Desirable Difficulties

“It takes a great meeting to beat no meeting at all.” –Steve Barone

Spoiler alert: This memo is not about meetings.  It’s about homework.

Annie Murphy Paul, writing for Time Magazine, states that the arguments about homework are often about “too much” or “too little.”  This misses the point, says Paul.  Instead we should be asking this question: How effectively do after-school assignments advance learning?

Paul suggests many current homework assignments don’t “make the grade,” but this doesn’t mean we need to get rid of homework.  Instead, we should use what we know about the human brain to craft homework assignments that actually impact and improve student learning.

Three of her suggestions:

• Spaced Repetition: We tend to give homework based on what happened that day in class or on the unit we are currently in.  Consider an alternative.  Instead, assign homework that returns to key skills or concepts from earlier in the unit or even the semester.  Researchers from the University of California San Diego say this method works because of the way our brains work.  When we first acquire memories, they are “volatile, subject to change, or likely to disappear.”  The learning is fixed permanently in our minds when we are re-exposed to the content over time.  The research shows impressive results, nearly double the retention rate using the spaced approach as opposed to studying material in one consolidated unit.  As a bonus, consider how this practice could have a positive impact on your Student Learning Objective.
• Retrieval Practice: This brain-based approach involves testing, but a different kind of test.  These are short, specific assessments that require students to “retrieve” information.  Our minds are not storage tanks that we dig into to retrieve information.  Rather, our brains build paths that we navigate to pull up information.  The more often we pull up a memory, the stronger the path becomes.  Design homework that requires students to retrieve material from memory.  Research from Purdue University indicates that science students retained 50% more material using the retrieval practice strategy.
• Interleaving to Create Cognitive Disfluency: (I like this phrase so much, I had to use it even though I had no idea what it meant before doing more reading!)  One interesting paradox is that if learning is easy, it is not as likely to stay with us.  The extra effort needed to learn something triggers our brains to remember the knowledge.  Psychologists call this phenomenon “Cognitive Disfluency.”  Researchers say we need to include “desirable difficulties” to make the work challenging and even interesting.  One easy way to do this is to use “Interleaving,” which simply means “mix-it-up.”  Create homework that mixes up situations, problems, or tasks, rather than grouping all similar types.  Brains have to work harder to come up with solutions.  Shorter assignments using interleaving and cognitive disfluency can be more effective for learning than longer, single topic assignments.

I started with a maxim from Steve Barone, a man I admire a great deal.  His truism about meetings may be useful in thinking about homework: It takes a great homework assignment to beat no homework at all.

That certainly sets a high bar, but it is one worth considering.  I encourage you to experiment with Paul’s suggestions.  Start by examining the homework you give this week.  Time and effort are valuable commodities—for us and for our students.  We should hold high expectations for student performance on our assignments, and we should hold equally high expectations for ourselves when it comes to designing the tasks we ask them to complete.

I hope your week is a good one, one that is filled cognitive disfluency.   Teaching is no easy task.  It is filled with “desirable difficulties” but also with the rich rewards of student growth and learning.

Phil

Kudos this week to all of our Best Buddy students.  I find the relationships built with this program profoundly moving.  Lives are forever changed for the better because of the interactions between the students, and we are a better and kinder school because of the Best Buddies.

If you are not familiar with Best Buddies, check this link to senior Emilie Turner’s YouTube video from last year about Best Buddies.  I guarantee it is worth five minutes of your time.  Click here to see the video: HSE Best Buddies

By the way, I hear a new Best Buddy video will come out later this year.  (Maybe it is part of an ongoing homework assignment!)