What's The Ideal Amount Of Time Spent On Homework? Research Might Have The Answer
WASHINGTON, DC (CBS) – Kids have claimed to be drowning in a sea of homework for decades, but a new study seems to have found both the ideal amount and way to do the work for academic success.
The research, which was conducted by Spain's University of Oviedo, examined the performance of more than 7,000 public, state-subsidized and private schools in one area of Spain.
What scientists found is that students spent, on average, about one to two hours per day doing homework. Students who had teachers who assigned regular homework scored almost 50 points higher on standardized tests, and students who did their math homework alone scored 54 points higher than those who "asked for frequent or constant help." The findings were similar for science.
Interestingly, only a miniscule gain in results was found for students assigned 70-90 minutes of homework a day (which adds up to about two hours more homework per week), and a decline in results actually occurred for those given over 90 minutes of homework.
The takeaway? Assigning more than 70 minutes of homework per night "does not seem very efficient."
"The conclusion is that when it comes to homework, how is more important than how much," said study co-author Javier Suarez-Alvarez in a release. "Once individual effort and autonomous working is considered, the time spent becomes irrelevant."
The study is published in the APA's Journal of Educational Psychology.