Busy Work - Educational Settings

Educational Settings

In the context of education, busy work allows students to work independently, to test their own knowledge and skills, and to practice utilizing new skills learned in the educational setting. It can consist of various types of schoolwork assigned by a teacher to keep students occupied with activities involving learning and cognition while the teacher focuses upon another group of students. The functionality of busy work is associated with levels of interest students have with the content of the work, levels of enjoyment students have in performing the work, how purposeful the work is, and how accomplishment of the work is perceived by students. The perceived results of the work by students is significant: when students feel that they've succeeded in accomplishing a functional task, it's congruent with learning and the attainment of new skills.

Busy work can also be utilized to keep the students occupied with educational tasks during idle times, such as instances when time in school remains but the day's curriculum has already commenced. This application of busy work to consume idle time was common in primary education, but the need for work to have educational content, rather than existing just to consume time, is now preferred.

Busy work has historical precedent in primary education. Entire books have been published that document various busy work activities and curriculums per student grade levels, types of activities and how the work is associated with various types and stages of learning. Examples include Plans for Busy Work (published in 1901) and Education by Doing: Occupations and Busy Work for Primary Classes (published in 1909).

The assignment of homework to students over summer vacation between grades has been described by some as potentially being busywork that may lack substance congruent with the processes of learning.