ONLINE HOMEWORK HELPER

Homework help:  Jonathan was dutifully doing his homework assignments while listening to music from the radio at the same time. It is reasonable to expect that his mother would reward his efforts with a smile and encouraging words. It was, therefore, surprising to hear her say, “Really, Jonathan, how can you expect to do your work properly with the radio playing that kind of music?” This incident with minor variations is repeated regularly in many homes all over the world. This incident occurs because parents assume that there are certain conditions that provide the best environment for doing homework, and background music is not among them. Jonathan’s mother would be surprised to learn that there are a wide variety of individual differences in the environment in which children prefer to do homework. Some learners do their homework well with music in the background. Music actually helps them concentrate.

Homework help:  The goal of this blog is to help Jonathan, his mother, and many other families understand the psychology of the homework process and to cope more successfully with required homework assignments; and to encourage professional educators and researchers to apply and evaluate the applications of a new model of homework Motivation and Preference. Both the popular and the research literature have focused on homework as viewed from the outside, that is, on the nature of the homework itself. We focus on homework as viewed from the inside, by the student doing the assignments. Many educational benefits will accrue from understanding the wide range of individual differences among learners in the way they prefer to do their homework and from encouraging children to learn at home under conditions that match their preferences as much as possible.

Homework help:  Although much learning occurs in school, a great deal of learning also occurs outside that environment. Homework is a kind of out-of-school learning that has not yet received the serious attention that it merits in the research literature. Learning at school and at home are similar in several ways. The student’s ability to learn does not change. The same level of intellectual ability is used to learn at home and at school. Overall motivation to learn is probably highly similar in both settings. The teacher determines what is to be learned both at home and at school. Learning at school and at home are also different in several ways (Homework help). 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.

The internal consistency of the HPQ was assessed with coefficient alpha. For the components with low coefficients, the item-total correlations and item means and dispersions were further examined to detect the problematic items. Additionally, other indices such as factor loadings and item compositions (i.e., consistency and structure of the items) within each component were also considered in selecting items for the next version of the HPQ. The coefficient alpha for each component and the recommendations for the questionnaire revision are presented for each category (homework helper online):

1. Environmental: sound .88, light .83, temperature .81, design .78, place .79. Factor loadings were all greater than .45, and each item loaded on only one factor. All original items were to be retained. However, a proper category for the set place items needed to be determined (homework helper online).
2. Organizational: structure .39, order .53. One of the four structure items had the item-total correlation of −.06, with a small loading size. An inspection of the four structure items indicated that this one item had a slightly different meaning compared to the other three. One of the four set-order items had the item-total correlation of .16, with a small loading size. Although this item was similar in content with the other three, the sentence was long and rather confusing in wording. An elimination of these two items was considered (homework helper online).
3. Motivational: self-motivated .62, parent-motivated .76, teacher-motivated .49, persistence .67, responsibility .53. The items loaded on two separate factors, both being considered motivational. Although the internal consistency of the responsibility component was relatively low, there was no specific item that caused the low consistency. It was decided that the four items be retained for further examination with another sample. One teacher-motivated item had the item-total correlation of −.02, with a small loading. This item also was badly structured and lengthy, thus we decided to eliminate it (homework helper online).
4. Perceptual-physical: auditory .71, visual .56, tactile .81, kinesthetic .88, intake .82, mobility .76. One auditory and one visual item had the item-total correlation of .10 and .04, respectively, and both had small loadings. The other items were preference about the perceptual mode used by teachers in giving homework instructions. The content of these two questionable items were not closely related to the respective factors, and we decided to eliminate them. The coefficients of the four time-related components were measured separately: set time .47, morning .50, afternoon .55, evening .55. However, all of the time components showed low internal consistencies. Because the specific timing for homework may not be freely chosen by students, the time component may need to be restructured. At this stage, however, we kept all the items for further examination (homework helper online).
5. Sociological: alone–peers .84, authority figures .83. Each item loaded only on one factor, and factor loadings were reasonable. All original items were to be retained (homework helper online).

Help with math homework:  If learners have not done group homework assignments in school, it will be difficult for them to do homework cooperatively in groups outside of the classrooms. Similarly, if teachers do not use hands-on and experiential type learning activities in school so that learners become familiar with them, it will be difficult for students to do assignments that use these approaches at home.

Help with math homework:  School and home learning are to be viewed as closely related, and ideally should be carried out with teachers, learners, and parents working cooperatively and collaboratively. Efforts to match preferred and actual modes of learning should take place both in school and at home. Preservice and in-service teacher training should include training in ways to individualize assignments both for work at school and at home in order to create options that recognize individual differences among learners. Parents have an equally important role to play in improving the homework situation. They have a small number of children to deal with and not a large class. They are very interested in the academic achievement of their own children, much more than even the most devoted teacher can be interested in any particular child.

Help with math homework:  In summary, teachers, parents, and students are equally important in determining the degree to which homework is effective in meeting its goals. In order for homework to function properly, they must work together as a team. Teachers assign homework, parents provide the environment in which it is done, and finally, students, each with a unique profile of motivation and preference for learning, do the homework. It is a challenge to parents, teachers, principals, and counselors to cooperate and to share information about children’s homework motivation and preference profile and to develop strategies to be used at school and at home to attain a better match between what the child likes to do and has to do when learning. The posts that follow assist teachers and parents in meeting this challenge for their own satisfaction and for the ultimate benefit of the students.

Help with math homework:  We discuss many aspects of homework, present an integrative summary of the results of our investigations of homework performance, and suggest practical strategies for parents and teachers to use this knowledge to make homework performance of children more effective and more enjoyable.