to be annoyed about Online Maths Homework?

[MathsMadMummy]

my DH's DDs have just finished yr7. every single homework throughout the year has been a set of (20 IIRC) questions on a particular maths site where they have their own username etc.

even if it's a complicated algebra question, they just put in the answer. it's marked automatically, they get the marks straight away when they finish it.

but it's just a % - it doesn't even tell them what they got wrong, let alone why it's wrong. the teacher doesn't know either - all she gets is the %. so they get no feedback and the teacher has no real grasp of what the DSDs find difficult.

it also worries me that they're getting no opportunity to have their working-out marked when this is a major part of exams. they can just guess, or technically get someone else to work it out for them, and nobody would know.

I admit that I'd be slightly less peeved if my DSDs lived with us, because at least then I could be with them while they did the maths. but they live with their mum who doesn't give a toss about schoolwork (ok that's another thread! ) so they're on their own with it.

OK, I can accept in this age of technology it's got a place in school blah blah blah. and it frees up time for the teacher. but every piece of homework? really?!

AIBU to think it's a bit... lazy? would really appreciate teachers'/parents' views.

tokyonambu, I don't know which question in particular you are looking at, but the method to get the minimum would be completing the square and to find where it would cross the y axis you would just look at the constant on the y=ax^2+bx+c form. If that makes sense?

Ah, I was working out where it crosses the x axis, not the y axis. But "completing the square" to find the minimum? I presume that's this which seems somewhat convoluted. I can't recall how I was taught to do it, but as this was O Level in the days when differential calculus was a staple, I suspect that was the way. The roots of the equation came from either factorising (with cooked examples) or later with the inevitable formula. But I'm pretty sure minima and maxima were the sine qua non of what to use differentiation for. I'd better look at that "completing the square" technique for when the children get shown it.

I understand OP's concerns about the lack of assessment for learning for individual students, but am with noblegiraffe, and do not really get why people would complain if homework were not set in books.

The demands on teachers are huge and set to increase as funding goes and with it TAs/LSAs etc.

Besides which, WE are assessed on our use ICT in teaching, and using it for homework would get a thumbs up from Ofsted.

Whilst I understand the sentiment of the OP, I do not really agree as I would argue that the purpose of homework is to consolidate the learning that took place in the lesson, and that teachers are trained to check the learning of all students (as much as possible) during the lesson (written work, oral work, on the spot assessment, feedback from TA etc) so in theory would know where most children are at, anyway.

They don't do differentiation at GCSE so completing the square is the way forward - it can also be used to solve quadratics instead of the formula and is easier if the answer needs to be given in surd form.

Both completing the square and the formula are A* at GCSE so your children will probably only do it if they're really good at maths.

It's like anything else in education - should be a part, not the whole.

No reason why students can't use it 'properly', ie: working out on paper rather than just guessing the answer, if the need to do so is explained & if parents can be bothered to supervise.

& reducing the marking load is not to be sneered at, frankly. I'm better in the classroom outside of those times of year when I'm marking for 2-4 hours each night - the time goes to planning lessons instead.

But agree that if it's every single HW, the student isn't getting proper feedback.

Noblegiraffe's policy of 50% online, 50% marked in books sounds sensible to me.

yes, I'd be more than happy with half books, half online. at least then, they'd have the practice/feedback about method marks/working out and could apply that to the online work.

TBH this is just one of a myriad of symptoms of the poor quality of teaching at the school. if I could be sure that they were getting decent teaching in their maths lessons, I wouldn't be so worried about the online HW IYSWIM?

Arf at 'going off on a tangent' to talk about calculus

if anyone's interested, I'll post my favourite maths joke again :

f(x) walks into a bar and orders a drink.
the barman says "sorry sir, we don't cater for functions"

tee hee

"if I could be sure that they were getting decent teaching in their maths lessons"

Do you look at your DD's maths book? Ask her what she thinks about her maths lessons? Look at any tests she has taken? You should be able to get a reasonable idea from that if you're worried.

Maths(ish) jokes:
What did the 0 say to the 8?
'Nice belt'

Why was 6 scared of 7?
Because 7 8 9

Hmm, maybe they work better on the kids

lol. I've heard the latter (that's ooooold) but I like the belt one

basically, the DSDs aren't confident in maths. they're in the same set and say that their teacher won't help them when they're stuck (he just tells them off for not listening, when actually it's just that they don't understand).

I haven't seen their books because, get this, they aren't allowed to bring them home is that normal?! (they may have brought them home over the summer though, I'll ask)

10 kinds of people in the world: those that understand the binary and those that don't.

"I haven't seen their books because, get this, they aren't allowed to bring them home"

How common is that? That sounds odd.

Two cats sat on a roof. Which one fell off first?

The one with the smaller μ.

I thank you...

Arse. Will transliterate:

Two cats sat on a roof. Which one fell off first?

The one with the smaller mu.

I thank you...

What do you get if you cross a sheep with a goat?

sheep goat sin theta.

ok, I don't get your jokes Layton please explain? (I know what the terms mean BTW just don't geddit )

(am stealing the binary joke though hehehe)

yes, the book thing... they aren't allowed textbooks for most subjects either. it's all on worksheets or internet again I think it's because of them not getting looked after/getting nicked etc. shit school. if DH had any say they would move schools and/or be HEd

mu (written as the Greek letter mu) is the coefficient of friction between two surfaces; the smaller the value of mu the lower the friction.

The other is a vector cross product. If you have vectors a and b their cross product is ab sin theta.

They are actually beyond my own level of maths, but I used to hang out with mathematicians a lot...

(oh, and it's a mu - mew pun, in case that was the bit not got)

(so that joke is really one to deliver out loud as it doesn't work written down)

ohhh ok I get the mu one now, I did mechanics last year but was thinking of another use of the symbol mu - something to do with statistics/averages I think? that's the problem with maths, so many symbols get recycled!

I get the cross product thing now (did that last year too) but it's not quite as funny

mathematical proof that girls are all evil:
the two things you have to spend on girls are time and money
so girls = time x money
but we all know that time is money,
so girls = money x money
but we know that money is the root of all evil,
so girls = square root of evil x square root of evil
so girls = evil

I'm a student in school, in my opinion, Mathletics is simply a waste of time, a lot of the questions I get wrong are Mathletics fault, (because they're correct, but mathletics decides if you are wrong or right if it's two questions in one) and then simply kids get "yelled" at by their teachers for getting the questions wrong, Mathletics is a terrible site in my opinion, and sadly a lot of schools have to use it, with kids piled up with the homework kids don't understand / nor learn anything from the activities.