Children's Understanding of Academic Tasks: Work, Play, or Learning

Abstract

Children's understanding of the purpose of school tasks—including the learning purpose of these tasks—and influences on this understanding were explored. Where teachers clarified what the tasks were intended to teach, kindergarten children were able to understand the learning purpose. In classrooms where teachers emphasized work completion and used basic skills worksheets as their instructional core, students were more likely to perceive their tasks as work that they have to do. However, work can be understood as the need for mental effort, reflecting the teacher's emphasis on the thinking required to learn. Implications of differences in children's perceptions of school tasks and of the meaning of learning and work are noted.