Provide "acknowledged body of knowledge" related to the concept. Emphasize the most significant aspects of the concept in an organized, organic manner. Present information sequentially so students see continuity. Draw attention to important, discrete details; don't swamp students with myriad facts.

Talk to the Experts

Objective: The student will be able to name the benefits of work completion.

Activity: Talk to the Experts. Present the students with typical questions about homework asked by students their age. Discuss possible answers and then reveal the answers of the experts. 1. Does practice really always make perfect? No. To improve your skills, you need to practice in a certain way. For one thing, you need to practice a short, meaningful chunk of material at a time. As you practice, you need to check to be sure that you're right. If you don't, you might practice--and therefore learn--the wrong thing. So as you work on your homework, you need to be concentrating on it, and checking yourself at short intervals. 2. How long should I spend each evening on homework? It depends. Classes and teachers differ. Usually at the middle school level, you can count on about one to one and a half hours of homework a night. You might be advised to try to mix the types of work you have. That is, the more meaningful the work is and the better you concentrate on it, the more you learn. It's hard to concentrate on the same type of thing over a long time. Therefore, if you change the kinds of work you do, like work on a written assignment, switch to math problems, and then go back to another written assignment, you may get more out of your work. 3. Does doing the same thing over and over really help me to learn? It does to a point. Research shows that when learning a new skill, you need to practice over and over again in different ways in the beginning. This is called 'massed' practice. You learn a great deal in a short period of time, but you tend to forget it after awhile. In order to remember the skill for a long time, you need to practice it again, but space the times you practice further and further apart. This is called 'distributed practice' and allows for long-term memory. 4. When should I check my work? As often as possible. As you do your work, stop periodically and check to be sure you are doing the task correctly. Be sure that you listen to the teacher and check your work in class the next day. To practice without knowing whether or not you're doing the right thing, often does no good.

Assessment: Student answers to questions during the presentation provides a measure of their understanding of the material.