Homework has been a hot button issue for educators and parents for more than a decade. In 2004 researchers at the University of Michigan found that the amount of time spent on homework had increased by 51% since 1981. The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing and The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It, two tomes that argued for the futility of homework were published to critical acclaim in 2006. Just this weekend the New York Times published an editorial titled The Trouble with Homework that discussed ways busy work could be replaced by more effective ways to learn.

I don’t remember most of my homework assignments, but there are a few that stick out in my mind. When I was in sixth grade my homework assignment was to write a short story – we were studying the concept of creating a narrative arc and the emphasis of this assignment was on creating a coherent beginning, middle and end of a story in 250 words or less. In 10^th grade I took a physics class that was famous for the “egg project.” All students in the class were asked to create a Rube Goldberg-esque gadget with at least seven components, each of which must exhibit a different basic physics concept, all with the purpose of breaking an egg and separating the yolk and white from the shell.

When I was a senior I took on my most time-consuming after-school activity by becoming editor-in-chief of our high school’s monthly newspaper. Unlike many student publications, we were almost entirely on our own to produce a 40+ page monthly publication. Our advisor, who was probably the best teacher I ever had, spent evenings working out in the weight room while the editorial staff worked on editing and layout in the press room. Editorial meetings took place at the editor-in-chief’s house and the student staff, which participated on an entirely volunteer basis without pay or class credit, was on their own to plan the content, elect an editorial board, assign stories, edit content, manage the printing house and fund the publication by selling ad space.

 The homework and out-of-class projects I remember well and appreciate most share a common characteristic: I had to produce something without having a clue how to go about doing it. The homework was valuable because the challenge of figuring out how to do a project was a part of the learning process. I wasn’t just memorizing material to regurgitate later in class for a test; I was applying things I had learned in class to create something new and different on my own.

I certainly do not think that homework is inherently detrimental to students, but the type of homework that students are often asked to complete does very little to instill a sense of self-sufficiency and love of learning.

Is there a memorable homework assignment in your past? What would you say makes a homework project a true learning experience?