Abstract

The utility of homework and its impact on academic achievement has been an ongoing debate for more than 100 years. To date, there is no rigorous experimental research to show whether, and the extent to which, variations in the amount of homework assigned can impact the academic performance of elementary school students. In this study, 440 second-grade students were randomly distributed in 3 groups within the classes they attended. Each group received different amounts of homework in writing and math for 20 days. The results showed a significant immediate effect of homework quantity on writing competency (but not on math competency). The writing homework effects were sustained 4 months later, but only for the group that had allocated a moderate amount of homework to writing skills practice. This study shows that the additional opportunities for practice offered by homework can have differential short-term and medium-term effects on the academic achievement of elementary school students and supports the assignment of a moderate amount of writing homework at this age.

摘要

100 多年来，家庭作业的效用及其对学业成绩的影响一直是一个持续的争论。迄今为止，还没有严格的实验研究表明，分配的家庭作业量的变化是否以及在多大程度上会影响小学生的学业成绩。在这项研究中，440 名二年级学生被随机分配到他们所参加的班级中的 3 组中。每组在 20 天内收到不同数量的写作和数学作业。结果表明，家庭作业数量对写作能力有显着的直接影响（但对数学能力没有影响）。写作作业的效果在 4 个月后持续，但仅限于分配了适量作业用于写作技巧练习的那组。