The Task Matters: Parental Assistance to Children Doing Different Homework Assignments

Abstract Nineteen parent-child dyads were observed working on two different mathematics homework tasks. Parents were more directive and controlling and used less elaboration when assisting their children with the arithmetic problem solving task than when assisting with the spatial reasoning task. Parent interviews revealed that parents perceived that arithmetic was more straightforward because there were correct algorithms for solving such problems and that showing the child was most efficient. Spatial reasoning was less familiar to parents and was perceived as an enriching curricular area rather than as a basic skill with prescribed solution paths. Parents drew upon their own school experiences as a foundation for reasoning about what and how children should be taught. Keywords: homework, parental beliefs, parental involvement, elementary school mathematics Introduction Both activity theory and research on mathematics education suggest that the task is an important aspect of what and how individuals learn. Little research attention, however, has been focused on the nature of homework tasks and whether the task matters in the type of help parents provide (Tovey, 1997). Teachers have been given conflicting advice from experts on whether to assign homework tasks requiring practice and review or homework tasks requiring application and problem solving, and on whether homework should be for students to complete independently or for students to complete with parents (Charney, 1999; Epstein et al., 1995; Tovey, 1997). There is little empirical evidence that would provide guidance to educators wishing to ground their homework practices on knowledge about how parents help their children with homework. The purpose of the current study was to examine the assistance parents provided to second grade children on two different homework tasks requiring application and problem solving. One task involved solving an arithmetic word problem, and the other task involved solving a spatial (geometry) problem. There has been some controversy over how much homework is appropriate for elementary school children or whether doing homework provides any benefits for them (Cooper, Lindsay, Nye, & Greathouse, 1998; Cooper, 1989). Despite the debate over homework, most elementary school students do have some homework assigned to them each day (Snyder, 1998). Epstein (1986) reported that parents expected to help their elementary school children with homework, and Finney (1993) found that 47% of the parents surveyed reported working with their elementary school children on homework every day. Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler, and Burow (1995) concluded that the parents they studied very much wanted to help their children succeed in school and saw homework support as a way to accomplish that goal. However, reports have begun to appear in the mass media/popular press indicating that parents of elementary students are very frustrated with homework sessions (Tabor, 1996). Some have concluded that "homework is a major battleground for many families," at least partly because parents are closely involved in supervising homework assignments (Kantrowitz & Wingert, 2001, p. 52). Anecdotal reports in scholarly sources also have identified homework as the "bane of parents' existence in the early grades" (Corno, 1996, p. 29). Previously, only a few researchers have described how parents are involved in homework. Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler, and Burow (1995) interviewed parents of children attending two different elementary schools. The parents in that study provided reports about how they helped their children with homework. Although parents said that they usually tried to have their children complete some of their homework tasks independently, many acknowledged that they assisted when children had some difficulty with the assignment. Parents also reported using strategies that ranged from more general assistance, like rereading directions, to explicit teaching, such as demonstrating how to get a correct answer. …