Friday, May 6, 2016

Educational Resources & Tech Tools 05/07/2016

  • This article details how homework can be detrimental to elementary school children. However, it also offers alternatives to homework.

    tags: homework

    • While homework has a significant benefit at the high school level, the benefit drops off for middle school students and “there’s no benefit at the elementary school level,”
    • Homework can generate a negative impact on children’s attitudes toward school.
    • After a long day at school, something that includes the word “work” is not exactly what kids want to do before going to bed. This ends up too often in a sorrowful battle that can be extended to the later years when homework does have benefits.
    • Those who support homework will say that daily homework helps kids become more responsible, but this is only true at a later age.
    • Homework leaves less time for kids to be kids.
    • All students, and especially the youngest ones, should use their evenings and holiday time to do more physical activities, playing outdoors and participating in sports with friends.
    • Another problem with elementary school homework is that it often takes time away from their sleeping hours. Children need, on average, ten hours of sleep a day. For kids to be 100% the next day at school, they need to have a proper rest.
    • encourage fun reading.
    • Although personalizing this activity for each kid will require more effort than homogeneous homework, the benefits of fun reading will be noticeable.
    • Teach responsibility with daily chores.
    • Teach them that they are always learners.
    • Take them to visit a museum.
    • Overall, administrators, parents, and teachers may leverage after-school experiences where creativity, sociability, and learning converge to enhance elementary schools students’ educations.
  • This article describes the research that supports the value of play in schools.

    tags: play recess play-based

    • The main findings: The more play a school gives its student body, the greater rewards kids see in their character development, academic achievement, safety, and overall health.
    • According to Vialet, structure is a child's best friend when it comes to play. While kids may have a built-in urge to run around and get dirty, playing with other kids is a social experience, which means it has to be learned.
    • A 2013 study of the Playworks model from Stanford University found it led to 43% less bullying, 20% higher feelings of student safety, 43% more physical activity, and 34% less time transitioning from recess back to the classroom. A number of other studies suggest recess can also lead to better grades in school, regardless of the form it takes.
    • An absence of recess could simply mark the absence of creativity in schools more generally.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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