Learning more about "Good Study Habits"

There's nothing better than a network of people thinking about a similar interest or problem. A hat-tip to Carol Huber, formerly of Pinellas County Schools, who sent me the link to an article on study skills in The New York Times. The September 6, 2010, article, "Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits," by Benedict Carey, points out the wide gap between "common knowledge, " and research on study skills. Certainly there's more to learn or maybe re-learn about helping student retention.

For instance, instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention. So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing.

Like a football coach who mixes their team workouts with drills to improve strength, speed and specific skills, a student can benefit when a good learning coach varies the type of material covered in a single session. For example, interleaving vocabulary, reading and speaking in a language class or practice sessions solving several different types of problems in mathematics appears to increase student retention and performance during follow-up testing.

Which may explain why some of the early Computer Curriculum Corporation (CCC) software seemed so effective twenty years ago. The software was programed to "spiral" the student through a subject area and vary the material being presented based on the student's recent performance. The software, with almost infinite patience, could go back and reteach a particular skill if a student needed more practice or quickly move forward if the student demonstrated mastery. There were many areas in some of those early attempts at computerized learning that needed improvement, but I still like their ability to vary the instruction based on student performance and ultimately allow each individual student to progress as fast or as slowly as necessary to master a particular topic or skill.

But back in the present, several of the links within the article may help those who are working hard in schools or homes everyday and are willing to look for new ways to help students retain the knowledge they've worked so hard to learn. Read the whole article at: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html?em&exprod=myyahoo