Does your homework look like this?

What should we change about the nuts and bolts of homework, after reading Benedict Casey’s excellent article in the New York Times summarizing the cognitive research into effective studying? Here’s my short version:

Study the same thing in different locations. Varying the setting seems to enrich the information in the brain, and make it harder to forget.

Vary the type of material studied in one session, to leave a deeper impression on the brain. Math students would attack a set of problems that require different types of calculations, rather than going through many that use the same formula. Foreign language students would alternate vocabulary, reading, and speaking. Music students would do scales, practice pieces, and rehearse rhythms. Art or literature students would review pieces from different genres, not focus on one writer or painter at a time.

Spread out the studying over time. Every time the brain revisits something after a break, its effort to “relearn” it seems to increase long-term recall. As Casey puts it, “The harder it is to remember something, the harder it is to later forget.”

Use frequent practice tests or quizzes. “Desirable difficulty,” as the researchers call it, makes things stick in the mind. The very effort of pulling out what we’ve learned means we’ll remember it later on.

If we take this research seriously, what would teachers do differently in assigning homework? What would parents change about the way they supervise it? Could students make such changes on their own, or do they need adults to cooperate? I’ll send a complimentary copy of Fires in the Mind to the best comments that come in this week.