interesting fact which came out of the research is that older students perceive homework less useful compare to the younger students. This can either be attributed to the lack of motivation or difficulty and structure of the homework.
While in early classes homework is much more practical that leads to an active participation while in older classes it is much more theoretical based which discourages students. Secondly as the children grow up number of those are less concerned about satisfying their parents by doing the homework. The debate over whether there are significant changes in student attitude towards homework as one moves to higher class is important but it should over see the students preferred way of learning.
Research has proved that each one has different preference for learning and most like to learn at school as they attain more joy in learning at school. (Naparstek, 2002)The need of the time is not only to devise the learning according to student preferences but also keeping motivation drivers in mind.
References
Black, P. J. (2003) Assessment for Learning : Putting It into Practice. Berkshire, , GBR: McGraw-Hill Education, 2003. Long, Martyn (2000). Psychology of Education : Major Themes : Schools, Teachers and Parents, Volume 1.London, , GBR: Falmer Press, Limited (UK), 2000. Milgram, Roberta M (2000). Homework : Motivation & Learning Preference. Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated, 2000. p 78. Naparstek, Nathan (2002). Successful Educators : A Practical Guide for Understanding Children’s Learning Problems and Mental Health Issues. Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated, 2002. Tomlinson, Carol Ann (1999). Differentiated Classroom : Responding to the Needs of All Learners. Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 1999.