It is generally accepted among education specialists that parental involvement in school education is very important. But due to lack of effective and realistic ways to implementing it, parents have hardly had chance to participate in their children's...
It is generally accepted among education specialists that parental involvement in school education is very important. But due to lack of effective and realistic ways to implementing it, parents have hardly had chance to participate in their children's classroom activities. This study aims to prove that by using the Internet, parents' participation in classroom works is not only possible even in the Middle School, but also effective for the improvement of students' behaviors at classroom and their achievement in learning.
This study was conducted in Korean History class in the Middle School with one hundred and thirty-three students and their parents for five weeks. On the basis of two surveys this study finds out the followings. Many parents (84% of the respondents) showed much interest in Korean History class and promised to participate in classroom activities in the Internet such as visiting the class homepage. But much less parents (only 38% of the respondents) actually visited the homepage. The survey also shows that most of the parents (75% of the respondents) talked about these activities on the Internet with their children, and knew what was going on in the classroom. This indicates that parental involvement in classroom activities has good potential of being an effective and realistic alternative to bring about a positive change for Middle School students' learning.