Homework, its not a bad word!

“The worst thing a child can say about homework is that it is too hard. The worst thing a child can say about a game is it’s too easy.” Henry Jenkins, Professor of Digital Media at University of Southern California

This quote so true, homework is there to;

• Challenge what you have already learnt,

• Allow you to do some ‘purposeful practice’ (applying your learning properly),

• To prepare you for the next lesson/piece of work.

The links found here are some of the ways we set and assess how well and hard you are working on your homework, and we have also added in your year groups Homework Timetable.

Sparx Maths

Kerboodle Science

Support

The library is available every lunchtime and we offer a weekly after school homework club Monday-Thursday

Any homework completed at home may be emailed to and the office. This will be sent to the relevant teacher. 

danesfield@beaconedu.uk

Revision

Revision literally means to see again, to view something with a fresh perspective/idea.To help support you with your learning through effective revision techniques we have provided you with some links on the right that may prove useful. We all react differently to different revision techniques, but here are 5 that have been proven to work well and make a difference to learning.

1. Practice Testing

• Create some flashcards, a great guide can be found here, with questions on one side and answers on the other – and keep testing yourself.
• Work through past exam papers – many can be acquired through exam board websites.
• Simply quiz each other (or yourself) on key bits of information.
• Create ‘fill the gap’ exercises for you and a friend to complete.
• Create multiple choice quizzes for friends to complete.
• Create Knowledge Organsiers and test yourself using them. Lots of examples can be found on our subject curriculum pages here

2. Distributed Practice

Rather than cramming all of their revision for each subject into one block, it’s better to space it out – from now, through to the exams. Why is this better? Bizarrely, because it gives them some forgetting time. This means that when they come back to it a few weeks later, they will have to think harder, which actually helps them to remember it

3. Elaborate Interrogation/Memory Platforms

One of the best things that students can do (either to themselves or with a friend) to support their revision is to ask why an idea or concept is true – and then answer that why question. For example;

• In science, increasing the temperature can increase the rate of a chemical reaction….why?
• In geography, the leisure industry in British seaside towns like Barry Island in South Wales has deteriorated in the last 4 decades….why?

Memory Platforms are created where questions one-three test last lesson’s learning, question four tests last week’s learning, question five tests last term’s learning and question six links last term to last lesson.

A good example:

4. Self Explanation

Rather than looking at different topics from a subject in isolation, students should try to think about how this new information is related to what they know already. This is where mind- maps might come in useful – but the process of producing the mind map, is probably more useful than the finished product.

5. Interleaved Practice

Chunk the revision so you mix topics and not repeat them so you become bored. This diagram may help;

So rather than studying one topic for a long period of time, keep changing it up to strengthen your long term memory; this will allow room for your working memory to problem solve.