To think 8 hours is long enough to do a piece of homework?

[groupask]

15 slide PowerPoint on an a level topic. Thanks.

That’s more than enough!

It depends on how long the student was given to do it. If the have any knowledge gaps they need to fill first. Any SEN that means it takes longer. At a level it is not homework so much as self directed study. What does the teacher say?

In most cases yes it should take a few hours but it might take much longer if the student isn't familiar with the topic, has trouble using powerpoint, has big gaps in understanding that need clearing up first etc.

DD has today off and her teacher for biology has asked them to complete a PowerPoint for the day off (no other work due from other classes) DD is saying it's ridiculous and there is no way it can be done in a day and isn't even going to try to get it done. I'm not happy but then she is saying I have no idea because she needs to research most of it in that time too

My A level DS could make a project like that last for weeks...…

15 slides is quite a lot - I guess it really depends what each one has to cover. If each one has to be a summary of each topic covered, that could be a lot of work. If it's just a detailed summary of a single topic that would be OK. If it's to introduce a new topic not covered yet - so lots of research - then I think that would be too much for one day. (Why is she off school - is the teacher just asking your DD to do stuff to cover things she is missing in class through illness etc?)

If she was on a grad scheme she might need to do a 100 slide powerpoint in 6-8 hours as I frequently need to do. Remind her of that.

If she’s doing A Level Biology she must be fairly academic. Researching and doing a PowerPoint along the way (providing she has books, her class notes, the internet and no additional needs) can easily be done. With A-Levels the courses are a bigger jump from GCSE’s, in preparation for hopefully university. A big part is research on their own. (ds18 done A Level Biology).

From your update she should easily get it done in 4 hours or less.

They only have a 4 day week, so she is off the whole of Tuesday

It should be plenty of time. But if she is saying it is ridiculous, she should prove her point by doing as much of it as possible in the given time and explaining she ran out of time.

If all the other students say the same thing then teacher can give them a little longer, if she is the only one, then perhaps it is information she is expected to already know and she is only being asked to present it.

Also - teacher has probably set similar tasks to previous year groups so will have a fair idea of what is a reasonable request.