Numbers, Anecdotes, and the Homework Claim
Students read two short texts about homework. Text A: “A study of 200 fourth graders found that students who did 20 minutes of homework each night scored 8 points higher on a math test than students who did none. Homework builds responsibility.” Text B: “A blog by a teacher says homework for elementary students is useless. The teacher writes, ‘I stopped assigning it, and my class was happier.’ No numbers are given.” A student says, “Text A is stronger because it has numbers.” The teacher asks the class to evaluate the claim, not just the numbers.
1. Which text provides stronger evidence for the claim that homework improves math scores? Explain.
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Text A provides stronger evidence for that specific claim. It compares 200 students, specifies 20 minutes of homework, and reports an 8-point difference on a math test. Those details connect homework to a learning measure. Text B gives a teacher’s opinion and a feeling (“happier”), but it does not measure learning or compare groups. Still, stronger is not the same as conclusive: Text A shows an association, not proof that homework caused the higher scores. The judgment should note both the strength and the limit.
2. What additional information would make Text B more convincing?
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Text B would need a clear measure of learning, not just happiness. Useful additions include how many students were involved, how long the teacher stopped assigning homework, what test or work was used to judge learning, and whether another class was compared. It would also help to know whether other things changed, such as teaching time or class size. With those details, the blog could support a claim about learning rather than only about feelings.
3. A student says Text B is better because a teacher has real experience. Evaluate that reasoning.
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Experience can reveal real problems, such as family stress or lost play time, so Text B is not worthless. But the claim is about whether homework improves math scores. One teacher’s class and a feeling of being happier do not show whether learning changed. Experience is good for raising questions; it is weaker for proving a general claim. Text A is better suited to this claim because it measures math scores, though it too has limits.