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School homework, not something I look forward to.

Bonnie2001

Extraordinary
I had forgotten how much I hate school homework. We are only back in school a few days and already I feel like a camel humping my bag full of homework stuff home. My brother sneaked this picture of me slaving over it.

homework.JPG


Early this year I heard that the education chiefs here were thinking of abolishing homework, but it seems like they get a kick out of keeping us busy when we should be having fun! :rolleyes:
 

Satira Capriccio

Renowned
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
I so hated homework! There was always more important things to do, like ... read a book! Preferably a fantasy, murder mystery, or science fiction.
 

Bonnie2001

Extraordinary
I just wanted to be out with my friends as it was a sunny afternoon, you can see the sunlight coming into the room. By the time I was finished all that homework, the sun was gone and it was cold outside. I just washed my hair and played with ZBrush for the evening.
 

robert952

Brilliant
I, too, hated homework in school. Sometime before I got to college, I understood the importance of homework, 'projects' and other assignments. (Doing homework also instilled a sense discipline and responsibility.) I am glad I did it, though I exercised the right of all students to complain about too much homework.

From the look of your concentration while 'slaving over it', you understand on some level its importance. Keep that up, you will be much more successful for the effort.

I am a professional trainer of adult learners, and I do not assign homework. However, I do suggest people take their class material home/to hotel room and review it. I give tests after my training sessions - a minimum score must be obtained for 'completion credit'. Participants in my training sessions are adults and should realize they must accept the consequences of their actions (or inaction).

The human brain requires time to sort and catalog data. Our brains must move important data from our temporary memory (analogous to RAM in your computer) to permanent storage sections of the brain. (Hmmm... like a hard drive? Absolutely.) BTW, we also have to delete unimportant stuff - like the bad jokes I tell in class.

Homework and studying helps that process. I think abolishing homework assignments will be detrimental to the learning process.

I highly recommend (and recognize) your efforts to keep up with the homework.
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
I was lazy when it came to homework in high school, and didn't "wake up" to it's importance in college the first time around. I wouldn't have gone to college after high school, except my parents insisted. I finally got the message when I went back to get another degree in college (30 years after I got the first one), and as an adult I had already learned my lesson on how important homework was, and for a good many of my classes, I actually enjoyed it.

Of course, the second time around I was going for a specific degree, and had full interest in the classes I had to take, while the first time I took general classes just to get it over with. It made a huge difference.
 

kobaltkween

Brilliant
Contributing Artist
I realize that grades are the practical, short term goal, but really understanding a topic can be valuable for a lifetime. Homework is generally a chore because few instructors below college use constructivist methods. I've always thought the ARCS model (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) was a pretty solid guideline for lessons, but even most professors don't employ it. But you can try to angle lessons that way yourself. Where you can, try make the homework match your interests and goals. Try to associate papers and projects with subjects you're already familiar with and interested in. Like, if you're into media and you have a WWII paper to do, you can focus on how both the Allies and Axis powers slipped propaganda into popular media.

Oh, and when it comes to math (maths if you're in the commonwealth), I have gotten _so much_ out of my high school teacher's practice of making us graph equations by hand. As in it has majorly helped me with shading equations, understanding materials, aspects of programming, and tons of other stuff relevant to my life beyond school. Mind, graphing calculators weren't the norm back then, but he really drilled us. The thing to keep in mind with equations as a digital artist is that they define how so very many things work, from shading to simulations, and it really helps to have a sense of what they mean. Now I not only have an instinctive understanding of existing equations by looking at them, I have a sense of how to create equations that do what I want. The big things you have to know to graph equations in the form of y = f(x) is what does the equation do at x = 0, how do you make y = 0, and what general sort of shape does it have.

So just as an example, when I started using GC linear workflow that's now the default in Poser and DS, I found I had an issue in low light situations. I mentioned it to Bagginsbill, and he looked into it and found that in point of fact the exponential gamma curve is an approximation for the real sRGB equations, which go linear at lower values. I'm sure that sounds like gobbledy gook to a lot of people, but the basic point is that because I understood the general behavior of exponential and linear functions as they get close to zero, I understood why some of my GC works looked too flat to me, why some of my low light works were too brightly lit by less than 1% intensity, and why true sRGB linear workflow was much better for low light images. Which in turn helped me address the problem and explore rendering options that avoided it in case I needed to.

My biggest pet peeve with how math is taught is that it's taught the opposite way of how it was created. Most of what we teach non-mathematicians, even in college, was developed and refined by people trying to solve a real world problem. They went from the specific to the general, which is how humans work. But we tend to tell students that they have to master the math first before understanding the specific problems in other subjects first, when the math they're taught is just the solution the people studying the subject arrived at after trying lots of different ways of understanding. Math is just a really useful and versatile tool for understanding aspects of our lives we want to master, but it gets taught as an entirely separate entity. Which is cool for mathematicians who will tell you about some other aspect of math if you ask them about applications for the topic they're focused on, but for everyone else, math is only relevant to the specific problems they want to solve.

If anyone tells you, "You have to understand algebra before you can do chemistry," or "You have to understand calculus before you can do physics," know that people invented types of math to master those subjects, not the other way around. And humans brains are wired to generalize from relevant individual experiences, but aren't really suited to go the other way. You would be completely overwhelmed if your brain tried to process everything about your entire environment, so it filters a lot of stuff out. Mostly subconsciously and outside of your control. If you're having to fight your brain's inclination to consider information irrelevant noise, there's almost definitely a better approach to the subject you're studying.
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
If anyone tells you, "You have to understand algebra before you can do chemistry," or "You have to understand calculus before you can do physics," know that people invented types of math to master those subjects, not the other way around.
Interesting that you mention that, as my second degree was in Computer Information Systems and Programming, and to this day I'm convinced, even though there have been those who argued I was wrong, the only reason I did well in my programming classes was because I was good in Algebra.
 

kobaltkween

Brilliant
Contributing Artist
Interesting that you mention that, as my second degree was in Computer Information Systems and Programming, and to this day I'm convinced, even though there have been those who argued I was wrong, the only reason I did well in my programming classes was because I was good in Algebra.
I'm sure you're right. I very definitely found that my understanding of algebra- mostly understanding equations in general as I described above- immensely useful in programming. That said, I find connecting coding to doing something I want to do makes it pretty straight-forward.
 

Stezza

Dances with Bees
I hated homework.. there were more interesting things to do after school than sit in my room doing homework..

so I used to do it on the train ride to school or the train ride home from school... always got in trouble for messy writing lol

do you know how hard it is to write while on an old rickity train and then forge your parents signature ... :geek: :)
 

Rowan54

Dragon Queen
Contributing Artist
Actually, I liked most of my classes. If I could have had the messing about with books and papers and pens somewhere with NO PEOPLE, I'd have been happily learning whatever it was. However, there were these annoying teachers, and even more annoying classmates....and those were why I hated school. Not the homework...I'd have liked to have had ALL the school at home, actually.
 

Bonnie2001

Extraordinary
I hated homework.. there were more interesting things to do after school than sit in my room doing homework..

so I used to do it on the train ride to school or the train ride home from school....

My school is only a short walk from home, so sometimes on my way home some of us go into the local library and do our homework there. The benefit of that is we can help each other out on subjects or questions where one or more of us has better knowledge.
 

HaiGan

Energetic
Contributing Artist
There is a HUGE difference between homework that is assigned as part of the process of teaching, designed to help with understanding, retention of information and/or building good habits, and "homework" assigned to tick a box that says "thou shalt assign thy pupils half an hour of something to do, regardless of whether they need it or not" (or, occasionally, assigned to fill a space on the display board in the classroom when someone points out that the display currently there is three years old and nothing to do with the current class, but that is generally more of a problem for younger pupils).

It is usually pretty obvious which is which, although I admit I didn't label it in those terms except in hindsight (once I'd been on both sides of the teaching equation, as it were).
 

Dreamer

Dream Weaver Designs
I was home schooled so never got the home work per say but after seeing what has happened when my son went from a school that did not do home work to one that does I can see the benefit of it, even if he can't lol, in half a year he has come from being so far behind it was worrying to now only being about a year behind where he should be and so much more self confidence.
 

Robynsveil

Admirable
I realize that grades are the practical, short term goal, but really understanding a topic can be valuable for a lifetime. ...
Wow, this has been one of the most enlightened approaches to study I have ever encountered! And I'm 66, so fairly old, now. I wish this had been around a few decades ago. Rote learning has never been my strong suit: I have always tended to forget where I was and have to restart. Now they call it ADHD, perhaps, but I really think it had more to do with how I approached learning rather than some intrinsic organic learning deficit, which is pretty much the "factor" - i.e., low-hanging fruit - focused on as other options aren't mainstream and thus, no solutions had been worked out. And back in the day, that missing skill was seen as simply laziness, particularly for those - like me - who simply found it easier to just give up.

And yet, even armed with this, I still find myself trying to go the easy way, the shortcut approach, to accomplishing things. Here's a case in point: I am finding YouTube a virtually infinite source of information on how to do stuff in Blender. Those videos take you to a certain point and then sort-of move on to something else, however. If, say, I want to know more about Blender's particle hair settings - which I'm currently revisiting - the CGCookie tutorial by Ken Trammel takes you a fair way, but you'll have to explore mixing settings effectively on your own. And, the tutorial is based on Blender 2.66: I'm working in 2.79b. Things have changed.

Time to Google it, or better yet, try to zero in on ONE specific setting I'm trying to get right (as opposed to just googling "how to make hair in Blender look good"). Make a change, quick render. Another change, another render. After several hours, I'm stiff with a sore back and have made minimal headway.

So, perhaps I should be taking notes.

Ah, and suddenly, "homework" as an approach to problem-solving makes sense! Homework now becomes the crucial scratchpad to refer to so you don't keep reinventing the wheel. I need to take notes: notes that I can update as things become clearer.

Thank you, kobaltkween!
 

kobaltkween

Brilliant
Contributing Artist
Wow, this has been one of the most enlightened approaches to study I have ever encountered! And I'm 66, so fairly old, now. I wish this had been around a few decades ago. Rote learning has never been my strong suit: I have always tended to forget where I was and have to restart. Now they call it ADHD, perhaps, but I really think it had more to do with how I approached learning rather than some intrinsic organic learning deficit, which is pretty much the "factor" - i.e., low-hanging fruit - focused on as other options aren't mainstream and thus, no solutions had been worked out. And back in the day, that missing skill was seen as simply laziness, particularly for those - like me - who simply found it easier to just give up.

And yet, even armed with this, I still find myself trying to go the easy way, the shortcut approach, to accomplishing things. Here's a case in point: I am finding YouTube a virtually infinite source of information on how to do stuff in Blender. Those videos take you to a certain point and then sort-of move on to something else, however. If, say, I want to know more about Blender's particle hair settings - which I'm currently revisiting - the CGCookie tutorial by Ken Trammel takes you a fair way, but you'll have to explore mixing settings effectively on your own. And, the tutorial is based on Blender 2.66: I'm working in 2.79b. Things have changed.

Time to Google it, or better yet, try to zero in on ONE specific setting I'm trying to get right (as opposed to just googling "how to make hair in Blender look good"). Make a change, quick render. Another change, another render. After several hours, I'm stiff with a sore back and have made minimal headway.

So, perhaps I should be taking notes.

Ah, and suddenly, "homework" as an approach to problem-solving makes sense! Homework now becomes the crucial scratchpad to refer to so you don't keep reinventing the wheel. I need to take notes: notes that I can update as things become clearer.

Thank you, kobaltkween!
Oh, I'm just seeing this now. Thanks so much for your very kind words!
 

esha

Admirable
Contributing Artist
True, homework isn't fun, I remember that very well :rolleyes:
But on the other hand, you'll never have as much "you time" as you have now, despite homework and everything. After your graduation other things will replace the homework, and they're likely to occupy even more of your time. Job, housework, self-study to keep up with things, family responsibilities and so on...

I do second what kobaltkween said about the relationship between theory and practice. I also had to study those functions but they never made any sense to me because they were so abstract. We never got any examples of how they could be applied to real life. I wish I had a sounder understanding of math, it would be much easier to build my own shaders now. :unsure:
 

eclark1894

Visionary
Always did my homework in school during lunch break. Rarely ever had any actual "home" work.:geek:

I guess I should add that it's not that I was that industrious, but I started working in a restaurant by age 16, so I didn't have a lot of extra time. I had to learn how to manage it well.
 

Faery_Light

Dances with Bees
Contributing Artist
While I agree that to some extent it is important to do home work I disagree that there should be so much of it.
We had tons of it when I was still in school, history geography, science, reading and writing, book reports...ugh!
And you know something?
When I finally grew up and went to work all that history and geography stuff was never used!
Now reading writing and math are important for any line of work, any career you choose but the others should be optional only.
And children are just that, children, and need time to be children.
Not bogged down with stuff they will never use in their grown lives!

I had to drop out of school in 5th grade, no formal education after that but I did love to read.
My reading level was high school or beyond and I kept reading, reading anything and everything.
Funny thing is I learned so much without the hassle of forced homework.

At age 19 I went to the board of education and took a test to see what level of night school would be best.
I passed at the 11th grade level in all but math, yeah very poor in that always...lol.

Voc Rehab sent me through Beauty College and after a short period as an operator I became an instructor at the school I trained in.
A few years later I briefly took night school classes for a few weeks, then took the GED test and got my diploma.
I did that for me, it was not required for my work.

So yes, give a little homework, reading, writing and math but leave the other stuff as optional subjects.
Because the ones who want to learn will learn no matter what the obstacles.
And those who learn best are those who had some fun as youngsters!
 

eclark1894

Visionary
Honestly, I can't say I've never used the stuff I learned in school. Most of it was, ironically, important background information for other things I needed to know or find when doing research. As a black person in the US, it's interesting to know, see and learn how much history has touched my life in the last 61 years of it. It's not that the things we learn in school is never put to good use. It is. It's just that the things we know and learn are all connected. And we rarely see the big picture. We're constantly missing the trees for the forest.

Last year I almost died. I haven't stopped appreciating all the little things I know and have learned in my life. Sometimes like this morning I had to go to work, I went outside to start the car and I looked around and looked up to the sky and started crying. I wish I could stick around to see how the book ends. But everything I am, and everything I know started me on my journey 61 years ago. And to think, at one time in history, it was illegal to even teach me how to read. And considered a waste to teach a woman... anything.
 
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Faery_Light

Dances with Bees
Contributing Artist
When I was still in school we only had a few black students, most went to all black schools but those who lived in our area were welcome.
Later they started the civil rights movement and some who had been friends with blacks started acting hateful.
I never understood why such hatred for anyone solely based on race or religion.

I admit I did learn more history and geography as well as some science later just by the books I read.
National Geographic, Woman's Day, Redbook and a host of others.
All subjects were interesting when I was not forced to learn them...lol.
 
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