Good study habits lead to academic success. Children from an early age need to learn how to internalize information to do well on tests and essays if they continue their academic careers after high school.
In this episode, Ginny and Mary Ellen examine and explain the how and why of learning good study habits.
It begins with a simple but critical foundation of memorizing spelling words or math facts. They explain simply and clearly how this essential element is fundamental to a student’s success. They discuss the gradual process of learning good study habits and why it should start as early as second or third grade. By fourth grade, your student should be ready for note-taking and highlighting.
In today’s show you’ll learn:
Five study skills to teach your student
- Organization - A student must be well organized to succeed at studying. They must be able to find their books and notes, and the notes must be legible and in the correct order. Margin notes must also be legible. Videos, recordings, and computer documents should all be easily accessed.
- Minimize distractions - Studying is less effective with music blaring, a television on, notifications pinging on the phone, or anything else happening. Electronics must be minimized, and apps closed. A quiet space with as little going on as possible is ideal.
- Time management - Homeschool parents need to set firm deadlines and set consequences when their students miss those deadlines. The real world will do so, and it's a disservice to your child not to teach them the skill of managing their time wisely. Papers should have due dates, tests should have time limits, and school hours should have end times. Work not completed in the allotted time is done in your free time.
- Taking notes - There are five main methods of taking notes, Cornell, Mapping, Charting, Sentences, and Outlining. These methods all make use of visual mastery of the information. Highlighting facts in your text is also a valuable method of study. Different situations call for different types.
- Read, Recite, and Review - Reading is more than just staring at the book. You need to internalize the information. Saying it out loud can help. Reviewing it with a study partner can also help.
Bonus Information
- Having your student study using a pen and paper is more likely to result in success than using a digital method.
- In a digital world, having children write things down becomes more and more rare. Many public and private schools have entirely abandoned teaching cursive handwriting and now pass out tablets and laptops at the beginning of the school year. Notebooks in your local office store sell for .25 cents, yet no one buys them because even small children use tablets and stylus' to learn.
The Secret of Writing on Physical Paper
A study of Japanese university students and recent graduates has revealed that writing on physical paper can lead to more brain activity when remembering the information an hour later. The unique, complex, spatial, and tactile information associated with writing by hand on physical paper likely leads to improved memory.
Contrary to the popular belief that digital tools increase efficiency, volunteers who used paper completed the note-taking task about 25% faster than those who used digital tablets or smartphones.
Although volunteers wrote by hand with pen and paper or stylus and digital tablet, researchers say paper notebooks contain more complex spatial information than digital paper. Physical paper allows for tangible permanence, irregular strokes, and uneven shape, like folded corners. In contrast, digital paper is uniform, has no fixed position when scrolling, and disappears when you close the app.
"Our take-home message is to use paper notebooks for information we need to learn or memorize," said Sakai.
