The Homework Debate

Winnie Hu, writing in TheNew York Times, raises the issue of homework and its importance. The general premise is that pupils are being asked to devote more and more time to out-of-class tasks and assignments, at the expense of time spent playing, socialising and interacting with parents.


Research shows that whilst homework in small doses can reinforce basic skills and help young children develop study habits, increasing the amount of homework produces ever diminishing returns. In one US school district a formula of 10 minutes per year ‘grade’ is being applied to calculate the maximum amount of homework set per day (e.g. 30 minutes for pupils in Grade 3), and weekend and holiday homework is being dropped entirely.


There is however an increasing global emphasis on exam grades and ‘high-stakes testing’ in schools, and opposition to a reduction in homework comes from teachers and parents alike - who might argue that ‘you must study more, not less, in order to succeed’.

A recent documentary on stress, disaffection and burn-out in the American school system (Race to Nowhere) has raised awareness about the issue, and film maker Vicki Abeles says “There is simply no proof that most homework as we know it improves school performance...the presence of schoolwork at home is negatively affecting the health of our young people and the quality of family time.”

Donna Taylor, principal of a school for the gifted and talented, thinks “people confuse homework with rigour,” and goes on to suggest that homework for children under 11 primarily benefits parents by helping them feel connected to the classroom. Taylor has made homework optional in her school. Elsewhere in America teachers are replacing homework with “goal work” that is specific to individual student’s needs and that can be completed in class or at home at his or her own pace.

It would seem that, whilst it is generally accepted that working hard will improve exam performance, there is a need for homework tasks to be clearly thought out, meaningful and manageable.

Thanks to Julian Girdham for alerting us to this topic.

Climate Change

Scenes from Home

If we consider the fact that the human population is increasing exponentially, coupled with the reality of rapidly increasing global industrialisation, it would seem self evident that human-derived carbon emissions must be on the increase. Consider also the ease of modelling and understanding the effect of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, in the atmosphere, and the evidence that average global temperatures are increasing – and it is hard to avoid the conclusion that global warming is a very real threat to the happy existence of our offspring. Why then is there such a committed lobby of ‘climate sceptics’ who wish to deny the very existence of global warming? Is it perhaps that many of them have an undeclared interest in continuing to burn fossil fuels and in allowing developing economies to ’grow’, or am I just being a ‘climate cynic’?

A recent article in The New Scientist highlights how climate figures for 2010 make the case for global warming over the past 15 years even more compelling. The point is also made however that climate change is not something that can be argued about by cherry-picking data from a relatively short period of time – something of which climate sceptics were guilty following the publication of the 2009 figures! In order to take this issue seriously we need to take a cold hard look at data spanning 30 years and more. The beautifully constructed and thought-provoking film Home by Yann Arthus Bertrand raises many questions about our increasing population, globalisation and climate change, and is well worth a look. It lasts 90 minutes and can be accessed here.

Welcome to the Stoverview

Stover School

Welcome to this new blog which, it is hoped, will be of interest to those connected with Stover School, to the wider community involved with secondary education, and perhaps to those just interested in news about the world of science and the arts in general. The inspiration for this blog has come from two highly recommended blogs run by the Science and English teachers of St. Columba's College in Dublin:
http://www.frogblog.ie/

and

http://www.sccenglish.ie/

Stover School

Stover School is a boarding and day school of some 500 boys and girls, set in rolling parkland in the Teign valley in Devon. Pupils range in age from 3 to 18, and about 10% are full-time boarders.

From 1928, until the founding of the First steps Nursery in 1994, Stover was an all-girls senior school. The advent of the Prep School in 1995 was followed by the first admission of boys in 2002, and from 2012 onwards Stover will be completely coeducational throughout. There are some 180 pupils in the nursery and prep school, and around 320 in the senior school. The school is non-selective, but academic standards are high and there is a strong commitment to extra-curricular activities.

Stover School adopted it's present site in 1932 and occupies the former estate of the Dukes of Somerset, on the outskirts of Newton Abbot. The 64 acres of grounds nestle just to the south of Dartmoor, with splendid views across to Haytor and beyond.

Stover has seen exciting developments over the past decade, with a new Art, Photography and Media Centre being built in 2001, and an extension to the prep school and a new Science block in 2005. A new sports pavillion has just been opened. The school grounds include indoor and outdoor tennis courts, games fields, dedicated play areas and the Georgian mansion and stable block of the original estate. At present there is only provision for girls' boarding on site, but the addition of boys' boarding facilities is planned for 2012 as the next major development.

See here for further information.