How Important are Worksheets in the Classroom?

March 9, 2023

I had no idea how intense the world of worksheets was going to be until I was creating my own. There are so many things that need to be taken into consideration in order to set students up for success in the classroom. The work they do in class is an extremely important aspect of their success and understanding.

Jennifer Gonzalez does a great job identifying the dos and don'ts when it comes to worksheets in her blog, Frickin' Packets. As an educator, it is important to understand the differences between a "busysheet" and a "powersheet". Busy sheets are versions of worksheets that keep students busy, but have little educational value. A power sheet directly supports student learning, and aids in support of other tasks. Although sometimes using worksheets can be beneficial to learning, it is important to incorporate ideas that provide students with the opportunity to use as many aspects of Bloom's Taxonomy (remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating) as possible.

SchoolMyKids Counsellor highlights the benefits of worksheets for kids in their blog, Why Worksheets are important for kids? Worksheets, when created properly can assist students in building their logic skills. They provide students with the opportunity to engage in activity and attempt a solution on their own. It is much easier to see progress being made in student learning if able to compare past worksheets to current ones. Creating worksheets that provide enjoyment for students benefits the learning in those areas as well.

Credit: Cult of Pedagogy (Jennifer Gonzalez)

When it comes to creating worksheets, the most important quality to include is that it supports student learning. If a student is given a word search, they are not doing any learning, just finding words. As educators, we have to find ways to encorporate learning into these sheets. So can we include word searches in a worksheet? Yes, as long as it is not the only aspect of the sheet.

There are 5 qualities that need to be included when creating a worksheet. This is how I would rank them in order of importance in a worksheet and why.

1. SUPPORTS LEARNING: As I stated above, the most important quality is that our students feel as if the worksheet is supporting their learning. If no learning is being done with the worksheet, there is no reason for students' to be doing them.

2. FUNCTION: It is important that the worksheet is formatted thoughtfully. Easily followed by students, everything on the sheet is effective and useful. Everything placed has reason and intent for being there.

3. CLARITY: Instruction should be clear and easy to read for age/grade. Keeps pages organized (titles and headings). Instructions should be on every activity (WHAT to do, WHERE to do it, and HOW to do so).

4. SPACE: Space and organization of work is extremely important. Spacing should be the same throughout, ruler should be used. Activities should not be crowded, but also should not have more room than needed.

5. AESTHETICS: Colour, fonts, pictures. The way the worksheet looks overall.

Although all of these qualities are important when creating worksheets, I believe that the information is more important than the way it looks. However, aesthetics and space still engage students in the learning. All of these qualities work together, it would be less effective to only focus on some of these qualities when building worksheets.