How To Make Assignments Work

This article is a tentative preview of a book I'm beginning to work on. I am attempting to criticize the American education system and devise solutions for its shortcomings that are actionable at a pedagogical and institutional level.

The point of assignments in education is to provide students with tasks that assess and bolster their understanding of the material. Unlike instruction, which relays content to students, assignments deepen students’ knowledge of instructional content. 

Here are the three key criteria that all assignments should follow:

1. Relevance: This criterion is obvious. There is no reason to assign work that does not teach students pertinent information. Why would you ask students to color a diagram of a cell in Biology class when you can ask them to practice labeling that same diagram? Exactly. You don’t.

2. Conciseness: Superfluously cumbersome or tedious assignments waste both students’ and teachers’ time. Keep things only as long as they need to be without compromising learning quality. Maybe students don’t need to research a presentation about when an assigned reading would sufficient. 

3. Effectiveness: More specifically, effective assignments allow students to develop a deep understanding of concepts. For example, students might benefit from explaining the derivation of a mathematical formula more than from completing practice problems applying the formula. Effective assignments should also be entertaining, to motivate students to fall in love with the processes underlying the ideas they learn. 

Before I recommend several methods of designing assignments, I’ll examine a few common types of assignments in detail. 

Quizzes and Tests

Quizzes are a type of formative assessment, covering a small scope of concepts in a multi-question format. They are typically used as a “learning checkpoint,” marking students’ learning progress with a brief assortment of questions. Tests, on the other hand, are a type of summative assessment, meaning they cover a broader scope of concepts in a more comprehensive set of questions. Tests also act as “checkpoints,” or opportunities for students and teachers to more definitively evaluate their broader understanding of course material.

The division of test content between smaller quizzes prepares students in more digestible chunks of content and improves retention. This is especially effective when the quizzes resemble the tests and allow students to accurately assess their understanding of the material. Quizzes and tests tend to be more pertinent to content-heavy subjects, like math and science, than the humanities because quizzes and tests are less suitable for developing creative skills. Although there are issues with how quizzes and tests are graded (see The Grading System Needs to Change), low-stakes grading, or assignments with a less significant impact on grades, can be an effective learning tool, as suggested by one study.  

One way to enhance the pedagogical efficacy of quizzes and tests is to design questions more deliberately. To explain this, let’s classify quiz and test questions into two types: multiple-choice and free-response. 

Multiple-choice Questions

Multiple-choice questions are widely frowned upon as surface-level testing tools. Cynthia J. Brame, associate director of the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, cites versatility as an advantage of using multiple-choice questions, although she concedes to that same criticism:

Multiple choice test items can be written to assess various levels of learning outcomes, from basic recall to application, analysis, and evaluation. Because students are choosing from a set of potential answers, however, there are obvious limits on what can be tested with multiple-choice items. For example, they are not an effective way to test students’ ability to organize thoughts or articulate explanations or creative ideas.

Brames also advocates for reliability, or “the degree to which a test consistently measures a learning outcome,” saying that a greater variety of options can allow for a more objective evaluation method than an essay question. This notion of reliability is closely related to that of validity, her value in “the degree to which a test measures the testing outcomes it purports to measure.” 

Brames divides multiple choice questions into the stem (the problem) and the alternatives (the answer choices), with incorrect alternatives called distractors. Two of her pieces of advice regarding stems are:

1. “Stems should not contain irrelevant material” 

2. “Stems should be a question or partial sentence” 

Take the problem below, for instance:

George Washington was the first president of the United States and the general of the Revolutionary Army, leading America to victory against Britain. When was he born?

1. 1732

2. 1751

3. 1395

4. 4726

The first sentence of this question contains extraneous information that doesn’t contribute to its learning outcome–to know when George Washington was born. Stretching the underlying concept from a short one-sentence or fill-in-the-blank question taints the validity of the students’ results. 

Here is some of Brames’ advice regarding the construction of alternatives:

1. “All alternatives should be plausible”: In the previous problem about George Washington, choice “D” was clearly impossible and a misuse of an alternative.

2. “Alternatives should be homogenous in content”: When one alternative contains exclusive information, it can trivialize the problem with an alternative that is either easy to eliminate or easy to choose. 

3. “Alternatives should be free from clues about which response is correct”: Brames advises that alternatives be written with consistent grammar, parallel form, similar length, and similar language, lest more clever test-takers exploit these subtleties. Note that she is specifically admonishing against inadvertently placed clues, as opposed to carefully crafted hints placed within the alternatives.

Free-response Questions

Free-response questions are open-ended, with unlimited possibilities for answers that are evaluated by teachers. As free-response questions are relatively abstract, answers can be evaluated by the cogency of the student’s explanation. For example, a student may be asked to explain whether they think the Agricultural Revolution or Industrial Revolution was more impactful, providing evidence and reasoning. These questions can challenge a student to think more creatively and incisively than a traditional close-ended question can with a limited amount of correct answer choices. Furthermore, free-response questions require students to restructure the information they absorb. Many studies have found that this ability to restructure information instead of simply spouting it is the difference between basic knowledge and learning. By this principle, allowing students to refer to their notes to complete free-response questions after lessons may serve to teach them class material more effectively than if they were to simply memorize their notes. 

Here are some more ways of modifying surface-level multiple-choice problems or free-response questions to further challenge critical thinking:

1. Apply the problem to a real-world scenario: This can motivate students to see the applications of the content they are learning, while also forcing them to remap their conceptual understanding to more abstract concepts. For instance, a word problem about projectile motion can test a student’s algebraic knowledge of parabolas; it can make them question what a parabola’s components mean when represented by real-world phenomena like time and vertical position, pushing them to creatively restructure fundamental concepts.

2. Force the student to explain the concept: If a student can thoroughly explain a concept–well enough to teach someone–they have mastered it. This proven approach to learning is known as the Feynman Technique, a 4-step process for internalizing information consisting of studying, teaching, filling in knowledge gaps, and simplifying concepts. The same idea is easily applicable to quiz and test questions, only the teacher needs to provide some context for the explanation.

3. Force the student to understand the relationships between underlying concepts: Forcing students to see new connections in class material deepens their understanding. For example, a question might explain two procedures used to produce the same substance, with one procedure using beakers to measure liquids and the other procedure using a graduated cylinder. Then, if asked why the mass of substance produced by the procedure using the graduated cylinder is closer to the theoretical yield, the student will have to connect scientific ideas regarding accuracy, lab equipment, and stoichiometry to answer the question properly. 

When to Use Multiple-choice and Free-response Questions

Multiple-choice questions are more suited toward basic recall, meaning they should be used to make students remember exact, underlying concepts, such as cell structure and function in Biology. In such cases, students only need to recognize the correct answer choice from distractors, testing a surface level of comprehension without precise memorization. On the other hand, free-response questions should be used to test deeper ideas, as explained earlier. 

Practice Tests

Practice tests are preparatory assignments for tests. Practice tests familiarize students with the format of their official tests while revealing the gaps in their understanding to both them and their teachers. These gaps show teachers and students how to best review for tests while adjusting them to the nature of the questions on the tests. One comprehensive study expresses my advocation for practice tests concisely: 

An overwhelming amount of evidence reviewed…suggests that…the benefits of retrieval practice persist across a wide array of educational levels, settings, and testing formats…Once stakeholders realize the cognitive, metacognitive, and noncognitive benefits of practice tests, rather than only using summative assessments for high-stakes decisions, findings of this evidence-based research may be used to inform educational practice in K–12 and tertiary settings.

Another meta-analysis of practice testing is consistent with these findings, proposing that practice tests be supplemented by spaced practice and successive relearning. In other words, there is a fruitful cycle wherein concepts are learned piece by piece, understanding of those concepts is tested, and that understanding is refined through feedback.

Writing Assignments

Beyond quizzes and tests, writing assignments are also used to foster learning. Although writing assignments are not as suitable for testing content recall as quizzes and tests, they excel in the development of students' critical thinking skills and their grasp of the material. By the traditional approach to writing assignments, students submit papers that are graded, perhaps with feedback, only to be discarded with minimal improvement afterward. 

One article argues against this approach in college-level political science curriculums–which can be applied to lower education–advocating “a carefully designed writing assignment that provides not only a unique opportunity for students to hone their critical thinking skills, but also provides students with incentive to pay attention to an instructor's feedback.” Unlike the traditional approach, which “fall[s] short of addressing…problems in the college students’ writing” and “fail[s] to help students develop critical thinking skills,” the article’s proposed two-stage approach “reflect[s] careful assignment design using staging and scaffolding of writing assignments, both of which provide opportunity for meaningful feedback and student demonstration of improved thinking.” Furthermore, it uses a “recursive writing process,” consisting of a draft paper, revision, and final paper, “meaning [the student] undergoes accretion and refinement as a result of the student’s revision process.” The papers focus on application of knowledge and include a metacognition exercise (a reflection of one’s knowledge), “taking a ‘critical (metacognitive) stance towards the actual process of critical thinking and its representation’ that lies at the heart of critical analysis.” Finally, the papers are graded a rubric, which “make[s] it easier for students to understand the requirements of an assignment,” “help[s] students understand the rationale of their grades,” and “help[s]...instructors…maintain standards and consistency.” 

In short, writing assignments should be modeled after this proposal by comprising the assignment of the entire writing process, requiring a metacognitive reflection, and displaying a clear rubric.

Homework

According to over 50,000 high school students surveyed by Challenge Success from October 2018 to January 2020, students averaged 2.7 hours of homework every weekday and 3 hours every weekend. Assuming those students attended school for 7 hours each weekday, that totals 35 hours a week spent in school and 54.5 hours if homework is included. One study has linked working more than 55 hours a week to double the chance of depression and another linked it to lower life expectancies. What’s concerning is that students enrolled in AP classes may undertake an even more onerous workload, facing severe health consequences. 

So why do teachers continue to assign homework? It is commonly argued that homework is necessary to familiarize students with important concepts that cannot be taught within the usual class time. One study found that math homework assigned at individualized skill levels benefits math achievement, particularly in low-achieving students. This same study found a decrease in achievement when more than one and a half hours of homework were assigned daily. Another study found that homework had a negligible impact on course grades, but an improvement in test scores, suggesting that homework is best used to familiarize students with concepts. 

These findings, along with those of many other studies, purportedly conclude that homework does improve learning when applied to a specific purpose. However, the primary reason homework improves learning is that students spend greater time practicing concepts. That’s pretty much it. Intrinsically, the only difference between classwork and homework is that homework is completed outside of class time; virtually any assignment that can be completed at home can be completed at school. Therefore, the question should not be about whether or not homework improves learning, but about the pedagogical necessity of extra work. 

This necessity is challenged by three key issues:

1. Imprudent use of class time: Teachers who waste class time can abuse homework as a contingency, disrespecting students’ time. Instead of stretching content to fill class time or slowing down excessively for the slowest learners in the class, teachers should try to keep lessons concise, yet sufficiently thorough, and offer optional, supplemental homework. I understand that this principle may be tough to follow in rigorous classes, in which case homework ought to be minimized, rather than eliminated, by the same principle. 

2. Lack of coordination between teachers: It is highly impractical for teachers to communicate with each other regarding the amount of homework every student receives in each of their classes. Frankly, Mr. Smith can’t assign less math homework one day to his student with an upcoming Biology exam–let alone account for the exact workload of every student in his class. He can, however, minimize or eliminate homework and provide more flexible deadlines for more time-consuming homework. If Mr. Smith fails to minimize homework, a lack of coordination may result in hopelessly overwhelming amounts of homework on specific days. Be like Mr. Smith. Be considerate of everyone’s free time. 

3. Irrelevant homework assignments: This is self-explanatory. If the homework is unrelated to course material, tedious, superfluously long, or reinforces concepts ineffectively, remove it. No one needs to color a cell diagram in their Biology class, thank you very much. 

Students are already encumbered by supporting their families, participating in extracurricular activities, working jobs, and managing schoolwork. Why cram homework into that busy schedule when its merit is still questionable at best? Children have personal lives that they should enjoy as part of their emotional development and unwarranted homework assignments violate that. 

Try to avoid assigning homework and when it is necessary, give students flexibility in completing it. By following this basic principle, teachers can ensure that group projects deliver valuable results while minimizing the problems with these projects.

Creative Projects

We’ve discussed four traditional assignment types: quizzes, tests, writing, and homework without delineating creative assignments, which may seem strange when my entire book aims to deconstruct the “traditional approach”. However, my problem with traditional assignments is more to do with the design and selection of these assignments than with the type of assignments themselves. Similarly, the flaws of creative projects stem from how they are designed. Frankly, most “creative projects” fail on our three accounts of relevance, conciseness, and effectiveness.

Nevertheless, there are still unique benefits to creative projects. One study about creative projects in college found that they were of value, with students having “indicated that they took risks and enjoyed the project and saw the project as valuable.” In addition, 93% of students indicated that they “enjoyed doing creative projects in the past.” The study links the pedagogical efficacy of creative projects to the importance of “linking past experiences and knowledge to new learning” in adults, as well as a creative project’s ability to engage students with the course content. One article says that projects “are inexpensive, active, and creative,” allowing students to “design their own path to learning, using their individual talents to create and share the way they learn best.” “The students learn at levels high enough to teach the topic, and they enjoy it.” 

As there are myriad kinds of creative projects, there are no particular flaws or guidelines for designing creative projects so prudence is essential. Be mindful of the principles discussed regarding other types of assignments, understand the fundamental purpose of a creative project, and wisely tailor the content to those fundamentals. 

Group Projects

Group projects are unique from regular assignments in that they demand collaboration, typically towards more creative projects. According to one article about the conceptual design of group projects, group projects can be used to prepare students for the workplace by empowering them with skills in interpersonal communication, time management, and critical thinking. They can also bolster students’ comprehension and information retention. 

Despite their many benefits, group projects struggle to prove themselves as a more effective pedagogical tool than independent work for the following reasons:

1. Distraction: It’s already hard enough for people to focus independently. Add more people to that, and the abundance of distractions in a group hinders productivity. Instead of teaching cooperative time management skills, group work teaches students that they can afford to waste time as long as they can cobble together a decent project before the deadline. This immature grasp of time management can carry to the workforce, where distractions impede projects with a meaningful impact. 

2. Poor Communication: Group projects may be a method of refining students’ communication skills, but that’s only when the projects properly foster those skills. Depending on the design of the project, students can divide work without much communication, effectively transforming the group project into a combination of individual projects. Moreover, students can afford to miscommunicate their strategy for completing the project if their final project is all that is being graded. Who needs to communicate well when we can take a good grade and leave?

3. Poor Collaboration: Students may not learn to collaborate effectively due to interpersonal conflicts with group members. While these conflicts can teach students to resolve disputes, students may prefer to ignore these conflicts. Furthermore, group members may contribute unevenly or fail to take initiative due to a diffusion of responsibility. All of these collaborative issues can be ignored, because they cease importance once the project is complete, allowing students to avoid problem-solving. 

Group projects may not be the best way of teaching a set of concepts. Question if a standard quiz or test really needs to be replaced by a group project, considering the drawbacks of group projects. If there is no benefit of dividing work between multiple people, then an independent project or assignment will suffice. If there is a notable benefit to assigning a group project, here are some guidelines for designing a group project:

1. Evaluate Effectively: The same article about the conceptual design of group projects recommends that the project be graded intermittently by self-assessment. Group members are also asked to evaluate each other with constructive feedback as the project progresses. The project receives a final evaluation and grade from the instructor after submission. Ideally, this process encourages group members to improve their collaboration skills and develop metacognitive abilities before being graded by a teacher. 

2. Force Students To Manage Time: According to Parkinson's Law, people fill the time they are allotted; they tend to work slower when permitted a generous amount of time and faster under a time crunch. Thus, providing students ample time to work on their projects allows them to waste time, but restricting their time forces them to spend it wisely. Parkinson’s Law should be enforced by limiting project work to class time, thereby avoiding the assignment of homework and discouraging procrastination. Project requirements and resources can be restricted to the classroom to prevent students from working at home.

3. Don’t Let Students Just “Divide and Conquer”: Students will learn to collaborate when their project demands them to, beyond the division of labor. Naturally, students must learn to delegate tasks to prepare themselves for the workforce, but teachers can promote more interaction between these tasks by connecting the tasks more intimately. For example, a lab experiment can be designed to require multiple people on specific steps. Additionally, group members’ ideas will constantly bounce off each other in the shared work environment. 

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Conclusion

In this chapter, we examined the principles that constitute a “good assignment,” four types of traditional assignments, creative projects, and group projects. We discussed the pros and cons of each assignment, along with basic guidelines for designing them. The bottom line is, every classroom is unique and teachers must design and select the best assignments possible.