Lecturer Brendan Bentley interviewed by The Age
Senior School of Education Lecturer Brendan Bentley was interviewed by Chris Scanlon from 'The Age' concerning the benefits of homework in primary schools and its relationship to learning, in particular Cognitive Load Theory.
As reported in 'The Age' newspaper:
Lecturer in Education at the University of Adelaide Dr Brendan Bentley says that constraints on children’s cognitive load – the capacity to remember and take in information – limits their ability to remember and process information.dd to shortlist
“Younger kids have less capacity to hold things in their working memory,” says Dr Bentley. While adults can retain around seven items in short-term memory, give or take two items, children can only retain two or three items.
And that’s the best case scenario. Add running around, remembering your teachers’ and your friends’ names, extra-curricular activities and then even two to three items can be beyond the capacity of young children.
“If you're really tired, your ability to retain items is reduced,” says Dr Bentley.
And it’s not just the mental load of homework that can overwhelm kids. Children may not be sufficiently physically developed to complete homework tasks that are set.