Sparx Maths
Homework shouldn't be a chore
26 September 2024
If you have a teenager at school, their maths homework these days is probably done on a computer. And there's a good chance that the package they are using is one called Sparx Maths.
These online platforms can be an efficient and effective way to set homework. They enable teachers to quickly assess how their pupils are getting on, and the packages can automatically tailor the homework to the strengths and weaknesses of the pupil. So far, so good. Alas, despite these good intentions, for some pupils it can make maths homework even more of a joyless chore.
My 14-year-old daughter's school has adopted Sparx Maths. Last night, I thought I’d sit with her to get a better idea of what she's having to do.
Her maths homework covered a few topics, but one that featured heavily (not for the first time) was identifying the inequalities that define a shaded area on the co-ordinate plane. I decided to have a go myself.
Here's an example question:
When you think you know which three inequalities are involved, you click on to the next page to be presented with the menu below, from which you have to select three answers.
...
Remember, on the real Sparx Maths you can't just glance up at the question again for a quick check like you can here - you have to click back to the previous page.
...
Can you see your three expressions in there? Careful - was it the shaded or unshaded region that you needed to identify? x>5, or x<5? Maybe you should 'click back' to the question to check. And was it x less than 5 ('x<5'), or x less than OR EQUAL to 5? A solid line apparently means that the line is included in the region, if it's a dotted line, the line is NOT included (this distinction is new to me).
All this to-ing and fro-ing takes time, and with all those answers to choose from it's easy to make a mistake (I made a mistake on three different questions). And unless you get the answer exactly right, you have to start that question again.
For this reason, it becomes almost essential to jot your answers down on paper. Even if you can hold them in your head, Sparx has a sneaky feature of random call backs, where it asks you again for the answer to (say) question 2, just to check you hadn't been guessing earlier. What a grind.
There were a lot of questions on this inequalities topic. Eight maybe? And the questions were all making the same basic point. After about three questions,it had just become a repetitive chore to get through.
In other questions (not the one above) it sometimes felt like Sparx was deliberately trying to trip me up. When I look at a straight line, I always think of it in the form y = mx + c. I realise this can also be written as c = y-mx and x = (y-c)/m, but when I see a graph that is clearly “y < x+4”, why does Sparx sometimes make life difficult for me by mixing it up with other forms and ask me to search through as many as twelve options till I spot that the correct answer here is equivalent to 4 > y-x ?
And perhaps there's a bigger question, too. Why do I need to keep practising the skill of defining a shaded region? Where does this fit into the glorious rich world of mathematics? OK, I'll put it bluntly: when am I ever going to 'need' this? I'll make a music analogy. Imagine I'm learning the piano, and my homework is just to practise my scales and my arpeggios for an hour, with the promise that one day I'll get to hear and play some music. However much I appreciate that practice is important, I think I'd become demotivated pretty fast.
If I’d had to do Sparx* homework when I was at school, no doubt I’d have logged on, wifi permitting, and dutifully done it, but it would have really frustrated me because it would have taken twice as long as the old text book/exercise book format. It would certainly have done nothing to increase my enjoyment of the subject. Especially if there was a threat of detention if I didn't finish my homework. (Yes, in some schools that really happens.)
POSTSCRIPT On reflection, I think my biggest problem with this homework was the number of questions. That's what made it such a chore. If there had been a couple of inequalities questions instead of eight, then I think I'd have had far less issue with the other limitations. So perhaps that's part of the solution: instead of setting an hour of Sparx homework, how about 20 minutes? And every so often sprinkle in some non-Sparx homework for variety - the occasional puzzle or UKMT challenge questions, for example.
1 of 9 Older