Why Do Students Have Difficulties Completing Homework? The Need for Homework Management

Homework is a common and widespread educational activity. Yet, as homework often takes place amidst the pull of more attractive and competing after-school activities, doing homework presents multiple challenges for many students, even for those students who find their assignments meaningful and interesting. In this article, I first examine five major homework challenges, including arranging a conducive homework environment, budgeting time and pacing themselves to meet homework deadlines, handling homework distractions, keeping themselves motivated during homework sessions, and coping with negative affect or mood swings encountered while doing homework. I then discuss a range of strategies that students may use to deal with these challenges as well as implications for teachers and families seeking to help students manage their homework more responsibly

Don't Distract Me When I'm Media Multitasking: Toward a Theory for Raising Advertising Recall and Recognition

Media multitasking, such as using handheld devices like smartphones and tablets while watching TV, has become prevalent but its effect on the recall and recognition of advertising subject to limited academic research. We contend that the context in which multitasking takes place affects consumer memory for advertising delivered via the primary activity (e.g., watching television). Specifically, we identify the importance of the degree of (a) congruence between the primary and second screen activity and (b) social accountability of second screen activities. We test our typology empirically by examining the determinants of next day recall and recognition for billboard advertisers (perimeter board advertisements) of a televised football (soccer) match. In line with our theory, in most cases media multitasking leads to worse recall and recognition, however, in situations where there is congruence between primary and second screen activities and secondary activities have a higher level of social accountability attached to them, then advertising recall and recognition improves

COLLABORATIVELY DEVELOPING GUIDELINES FOR USING PERSONAL MUSIC PLAYERS IN THE CLASSROOM

The purpose of this study was to work collaboratively with a group of high school students to develop a list of guidelines for using Personal Music Players (PMPs) in their classroom. Even though PMPs are extremely popular with secondary school students (Boal-Palheiros & Hargreaves, 2001; North et al., 2000) and there are benefits associated with music listening that align with learning and academic goals in certain school settings (e.g., Abikoff, Courtney, Szeibel & Koplewicz, 1996; Beentjes, Koolstra & van der voort, 1996; Boal-Palheiros & Hargreaves, 2001; Hallam & Price, 1998; Hallam, Price & Katsarou, 2002; Morton, Kershner & Seigel, 1990; Rainey & Larsen, 2002; Saarikallio & Erkkila, 2007; Savan, 1998,1999; Thompson, Schellenberg & Husain, 2001), school stakeholders remain divided on the use of such devices in schools and outright banning occurs in many school environments (Domitrek & Raby, 2008). Another approach would be to consult with and include students in developing guidelines for incorporating new technologies. Researchers have recommended the inclusion of student voices in both research that affects them (Powers & Tiffany, 2006; Rodriguez & Brown, 2009) and in the development of rules and regulations (Domitrek & Raby, 2008; Raby & Domitrek, 2007; Raby, 2008). Student involvement can decrease rule-breaking behavior, increase student responsibility and ownership, and to teach students to be participate and be involved in matters that affect them (Raby & Domitrek, 2007; Raby, 2008). Using an action research model (Mertler & Charles, 2005; Mertler, 2006), a research team composed of myself and a small group of high school students moved through three cycles of the action research process in order to collaboratively develop, reflect upon and revise guidelines for using PMPs in their classroom. A list of seven guidelines was generated. Additionally, the student members of the research team provided information about their thoughts and feelings regarding music listening in their classroom and I provided reflections on conducting an action research project with youth. Implications for practice and further research were identified

The differentiated effects of lyrical and non-lyrical music on reading comprehension

The present study seeks to observe the effect of background music on reading comprehension, specifically searching for possible differences between effects brought on by different genres (i.e. classical and rock) and the presence of lyrics. Research on task performance in the presence of background sound is mixed, in part due to the large number of possible applications. An overview of existing research on this topic is presented, including articles on the relationship between music and cognitive ability, distractors and processing resources, and pre-existing studies on music and reading comprehension. University students participated in a randomized experiment, taking the Reading Comprehension portion of the Nelson Denny Reading Test in the presence of either (1) classical music with lyrics, (2) classical music without lyrics, (3) rock with lyrics, or (4) rock without lyrics. One-way analysis of variance revealed no significant main effect for both variables of genre and lyrics. A significant interaction was found between these two variables. Implications and possible explanations for these findings are discussed. Limitations of the present study and future improvements and directions are discussed

The hidden curriculum of the video teleconference (VTC) classroom and its implications for the university of the twenty-first century

Old Dominion University\u27s Peninsula Center, in Hampton, Virginia, was the location for an ethnographic case study about the urban distributed university centers that provided instruction via video teleconference (VTC). Graduate engineers attended VTC classes at the Peninsula Center originating from five Virginia universities as part of the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program.;The purpose of this study was to describe VTC instruction and identify aspects that impacted on student learning, faculty teaching, and the socio-cultural environment. Fifty-one interviews and two months of observations were conducted during the Spring term, 1993.;Benson Snyder\u27s (1971) ethnographic case study at MIT, described in The Hidden Curriculum, provided a model from which to start. Based on a systematic comparative analysis of Snyder\u27s (1971) study at MIT with that of the Peninsula Center, findings showed that socio-cultural characteristics and traditions in the VTC graduate engineering classes followed Snyder\u27s (1971) model and affected student learning. This conclusion was evident, given the variables of elapsed time, different instructional formats such as large lecture hall and VTC, and student characteristics that varied from undergraduate to graduate, full-time to part-time, and traditional-age to adult students. This conclusion reflected higher education\u27s resistance to change due to its hidden curriculum that includes its socio-cultural norms, values, and traditions.;Eight socio-cultural constancies were described that existed at both MIT and at the Peninsula Center. They included: environmental characteristics; student-faculty communication; the student-faculty relationship; faculty work; dissonance and gamesmanship; methods of student learning; student sub-cultures; and the engineering culture. Additionally, eight new twists of VTC instruction were described.;Recommendations include researching and understanding socio-cultural trends when planning for educational reform, and improving student-faculty dialogue, characterized by discussion of truth, that is reduced in VTC instruction. These are challenges for the University of the 21st Century

The Grade is the Message: An Analysis of the Grading Structure’s Effects on Student Grade/Learning Orientations

This qualitative study was undertaken to study the medium of the grade in education contexts under the assumptions made within the field of media ecology. The goal of this study was to build on previous research that has identified that learning-oriented students are better set up for success in the classroom than grade-oriented students. With this in mind, this study aims to identify, from the student perspective, what different aspects of the grading system communicate to students that they should value in the classroom, especially in regard to grade-oriented or learning-oriented mindsets. After conducting interviews with current students from a variety of institutions and fields of study, the researcher has determined a list of 15 aspects of the grading system that students expressed influence their learning or grade orientation in one manner or another: application of knowledge assessments, busywork, career/interest relevance, class discussions, feedback, late policies, participation points, pass/fail systems, point-farming enablers, project decomposition, relationship with professor/classmates, retakes/redoes, rubrics, societal labels, and tests/quizzes. According to the constructs of media ecology, each of these aspects of how students are graded inherently and invisibly influences the ways that students perceive and engage with the classroom context. Further study is needed to identify how new grading systems can be developed that focus primarily on the grading aspects that promote learning-oriented environments to see if, in practice, they do indeed produce more learning-oriented students than our current grading systems

Motivation to read and reading proficiency: a crucial link for students learning English as a second language

This dissertation undertakes to investigate the link between the motivation to read and reading proficiency at the Grade Five level. The majority of the study took place in Bahrain in a bilingual English/Arabic private school. Most of the students were not only reading below grade level, but also disliked reading. Similar levels of reading performance and attitudes towards reading were found at Mountain Road Primary School in Woodstock, South Africa, where the second phase of the study took place. This school was used in the research process to provide a comparison to Bahrain Bayan School as well as an indication of progression. The impetus for the study came while I was teaching at Bahrain Bayan School in an effort to find a way to motivate students to do the amount of reading necessary to improve reading proficiency. I chose to implement Literature Circles in the classroom, which is a method that integrates the skills-teaching approach with the “whole-language” approach. Students are exposed to a wide variety of reading materials of their choosing and they read extensively. Group discussions are an integral element and help to generate more interest and involvement in the text. At the same time, focus lessons provide students with the skills and strategies necessary to improve literacy. The two hypotheses that drove the research were: - Underachievement in reading is largely due to lack of motivation to read; - Students' background, i.e. early access to books, parental reading habits and so on; is an important factor In reading motivation The outcomes of the research done at Bahrain Bayan School indicate that there Is a link between motivation to reading and reading proficiency. The significance of social-environmental influences was also proven to be an important determinant of reading success. The comparison with Mountain Road Primary School is useful in that it indicates similar difficulties in a multilingual context. There is good evidence that if a similar program were to be followed as at Bahrain Bayan School, there is a good chance that reading proficiency would Improve