How Students Study

This week’s evidence shows how a solid research finding can have a global impact. A new study from the UK about how students study. The results are remarkably similar to what our friend and neighbor Pooja Argawal (Powerful Teaching) has found. The bottom line is that we know what study strategies work, and yet students are stubbornly indifferent to these strategies. 

What do students (and many teachers) prefer? Re-reading, underlining, and highlighting – All ineffective strategies. 

What works better? Interleaved practice – alternate subjects, forcing your brain to recall information. The most substantial study practices are practice tests and spaced practice, which involve studying over time rather than cramming. 

Pooja’s research found that only 11% of students want to use the most effective strategies, while most students just re-read, cram, highlight, and underline. Students in the study reported that YouTube was a primary source of study. Teachers encouraged a mix of effective and ineffective strategies. 

When the primary challenge for schools is student achievement, we need to help teachers go back to first principles and talk about how to study – even though many teachers may have highlighted, crammed, and underlined. 

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