Home Works
Whether you view homework as “Essential extra
learning hours!”, “Vital lesson consolidation!” or
“Unnecessary and inconvenient”, here are a few
tried and tested homework ideas, from latte
readers, about how to make homework interesting,
fun and effective!.
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Research
Physical data collection
When introducing packaging in the marketing mix, ask
students to visit their local supermarket and write
comments on what they consider effective packaging,
e.g. eye-catching, recyclable, easy to use, clear
instructions, legally required information. “Ask them
to bring in some sample packaging,” recommends
Stephanie Oates, Trinity Academy. “It can then be
used as the lesson starter or brainstorming. This really
engages students when using ‘real-life’ examples –
plus it doesn’t require any marking!!!”
Walking fingers
Nick Marsh, Bennett Memorial School asked students to look through
the yellow pages and decide which companies may have specific
company structures. Richard Schofield, Bradford Grammar School
asks his student to choose 3 local firms, find out their published
figures, ask which has the best profits and give a reason.
“Discussion of answers should help appreciation of normal and
supernormal profit - size isn't everything!”
Interesting source material
“Homework should be directed, achievable, self motivating
and relevant” says Richard Castle, Claremont Fan Court
School. He teaches the potentially boring subject of ratio analysis
by asking students to get the financial information for 2 football
teams (or other interesting businesses) such as Arsenal and
Tottenham (published on the web or in Annual Reports – remember
to point them to the correct location). “The students then use the
ratios that they need to learn, to work out which team, off the
field, is doing better, and then write an expose about that. They
can relate to the subject and see the need and application of
the theory.”
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Read the Paper, Watch the
News, Blog
“Business Studies and Economics must be the only
subjects that set homework to watch TV!” jokes
Kelly Chalk, Aylesbury Grammar School. “I get
the students to watch Dragons Den and they have
to write down all the key business studies
terminology that gets used during the programme.
We then make sure they understand the definitions.
Then they work in groups and re-write some of the
pitches to see how they would have approached
the Dragons!”
Tom Murray, Altrincham Grammar School for
Boys says that it is so easy to get stuck in the rut of
setting case studies from textbooks but that over use
of this rapidly demotivates students. “A popular research
task is when we ask students to identify an entrepreneur
that they admire, find out as much about them at home
from books, papers and the web, describe what
motivates them and what their leadership style might
be. This leads into a lesson on entrepreneurship and
leadership styles.”
Bob Hindle, Bolton Sixth Form College
produces a list of 40 key terms at the end of each section of
the spec. “I ask the students to find the definition, write it on
flash cards or on the pages of an exercise book and give an
example of each in practice. Great when it comes to revision.”
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Questions, Quizzes and Games
Pre-warn students about the topic for the next lesson and ask them to create
a starter activity. This could be in the form of a quiz, game, multiple choice or
other innovative format. This method works well for Assessment for Learning
and creates great competition in the classroom.
Elaine Donaldson, Castle Vale School and Specialist
Performing Arts College tells the students what the next
topic will be and asks them to create a power point/mind
map/worksheet/ prompt cards to introduce the next lesson.
“All students participate in the "introduction of the new topic"
which seems to be a very effective way to engage the
students with the subject area.”
Richard Schofield prefers to set shorter homework focused on assessment
skills, which allows more frequent homework and faster feedback. “I select
multiple choice questions and award an extra 3 marks for explaining (as
stated in the Edexcel specification). For Data Response Questions, which
require evaluation, I set a series of homework with short answer questions.
This is aimed at developing knowledge application, analysis and evaluation
specific to the final question. This makes completing an actual exam
question accessible to all abilities and can help students learn how to
produce evaluative conclusions.”
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Monopoly
Here is a great game that combines homework,
coursework and a lot of fun.
With full credit to Hasbro, Kelly Chalk gets her GCSE
students to work in groups to re-design a classic
board game. “Monopoly is the favourite choice. The
idea is to replace the likes of ‘Old Kent Road’ and
‘Mayfair’ with businesses based on specific criteria
about which we are learning.”
and Eliot Habgood produced a “Monopoly board”
to support a retail project. They replaced the usual
London Streets with High Street shops according to
type of retail establishment and positioning in the
market. “Their homework was to research the
pricing of the retail outlets and transfer them to
the board.
In this example, Aylesbury Grammar Students Dan
Rixson, Mark Baruch, Ryan Faers, Chris Ellis
The “community chest” is replaced by the
Advertising Standards Agency who impose fines
for inappropriate adverts, demand payment for
advertising and reward for recyclable packaging.
The “chance” cards are instead Trading Standards
Institute instructions in which the player is penalised
for violating trades description act and rewarded for
trading profitably.
“Other homework activities include researching the
share price of companies and choosing where on
the board they should be placed. The options are
endless and this game works well for both Business
Studies and Economics teaching. When the board is
finished, we print it out on A3 paper and then play
them in class – the students love it.”
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Remotely Supporting Coursework
Virtual Learning Environment
Louise Stubbs, Great Sankey High School uses
Moodle as part of her Business Studies course delivery
and all students have a learning log which they
update weekly at home. They summarise what they
have learnt that week and it forms a two way
communication between teaching staff and learners (for example learners use it to ask for clarification
about something they haven’t understood). At the
end of the year their log forms their revision notes.
Richard Schofield uses email to set homework. “At A2, I send
students paragraphs which need a concluding sentence. A concise
conclusion speeds up marking and generates evaluation skills.
Students can have homework emailed and email back their
answers using the Reviewing Toolbar to Track Changes on
Microsoft Word. Answers can then be displayed using a projector.”
Revision Booklet
Revision booklets are widely used, whether on the
VLE in digital format, or pre-printed as an ongoing
homework tool. (Take a look at www.cgpbooks.co.uk
for booklets priced from £2.75). You may consider
getting one for each pupil and setting a number of
pages for homework.
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Interviews
Stephanie Oates recommends interviewing
Saturday job colleagues, parents and
relatives – this is especially useful with HR/
Workplace organisation tasks andbrings the
subject alive with real-life examples.
Tom Murray sets open ended homework tasks
which stretch the students’ research skills and allows
for differentiation. “We ask them to produce a report into
the effectiveness of communication methods at a business
they are familiar with (via saturday job or parents) and to
include an interview with a member of staff.”
Past Papers and
Specimen Questions
Not a lot needs to be said about these, they are necessary and standard, but there
is still some room for innovation.
Why not set the questions on the VLE and share the best (and worst) answers on
the class whiteboard?
Tom Murray gets the students to design their own case study and questions.
“They enjoy using their creativity and it gets them to think about the syllabus and
assessment. You can then share the good ones with the class”
“The more successful homework has been completed where I have outlined the
mark scheme, eg 7 marks means 3 for content, 2 for application and 2 for analysis,”
says Nick Marsh, “and when I have set an open question, the most recent of
which has been, "All poorly paid people are motivated purely by money. Discuss."
You could always copy and paste a relevant question from a past exam paper, for
homework, then give them a specimen answer, explain the mark scheme and
show the examiner’s comments in class. You can then challenge the student to
write a perfect answer. “You could even differentiate by telling them what the
mark would be for their target grade and challenge them to beat it by two grades.”
Visual Display, Posters
Many teachers ask for homework as a contribution to a
new display in the classroom – this is especially good for
KS3, who love to see their work on the wall. Pupils can
build up a wall display covering key elements of a topic
over several weeks, adding elements as each new area
is covered. Trinity Academy produces work-in-progress
revision posters, mind maps and cards – “After each
lesson/topic the pupils are asked to update a
poster/mind-map with the new information they have
learned,” says Stephanie Oates. “This acts as a useful
revision tool for them and allows you to assess the degree
of their understanding.” .
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